College of Arts and Sciences

Department of Geology

Julia Perdrial

Associate Professor of Geochemistry

Teaching and Research

As an environmental bio-geochemist and mineralogist I take a strong interdisciplinary approach to study low temperature environmental terrestrial and aquatic processes by combining experimental and field approaches. The aim of my research is to elucidate how the geosphere, biosphere and hydrosphere interact to shape the Earth’s terrestrial surface, now often termed the Critical Zone (CZ). This Critical Zone can be thought of as the skin of the earth: the terrestrial surface spans from the top of the canopy down to the bedrock - including ground water - and provides us with water, nutrients and many other ecosystem services.

My current overall research goal is to elucidate how low-temperature aquatic and terrestrial biogeochemical processes are impacted by disturbances linked to global environmental change. For this I look at metals, dissolved organic and inorganic carbon in soils and streams with a combination of analytical tools (C-Analyzer, ICP-OES, Ion Chromatography, UVvis-, fluorescence- and FTIR-spectroscopy) and computational quantification (PARAFAC analysis of fluorescence data).

I enjoy teaching geochemistry (GEOL135, GEOL 235, GEOL 371) and Earth materials (GEOL110) in the lab, field and classroom and I supervise research projects (GEOL198).

Publications

2020:

Landsman-Gerjoi M, Perdrial, J.N., Lancellotti B, Seybold E, Schroth AW, Adair C, Wymore A (accepted) Measuring the Influence of Environmental Conditions on Dissolved Organic Matter Biodegradability and Optical Properties: A Combined Field and Laboratory Study. Biogeochemistry.
Perdrial, J.N., Sullivan PL, Dere A, West N (2020) Editorial: Critical Zone (CZ) Export to Streams as Indicator for CZ Structure and Function. Frontiers in Earth Science 8(37).
Bierman, P., Schmidt, A H., Campbell, M. K., Dethier, D. P., Dix, M., Racela, J., Perdrial, J.N., Massey-Bierman, M. E., Sibello Hernández, R. Y., Cartas Aguila, H. A., Guillén Arruebarrena, A., García Moya, A., and Alonso-Hernández, C. (2019). !Cuba! River Water Chemistry Reveals Rapid Chemical Weathering, the Echo of Uplift, and the Promise of More Sustainable Agriculture. GSA today.

2019:

Wen H, Perdrial, J.N., Bernal S, Abbott BW, Dupas R, Godsey SE, Harpold A, Rizzo D, Underwood K, Adler T, Hale R, Sterle G, Li L (2019) Temperature controls production but hydrology controls export of dissolved organic carbon at the catchment scale. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss. 2019:1-35.
Cincotta, M., Perdrial, J.N., Shavitz, A., Libenson, A., Landsman, M., Perdrial, N., Armfield, J., Adler, T., Shanley, J. (2019). Soil aggregates as a source of dissolved organic carbon to streams: an experimental study on the effect of solution chemistry on water extractable carbon, Frontiers in Earth Science: Biogeosciences.
Armfield, J., Perdrial, J.N., Gagnon, A., Ehrenkranz, J., Perdrial, N., Cincotta, M., Ross, D., Shanley, J., Underwood, K., Ryan, P. (2019). Does stream water composition at Sleepers River in Vermont reflect dynamic changes in soils during recovery from acidification? Frontiers in Earth Science: Biogeosciences.https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2018.00246.

2018:

Radke, A., Godsey, S., Lohse, K., McCorkle, E., Perdrial, J.N., Seyfried, M.S., Holbrook, S. (2019). Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity of Water Flowpaths Controls Dissolved Organic Carbon Sourcing in a Snow-dominated, Headwater Catchment.Front. Ecol. Evol.,https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00046
Hernandez-Ruiz, S., Perdrial, J.N., Segraves, D. (2018). Evaluation of Corrosion Control Products on a Distribution System through Crowdsourcing. Environmental Science and Pollution Research.
Perdrial, J.N., Brooks PD, Swetnam T, Lohse KA, Rasmussen C, Litvak M, Harpold AA, Zapata-Rios X, Broxton P, Mitra B, Meixner T, Condon K, Huckle D, Stielstra C, Vazquez-Ortega A, Lybrand R, Holleran M, Orem C, Pelletier J, Chorover J (2018). A net ecosystem carbon budget for snow dominated forested headwater catchments: linking water and carbon fluxes to critical zone carbon storage. Biogeochemistry, 138(3): 225-243.

2017:

Wymore, A.S., West, N.R., Maher, K., Sullivan, P.L., Harpold, A.A., Karwan, D., Marshall, J.A., Perdrial, J.N., Rempe, D.M., Ma, L. (2017). Growing New Generations of International Critical Zone Scientists. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (42):2498-2502.
Li, L., Maher, K., Navarre-Sitchler, A., Druhan, J., Meile, C., Lawrence, C., Moore, J., Perdrial, J.N., Sullivan, P., Thompson, A., Jin, L., Bolton, E.W., Brantley, S., Dietrich, W., Mayer, K.U., Steefel, C.I., Valocchi, A., Zachara, J., Kocar, B., McIntosh, J., Tutolo, B.M., Kumar, M., Sonnenthal, E., Bao, Ch., Beisman, J.(2017).