The Faculty at SESE

Ariel Anbar is a biogeochemist interested in the past and future evolution of the Earth as a habitable planet and how this knowledge informs the search for inhabited worlds beyond Earth. His current research focuses on the chemical evolution of the environment, especially changes in ocean oxygenation through time, and its consequences for life. The focal point of this research is the development and application of new analytical methods in elemental and isotope geochemistry- particularly the stable isotope geochemistry of transition metals- to tease information about ancient environments from the geologic record. This research also involves chemical and biochemical experiments, quantum chemical modeling and geological field work. Anbar has also studied the atmospheric chemistry of present-day Earth and Mars, the bombardment history of the early Earth, and the use of metal stable isotopes in biomedicine.