Morgan Mellum

I am broadly interested in studying the formation of soil carbonates to 1) better our understanding of how paleosol carbonates can be used as paleoclimate proxies and 2) improve our understanding of the role soil carbonates play in the global carbon cycle.

For my PhD, I am working on two overarching projects. The first project involves combining daily measurements of soil gases in experimental soil pits and climatic data to identify signals of soil carbonate dissolution and precipitation as well as identify rain events where soil carbonates are a sink or source of carbon. The second project uses calcium isotopes to study soil cycling in calcium-oxalate rich ecosystems to determine if soil carbonates in these environments are sequestering carbon.

I have my BA in Geology, Environmental Studies and French from Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota. I wrote my undergraduate honors thesis under Dr. Erik Gulbranson on the late Cretaceous and early Paleocene paleosol morphology and geochemistry of the southwestern U.S., focusing on how the climate changed directly following the bolide impact.