University of Southern California
USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
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About
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Maria Genrikhovna ProkopenkoAdjunct Assistant Professor (Research) of Earth SciencesContact Information E-mail: prokopen@usc.edu Phone: (213) 740-5828 Office: SCI 117 LINKS Curriculum Vitae |
Education |
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 Ph.D. Chemical Oceanography, USC, 12/2004
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Postdoctoral Training |
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Postdoctoral Researcher, USC, 2007-2009
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Hess Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University, 2005-2006
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Description of Research |
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Summary Statement of Research Interests |
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| I am a biogeochemist interested in the interactions between the three major components of Earth system: biosphere, hydrosphere and geosphere. My expertise is chemical oceanography – a branch of oceanography which employs geochemical methods to study biological processes in the oceans. I study how perturbations in environmental conditions, such as caused by climate change, affect structure, composition and biological rates within ecological systems. Using a variety of chemical proxies (concentrations and isotopic composition of different forms of biologically relevant elements) I determine the rates of biological cycling, or “chemical heartbeat” of ecosystems. My area of expertise is in studies of oxygen and nitrogen isotopes, and my current research projects can be classified in two broad categories: 1) studies of biological primary production in the sunlit surface ocean and 2) studies of nitrogen transformations in anoxic environments, deep within ocean abyss. Two of my current projects focus on factors controlling the magnitude of primary production in two radically different ecosystems: 1) Bering Sea Shelf - probably the most productive area in the ocean; 2) Eastern Tropical Pacific, which is considered a biological desert. My work on anoxic nitrogen cycling is mostly focused on sedimentary processes within Oxygen Minimum Zones of Eastern Pacific, including California Borderland Basins | |
Research Keywords |
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| nitrogen isotopes; triple oxygen isotopes; primary production; anoxic sediments | |
Research Specialties |
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| Biogeochemistry Stable isotopes Oceanography | |
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