Robert Minard Garrels (August 24, 1916 – March 8, 1988) was an Americangeochemist. Garrels applied experimentalphysical chemistry data and techniques togeology andgeochemistry problems. The bookSolutions, Minerals, and Equilibria co-authored in 1965 by Garrels andCharles L. Christ revolutionized aqueous geochemistry.
Garrels earned a bachelor's degree in geology from theUniversity of Michigan in 1937. He went on to earn an M.S. degree fromNorthwestern University in 1939, his thesis work was on iron ores ofNewfoundland in 1938. His Ph.D. was awarded in 1941 based on lab studies of complex formation betweenlead andchlorideions inaqueous solution.
Garrels worked for theUnited States Geological Survey duringWorld War II and returned to teach at Northwestern until 1952. Also in 1952, he published a technical paper, "Origin and Classification of Chemical Sediments in Terms of pH and Oxidation-Reduction Potentials" withWilliam C. Krumbein, which was to become a classic study of sedimentary rocks from a physical chemistry viewpoint. This and following works revolutionized sedimentary and aqueous geochemistry.[1]
He joined theUnited States Geological Survey again for a time, but returned to academia atHarvard University in 1955. He became a full professor in 1957 and later department chair. His work and the lab he supervised at Harvard produced many classic works, including theSolutions, Minerals, and Equilibria text. Here, between 1960 and 1962, he, along with his colleagues, published the classic studies:[1]
He returned toNorthwestern University in 1965 and conducted influential studies on thesilicate andcarbonate buffering of seawaters, the genesis of groundwaters and the theoretical treatment of irreversible reactions ingeochemical processes.[1]
In 1969, he moved to theScripps Institution of Oceanography and later to theUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. During this time he worked on thermodynamic properties of silicate minerals and also published "Cycling of Carbon, Sulfur, and Oxygen through Geologic Time" with Ed Perry in 1974.[1]
In 1974, he returned toNorthwestern University and published important studies on the sulfur and carbonisotopic compositions ofPhanerozoic rocks with Abraham Lerman andFrederick T. Mackenzie.[1]
Garrels had broad interests beyond geology. He enjoyed travel and wine. He was athletic, holding the world high jump record for men over 57 years of age. He was a poet-scientist:
Cycle of P
by Robert M. Garrels
He moved to theUniversity of South Florida at St. Petersburg in 1979, holding the St. Petersburg Progress Chair in Marine Science, and spent summers at the Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg; the Université Libre, Brussels; andYale, where he held an adjunct professorship. During this time he published "TheCarbonate–Silicate Geochemical Cycle and Its Effect on AtmosphericCarbon Dioxide over the Past 100 Million Years" in 1983. This concerned the BLAG model, named for the collaborators including Tony Lasaga and Robert Berner.[3] He continued to be active while fighting cancer, publishing "Modeling Atmospheric O2 in the Global Sedimentary Redox Cycle" (1986) and "A Model for the Deposition of the Microbanded Precambrian Iron Formations." (1987)[1]
Source:[1]
