Karin A. Block

I am a geochemist/petrologist conducting research in the way minerals evolve in geobiological, geothermal and magmatic systems. Currently, my main focus is on the interaction between microbes and common low-temperature minerals (clays), the effect of clays on bacteria and virus viability, and how microbe-mineral aggregates stabilize organic and inorganic metabolic products in aquatic and soil environments. In my other research I use structural analysis of minerals to interpret the degree of low-grade metamorphism in geothermal clays. In my high-temperature research, I focus on how mineral structure, chemistry and rock texture can be used to reconstruct the crystallization history of mafic intrusions and extrusive flows in the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP). Lastly, I am also involved in the development of cyberinfrastructure (geoinformatics portals and databases) as a collaborator in the IEDA Facility at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.

Recent Publications:

• Williams, N., Block, K. A. "Spatial and vertical distribution of metals in sediment cores from Río Espíritu Santo estuary, Puerto Rico, United States". Marine Pollution Bulletin (In Review)

• Block, K. A., Steiner, J. C., Puffer, J. H., Jones, K., Goldstein, S. L., "Evolution of Late Stage Differentiates in the Palisades Sill, New York and New Jersey"; Lithos (In Revision).

• Block, K. A., Trusiak, A., Katz, A., Gottlieb, P., Wei, H., Alimova, A., Steiner, J. C. "Exfoliation and intercalation of montmorillonite by small peptides”. Applied Clay Sciences; 107: 173-181. doi: 10.1016/j.clay.2015.01.021.

• Block, K. A., †Trusiak, A., Katz, A., Gottlieb, P., Alimova, A., Wei, H., Morales, J., Rice, W. J., Steiner, J. C. (2014) “Disassembly of Cystovirus f6 Envelope by Montmorillonite Clay”. Microbiology Open (Wiley); 3(1): 42-51.

• Katz, A. , Xu, M., Steiner, J.C., †Trusiak, A., Alimova, A., Gottlieb, P., *Block, K.A. (2013) “Influence of Cations on Aggregation Rates in Mg-Montmorillonite Clays” Clays and Clay Minerals, 61: 1-10. doi:10.1346.CCMN.2013.610101.

Affiliations:

Adjunct Associate Research Scientist, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.