Department of Geology
School of Science
Indiana University ~ Purdue University, Indianapolis
HomeDegree ProgramsResearchCoursesStudent Resouces

Gabriel Filippelli - Professor of Geology, Chairman of Department

 Ph.D. 1994 ~ University of California at Santa Cruz
Specialties: Biogeochemistry, Paleoceanography, Paleoclimatology, Medical Geology 
The Biogeochemistry Laboratory
Recent Publications

Office: SL 124
Phone: 274-7484
Email: gfilippe@iupui.edu

My research focuses on biogeochemical cycling in the environment and the connections between geochemistry and the geologic record of climate change. Student projects involve field study, followed by detailed geochemical analyses in the biogeochemistry laboratory. The laboratory is equipped with a plasma emission spectrometer for elemental analyses, as well as specialized spectrometers for analysis of carbon, mercury, and phosphorous.

Research Program: I have worked extensively on the chemistry and geologic history of nutrient cycling in the ocean and on land. Current research projects involve determining the controls on nutrient cycling on land during glaciation, examining the timing and driving forces of biological productivity in the ocean, assessing the content and distribution of the potentially harmful element mercury in coal resources of Indiana and examining the links between lead distribution and children's blood lead levels in urban areas.

 

Recent Funded Projects:

  • Phosphorus sedimentation on continental margins: Present and past fluxes; Phosphorus and carbon sedimentation in the Southern Ocean on glacial/interglacial timescales; Contamination of wetland sediments, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore: Implications for wetland restoration strategies [Co-principal investigator: C. Souch, Department of Geography, IUPU]
  • The effects of landscape and soil development on the terrestrial phosphorus cycle [Co-principal investigator: C. Souch, Department of Geography, IUPUI]
  • Biogeochemical records of climate change: Ocean sediment analyses from Southern Spain and California [Co-principal investigator: F. Sierro and J. Flores, University of Salamanca]
  • Mercury in Indiana coals: Implications for coal sources [Co-principal Maria Mastalerz, Indiana Geological Survey]
 

Recent Publications

  • Filippelli, G.M., 1997, Intensification of the Asian Monsoon and a chemical weathering event in the late Miocene/early Pliocene: Implications for late Neogene climate change: Geology 25, 27-30.
  • Filippelli, G.M, and Souch, C., 1999, Effects of climate and landscape development on the terrestrial phosphorus cycle: Geology 27, 171-174.
  • Filippelli, G., Carnahan, J., Derry, L., and Kurtz, A., 2000, Terrestrial records of Ge/Si cycling derived from lake diatoms: Chemical Geology 168, 9-26.
  • Filippelli, G., 2001, Carbon and phosphorus cycling in anoxic sediments of the Saanich Inlet, British Columbia: Marine Geology 174, 307-321.
  • Mastalerz, M., Souch, C., Filippelli, G.M., Dollar, N.L., and Perkins, S.M., 2001, Anthropogenic organic matter in the Great Marsh of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and its implications: International Journal of Coal Geology 46, 157-177.
  • Dollar, N.L., Souch, C., Filippelli, G.M., and Mastalerz, M., 2001, Chemical fractionation of metals in wetland sediments: Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore: Environmental Science and Technology 35, 3608-3618.
  • Latimer, J.C. and Filippelli, G., 2001, Terrigenous input and paleoproductivity in the Southern Ocean: Paleoceanography. 16, 627-643
  • Latimer, J.C. and Filippelli, G., 2002, Eocene to Miocene terrigenous inputs, paleoproductivity, and the onset of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current: Geochemical Evidence from ODP Leg 177, Site 1090: Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, and Paleoecology 182, 151-164