Amanda Albright Olsen

Mineral Weathering Lab

My research focuses on understanding interactions between minerals, biota, and water in a changing climate.  Current questions that my group works on include:

  • What factors control the initiation of chemical weathering?
  • Can plants more effectively liberate nutrients from minerals in high CO2 environments?
  • What factors affect mineral stability in planetary systems like Mars, and can we use mineralogy to answer questions about past planetary systems?
  • What controls rates of weathering and trace metal geochemistry in tropical watersheds?
  • How fast do mafic and ultramafic rocks weather, and how much CO2 do they consume during this process?

The Environmental Geochemistry Group uses a wide variety of methods to address these questions, including laboratory experimental studies, geochemical modeling, and watershed-scale field studies.  We utilize a variety of geochemical techniques, including liquid ICP-MS, laser ablation ICP-MS, electron microprobe, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy.

Recent Publications

Olsen, A.A., Bodkin, M., Hausrath, E.M. (2023) Quantifying early mineral weathering reactions in serpentinite bedrock. Chemical Geology, Volume 148, 105543.

Morra, B.M. and Olsen, A.A. (2020) Effect of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) on apatite weathering under elevated CO2. Chemical Geology. Volume 558, 119887.