Susan Brantley 
EESI Associate
Director, Earth and Environmental Systems Institute
Contact Information:
Earth and Environmental Systems Institute
The Pennsylvania State University
2217 Earth & Engineering Sciences Building, 225B
University Park, PA 16802
Phone: (814) 865-1619
Fax: (814) 865-3191
email: brantley@eesi.psu.edu
Institute website: www.eesi.psu.edu
Dept. website: http://www.geosc.psu.edu/
Research Interests:
Chemical and physical processes associated with the circulation of aqueous fluids in shallow hydrogeologic settings.
Investigations incorporate field and laboratory work, and theoretical modelling of observations. Of particular interest are questions concerning the measurement and prediction of the rates of natural processes, including chemical weathering and natural degassing. Recent work has focused on the effect of microbial life on mineral reactivity.
Current Projects:
1. Fe release and isotope fractionation during microbial alteration of silicate and oxide minerals
2. Extraction of Mo from silicate glass by a soil bacterium (Azotobacter vinelandii)
3. Cu isotope fractionation during microbially enhanced mineral dissolution and precipitation
4. Measurement of weathering rinds on basalt from Norway and Costa Rica
5. Rates and mechanisms of spheroidal weathering
6. Reactive transport modelling of weathering
Recent Publications:
Fletcher, R.C., Buss, H.L., and Brantley, S.L. A spheroidal weathering model coupling porewater chemistry to soil thickness during steady-state denudation. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 244:1-2, 444-457.
2006 Goyne, K.W., Chorover, J., and Brantley, S.L., Effects of organic acids and dissolved oxygen on apatite and chalcopyrite dissolution: implications for using elements as organomarkers and oxymarkers. Chemical Geology V. 234:1-2, 28-45.
2006 Schaperdoth, I., Liermann, L.J., and Brantley, S.L. The effect of polymeric substances on
apatite reactivity in the presence of a freshwater cyanobacterium. Geomicrobiology
Journal. 24, 79-91.
2007 Conrad, C. F., Icopini, G. A., Yasahura, H., Bandstra, J. Z., Brantley, S. L., and Heaney,
P.J. Modeling the kinetics of nanocolloid formation and precipitation in logically
relevant aqueous solutions. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 71:3, 531-542
2007 Buss, H.L., Luttge, A., and Brantley, S.L. Etch pit formation on iron silicate surfaces
during siderophore-promoted dissolution.dissolution. Chemical Geology 240: 326-342.
2007 Hausrath E. M., Liermann L. J., House C. H., Ferry J. G., and Brantley S. L. The effect of methanogen growth on mineral substrates: will Ni markers of methanogen-based communities be detectable in the rock record? Geobiology 5(1), 49-61.
2007 Wasylenki, L.E., Liermann, L.J., Mathur, R., Gordon, G.W., Brantley, S.L., and Anbar, A.D. Metallomics and MC-ICP-MS: Isotope fractionation during metal uptake. JAAS Metallomics II Special Issue. 22, 905-910.
2007 Liermann, L., Hausrath, L. and Brantley, S. Assimilatory and dissimilatory processes of
microorganisms affecting metals in the environment. JAAS Metallomics II Special Issue.
22, 867-877.