Chemistry for Geologists and Environmental Scientists

Geologists and environmental scientists all must take "General" chemistry. For most students, this is just a hurdle to pass before graduation. However, chemistry provides a tool set that many geologists and environmental scientists can use to better solve problems they face in their day-to-day activities. This book comes as a result of teaching an undergraduate course in geology specifically aimed at low-temperature geochemistry. It is presented at a Junior/Senior level, and could be termed, "Gen Chem for Geologists". Like general chemistry, the course does not delve deeply into the background of "why" for some parts of thermodynamics, and calculus is used only briefly, with the expectation that students interested in these subjects can work later to improve their knowledge in these fields. That said, the book demonstrates WHY chemistry is useful to geologists and environmental scientists. For a rough book outline, the book focuses first on introductory material (What is Geochemistry, Review, Water, Acids and Bases), then delves into some problem solving with geochemistry (thermodynamics, redox, rate laws, radioactivity, isotopes), and then introduces the applications of these problem solving methods to geology. The geology/environmental subjects covered include water-rock interactions (metasomatism, weathering, etc.), groundwater geochemistry, biogeochemistry, and even planetary science. Each chapter is followed up with 2-10 problems to be solved for practice. The solution guide will be posted separately. Geochemistry tends to be approached in college as a senior/graduate level course. This book approaches it from a Junior level, and is one of the first to attempt to do so. Students should be ready for this course material after having taken Gen Chem and 2-3 geology courses. Chemistry is a dry subject, especially for geologists and environmental scientists. As such, the book attempts to inject some humor by adding a few comics here and there. The comics may be described as "bizarre" more than anything else, but probably work for the material being covered. I did not have a large production budget for this book (total budget: $0). The figures are crude, and/or are hand-drawn, or are taken from the public domain (nasa.gov), or are my own photos. For some this may be a turn-off but for others these may hold students attention better.