Erin Black

Erin Black is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Rochester. She earned her PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Her research focuses on marine carbon cycling, particularly the biological carbon pump, using isotope geochemistry and uranium-thorium series radionuclides. Her group investigates mechanisms controlling carbon export in the Arctic, iron availability in global oceans, and manganese scavenging in the Pacific.

Dr. Black is constructing a radioisotope facility at UR with alpha, beta, and gamma counting capabilities, primarily for analyzing uranium-thorium decay series isotopes. This lab supports collaborations involving short-lived cosmogenic isotopes (e.g., beryllium-7) and anthropogenic radionuclides (e.g., cesium, plutonium). Her work bridges geochemical analysis with climate modeling, aiming to improve predictions of oceanic carbon sequestration under modern climate change.

Key research themes include: 1) Arctic Ocean biogeochemistry and mercury export fluxes, 2) trace metal cycling (iron, cadmium, cobalt) in the Southeast Pacific, and 3) hydrothermal scavenging dynamics in the South Pacific. Recent studies have explored dust-derived iron delivery to high-nitrate low-chlorophyll regions and the role of hydrogen sulfide in trace metal sequestration.

Notable collaborations include the GEOTRACES program, Arctic Ocean expeditions, and Pacific Basin radioisotope analyses. Her lab’s multidisciplinary approach integrates field measurements, laboratory isotope analyses, and numerical modeling to address critical questions in marine biogeochemistry.