
Faculty Spotlight
Professor John A. Higgins
Title: Associate Professor of Geosciences
Research Areas:
Professor John Higgins' primary research interest is the evolution of the carbon cycle and the global climate system over Earth history. One focus has been on processes that control the chemical composition of seawater, and how those processes have changed on geologic timescales. Another is how on the chemistry of carbonate sediments is affected by processes that occur post-deposition. These include early diagenetic recrystallization, dolomitization and hydrothermal alteration. The tools Prof. Higgins has employed to study these include numerical models of chemical and isotopic biogeochemical cycles, as well as analysis of traditional stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon, and new isotope systems such as magnesium, calcium, and potassium.
Labortory
Higgins Research Laboratory
Website:
carboncycle.princeton.edu

Courses:
Upcoming Semester - SPRING 2021
GEO 360 / ENV 356 - Geochemistry of the Human Environment
Humans have profoundly altered the chemistry of Earth's air, water, and soil. This course explores these changes with an emphasis on the analytical techniques used to measure the human impact. Topics include the accumulation of greenhouse gases (CO2 and CH4) in Earth's atmosphere and the contamination of drinking water at the tap and in the ground. Students will get hands on training in mass spectrometry and spectroscopy to determine the chemical composition of air, water, and soil and will participate in an outreach project aimed at providing chemical analyses of urban tap waters to residents of Trenton, NJ.
Past Semesters
GEO 203 - Fundamentals of the solid Earth
GEO 360 / ENV 356 Geochemistry of the Human Environment Class
GEO 362 / ENV 362 Earth History
GEO 534 - Geological Constraints on the Global Carbon Cycle
In The News
-
Thursday, Jan 7, 2021Scientists think the world's oldest ice is hiding somewhere in Antarctica. NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce interviews Department of...
-
Tuesday, Dec 29, 2020The oldest ice on Earth probably is hiding somewhere in Antarctica, because this frozen continent holds ice that's hundreds of thousands and even...
-
Thursday, Dec 10, 2020The 2020 season also forms part of a pattern that calls into question what even constitutes an “average” season. It is the fifth consecutive year...
-
Thursday, Dec 10, 2020"The cause of the ice ages is one of the great unsolved problems in the geosciences,” said Daniel Sigman, the Dusenbury Professor of Geological and...
-
Wednesday, Dec 2, 2020Scientists using a unique combination of capabilities at the Advanced Photon Source have learned more about how meteorites affect one of the most...
-
Wednesday, Dec 2, 2020Participation Schedule of Geosciences Members at the 2020 AGU Fall Meeting
-
Monday, Nov 30, 2020
Join Professor Laure Resplandy where she will present: "Will oxygen minimum zones expand or shrink?
-
Saturday, Nov 28, 2020I last wrote at the end of the Spring semester, when the students had vacated the campus and had completed the semester remotely. Summer began with...
-
Wednesday, Nov 18, 2020Ten storms rapidly intensified this Atlantic season, some to a record degree. (Vecchi mention)
More recent articles
Well, it’s complicated, but a new study suggests that climate change makes some elements of destructive hurricanes even worse.