Aqueous Biogeochemistry Laboratory

The Aqueous Biogeochemistry Laboratory is housed in Haenicke Hall, a modern facility built in 1997 integrating geoscience, biology and chemistry research laboratories  to promote active cross-disciplinary research and collaboration. The lab is supervised by Dr. Carla Koretsky, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Western Michigan University.

Recent Projects



  • Influence of Road Salt Deicers on the Chemistry of Michigan Lakes, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, 9/1/2015-8/31/17
  • Development of surface complexation models for Cr (VI) adsorption on soils, sediments, and model mixtures of kaolinite, montmorillonite, g-alumina, hydrous manganese and ferric oxides, and goethite, DOE, Federal, 9/1/10-8/31/12

Major Instrumentation

  • Balances
  • Barnsted Water Purification System
  • Centrifuges
  • Coy Anaerobic Chamber
  • Dionex Ion Choromatograph
  • Drying oven
  • Flow-through reactors with syringe pumps
  • Freezers and T-controlled refrigerator
  • Helios Gamma UV/Vis Spectrophotomer
  • LabConco Benchtop Freeze Dryer
  • Perkin Elmer Optima 2100DV Inductively-Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer
  • pH, conductivity and ion selective electrodes and meters
  • Pore water diffusion equilibrators (peepers)
  • Pore water squeezer
  • QuantaChrome Nova 2200 Particle Surface Area Analyzer
  • Shakers/rotators
  • Specialized coring devices (e.g., wedge and reactor type)
  • SRI FID Gas Chromatograph