Contact Information
Name: Amelia (Paukert) Vankeuren
Title: Assistant Professor of Geology
Office Location: 1018 Placer Hall
Email: Vankeuren@csus.edu
Office Phone: (916) 278-7385
Mailing Address: Sacramento State 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95819-6043
Office Hours: Varies by semester. Email for current information.
Lab Location : 1005 Placer Hall
Courses that I teach
Undergraduate courses:
- GEOL 5: Geology of Mexico
- GEOL 126: Environmental Field Methods
- GEOL 127: Hydrogeology
- GEOL 184: Geology Field Trip
Graduate courses:
- GEOL 208 Groundwater Modeling
- GEOL 227: Advanced Hydrogeology
Research Projects/Interests
I am a groundwater geochemist working on water-rock interaction and groundwater quality. My group’s primary areas of research are California groundwater resources and low temperature alteration of mantle rock in the Sultanate of Oman. We use a combination of fieldwork, environmental tracers, laboratory experiments, and reactive transport modeling to assess and predict changes to groundwater flow and chemistry due to a variety of processes.
My research interests include:
- Low temperature serpentinization as a driver of early life on Earth and elsewhere
- Mineral carbonation (turning carbon dioxide gas into rocks for permanent storage) to combat climate change
- Managed aquifer recharge through off-season irrigation of agricultural land
- Quantifying recharge from groundwater-surface water interaction near rivers
- Arsenic mobilization in groundwater in the San Joaquin Valley
- Impact of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for oil and gas on shale reservoir chemistry and permeability
I am also interested in the intersection of science and policy and enjoy doing research that informs policy decisions and helps us make better choices about how we interact with our Earth.
Publications
Hakala, J.A., Paukert Vankeuren, A.N., Scheuermann, P.P., Lopano, C., Guthrie, G.D., 2021. Predicting the potential for mineral scale precipitation in unconventional reservoirs due to fluid-rock and fluid mixing geochemical reactions. Fuel, 284, 118883.
Kelemen, P.B., McQueen, N.,Wilcox, J., Renforth, P., Dipple, G.,& Paukert Vankeuren, A. N., 2020. Engineered carbon mineralization in ultramafic rocks for CO2 removal from air: Review and new insights. Chemical Geology, 550, 119628.
Paukert Vankeuren, A.N., Matter, J.M., Stute, M., Kelemen, P.B., 2019. Multitracer determination of Groundwater Ages in Peridotite Aquifers Within the Samail Ophiolite, Oman. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 516, 37-48.
Phan, T., Paukert Vankeuren, A.N., Hakala, J.A., 2018. Role of water-rock interaction in the geochemical evolution of Marcellus Shale produced waters. International Journal of Coal Geology 191, 95-111.
Paukert Vankeuren, A.N., Hakala, J.A., Jarvis, K., Moore, J.E., 2017. Mineral Reactions in Shale Gas Reservoirs: Barite Scale Formation from Reusing Produced Water as Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid. Environmental Science & Technology 51, 9391-9402.
Paukert, A.N., Matter, J.M., Kelemen, P.B., Shock, E.L., Havig, J.R., 2012. Reaction path modeling of enhanced in situ CO2 mineralization for carbon sequestration in the peridotite of the Samail Ophiolite, Sultanate of Oman. Chemical Geology 330-331, 86-100.
Falk, E. S., Guo, W., Paukert, A. N., Matter, J. M., Mervine, E. M., Kelemen, P. B., 2016. Controls on the stable isotope compositions of travertine from hyperalkaline springs in Oman: Insights from clumped isotope measurements. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. June 2016, online ahead of print.
Esther, T. A., Hammond, D. E., Hautala, S. L., Paul Johnson, H., Schwartz, R. J., Paukert, A. N., 2010. Evaluation of the budget for silicic acid in Cascadia Basin deep water. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 57(5), 677-686.
Professional Associations
- American Geophysical Union
- Groundwater Resources Association of California
- American Association of Petroleum Geologists
- National Association of Geoscience Teachers
Check out these websites:
Field work in the Samail Ophiolite, Sultanate of Oman
Cooling my heels near Grand Teton National Park, WY