Welcome to Céline Pallud’s Research Group!

The research in our Lab focuses on the analysis and prediction of the fate and transport of chemical species that are of importance to the functioning, quality and remediation of soils, surface sediments and water. Soil ecosystems are fundamentally impacted by our changing world. Some of the most important perturbations are increased trace element, metal and nutrient loading from agricultural practices and industrialization, as well as changes in hydrology and temperature caused by land use and climate change, and forest fires. Such alterations in elemental pools and cycling have direct, lasting and severe impacts on soil health and water quality, which are at the core of our research. More specifically, our research aims at a mechanistic understanding and quantitative characterization of the coupled physical (transport), geochemical and biological processes that control the responses of natural systems to human activities, from small-scale contamination to large-scale global change. This integrated approach reconciles the search for fundamental knowledge with its application to environmental problems, ultimately providing the predictive framework needed to assess chemical fate in soils and develop nature-based solutions to environmental problems. This work addresses essential questions in today’s world and is critical for understanding carbon, nutrient and contaminant cycling, with important implications for the maintenance of soil and water quality, the development of sustainable agricultural practices, the evaluation of pollution risks, the design of (bio)remediation strategies and carbon removal technologies. Our research is articulated around into two large research foci: 1) increasing our fundamental knowledge of the fate and transport of carbon, nutrients, metals and contaminants, and 2) managing soils for a sustainable future.