Qi Fu, Postdoctoral Fellow
Astrobiology, Aqueous Geochemistry
Postdoctoral Fellow, NASA-JSC & LPI
qi.fu@nasa.gov
281-483-9121
My research interests are in the area of aqueous geochemistry, with a focus on understanding geochemical/biogeochemical processes during water-rock interaction at a wide range of temperature, pressure, and chemical constituent conditions. Recent work has been focused on hydrothermal organic synthesis at elevated temperatures and pressures. By integrating experimental studies, theoretical modeling, along with an array of advanced analytical techniques, including mineral surface, isotope and chemical analyses, the goal is to obtain a better understanding of reaction pathways of hydrocarbon generation and associated hydrogen and carbon isotope systematics during organic synthesis processes in mafic/ultramafic-hosted hydrothermal systems. It will help establish a qualitative and quantitative model of abiotic organic formation under different hydrothermal conditions, and constrain the origin and evolution of organic compounds by hydrogen and carbon isotope characterization. This research is supported by NASA Astrobiology: Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology program.
PhD University of Minnesota 2006
Fu Q., P. Lu, H. Konishi, R. Dilmore, H. Xu, W. E. Seyfried Jr., and C. Zhu (2009) Coupled alkali-feldspar dissolution and secondary mineral precipitation in batch systems: 1. New experiments at 200°C and 300 bars. Chem. Geol. 258, 125-135.
Fu Q., D. I. Foustoukos, and W. E. Seyfried Jr. (2008) Mineral catalyzed organic synthesis in hydrothermal systems: An experimental study using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. Geophys. Res. Lett. 35, L07612, doi:10.1029/2008GL033389.
Fu Q., B. Sherwood Lollar, J. Horita, G. Lacrampe-Couloume, and W. E. Seyfried Jr. (2007) Abiotic formation of hydrocarbons under hydrothermal conditions: Constraints from chemical and isotope data. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 71, 1982-1998.