Chemical geology

Geochemistry is the science that uses the tools and principles of chemistry to explain the mechanisms behind major geological systems such as the Earth's crust and its oceans. The realm of geochemistry extends beyond the Earth, encompassing the entire Solar System and has made important contributions to the understanding of a number of processes including mantle convection, the formation of planets and the origins of granite and basalt.

The term geochemistry was first used by the Swiss-German chemist Christian Friedrich Schönbein in 1838. In his paper, Schönbein predicted the birth of a new field of study, stating:

"In a word, a comparative geochemistry ought to be launched, before geochemistry can become geology, and before the mystery of the genesis of our planets and their inorganic matter may be revealed."

The field began to be realised a short time after Schönbein's work, but his term 'geochemistry' was initially used neither by geologists nor chemists and there was much debate over which of the two sciences should be the dominant partner. There was little collaboration between geologists and chemists and the field of geochemistry remained small and unrecognised.

A major influence on the development of geochemistry in the twentieth century was the work of Victor Goldschmidt. Born in Switzerland but spending his career mostly in Norway and Germany, Goldschmidt has been described as the "father of modern geochemistry." In a series of publications in the 1920s and 1930s under the title Geochemische Verteilungsgesetze der Elemente (Geochemical Laws of the Distribution of Elements], Goldschmidt laid the foundation for modern geochemistry as a discipline.

Other important figures in the history of geochemistry include Frank Wigglesworth Clarke, who had begun to investigate the abundances of various elements within the Earth and how the quantities were related to atomic weight in the late 19th century. The composition of meteorites and their differences to terrestrial rocks was being investigated as early as 1850. In 1901, Oliver C. Farrington hypothesised that, although there were differences, the relative abundances should still be the same. This was the beginnings of the field of cosmochemistry and has contributed much of what we know about the formation of the Earth and the Solar System.

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