ELIE
Croix du Sud 2/L7.05.10
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
Professeure
Chercheuse qualifiée FNRS
ELIE
Croix du Sud 2/L7.05.10
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
August 2019 - Interview on national television (RTL 13h, RTL 19h, RTBF 13h) and on regional television (TVcom) about the mission in Alaska
August 2019 - Interview on national radio (RTBF) and on regional radio (Vivacité Journal, Vivacité BW Matin, Vivacité BW Matin) about the mission in Alaska
August 2019 - Newspaper and Web articles about the mission in Alaska (La DH, La libre, L’Avenir, RTBF, RTLInfo, Le Vif, TVcom, L’Avenir BW)
May 2019 - Interview in ScienceToday about the WeThaw project
June 2018 - Interview in ScienceToday about the fieldwork in Alaska in May 2018
May 2018 - The project WeThaw in the satellite of Louvain[s]
November 2017 - Participation au film "Uni-Diversité: Passions de chercheurs" créé pour le Musée L
October 2017 - Interview UCL Presse about the ERC project on permafrost (WeThaw)
June 2017 - Interview Radiocontact (Contact News 19h30, 01/06/17) - implications pour notre planète à l’annonce du retrait des USA des accords de Paris sur le climat
November 2015 - Interview UCL Presse - recherches en lien avec le changement climatique dans le contexte de la conférence de Paris (COP21)
March 2015 - Pr. Oliver Chadwick (UC Santa Barbara, US) hosted in our lab to receive the title of Doctorat Honoris Causa at UCL during the International Year of Soils
February 2015 - Interview dans la Revue Athena (pg 32-35)
October 2014 - Interview dans la revue FNRS news (pg 36)
September 2006 - AGU Journal Highlights in EOS regarding the publication in GRL about the contribution of smectite clays to slope instability on volcanic flanks
I have developed my interest in weathering since my MSc thesis on hydrothermally altered materials involved in debris avalanche at Casita volcano, Nicaragua. I completed my PhD in 2008 at the Faculty of Bioscience engineering of the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium) on “Silicon cycle in the soil-plant system: Biogeochemical tracing using Si isotopes”.
In 2009-2010, I moved to the University of Oxford (UK) where I worked as a Post-doctoral Researcher in the Department of Earth Sciences.
Since 2011, I have been at the Earth and Life Institute of the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium), where I was promoted permanent FNRS Research Associate in 2014. In 2014, I was presented with the Ebelmen Award of the International Association of Geochemistry in recognition for my contribution to the use of silicon isotopes to distinguish biological and inorganic processes.
| Année | Label | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Candidate en sciences géologiques | Université catholique de Louvain |
| 2002 | Licenciée en sciences géologiques | Université catholique de Louvain |
| 2006 | Diplômée d'études approfondies en sciences agronomiques et ingénierie biologique | Université catholique de Louvain |
| 2008 | Docteur en sciences agronomiques et ingénierie biologique | Université catholique de Louvain |
Since 2016, I am teaching “Introduction to Earth Sciences” (LBIR1130) with P. Delmelle to first year students from the “Faculté des bioingénieurs” and “Faculté des sciences” (~500 students). The course is based on the book “Terre, portrait d'une planète” by S. Marshak. My contribution to this course is about mineralogy, the rock cycle, shaping the Earth surface, deformation and metamorphic rocks, fossils and evolution, geological times, Earth’s biography, Earth resources, processes and problems at the Earth’s surface (glaciers, deserts, global change). The practicals of this course represent the first opportunity for the students to manipulate minerals, rocks and fossils, get a direct sense of their properties, and discover their beauty under the microscope.
Teaching team
Professors: Pierre Delmelle (coordinator) and Sophie Opfergelt
Teaching assistant: Aubry Vandeuren
Collaborator: Gérard Philippe
| Nom | ID |
|---|---|
| Introduction aux sciences de la terre | LBIR1130 |
The motivation of my research is the understanding of the Earth’s surface processes controlling chemical weathering and element export from continent to the hydrosphere (rock-soil-plant-water systems). Chemical weathering of minerals in the Earth’s Critical Zone is the engine that replenishes the soil mineral nutrient reserve and ultimately nourishes terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Changing weathering dynamics in the Critical Zone in response to climate and land use changes is expected to impact on mineral nutrient cycling and mineral nutrient export to rivers. With my research group, I tackle the complexity of interacting processes (abiotic, biotic) involved in mineral weathering by an analytical approach combining soil science, geology, geochemistry and isotope geochemistry (e.g., Ge/Si ratio, stable isotopes of Si, Mg, etc.).
Ongoing projects
Mineral Weathering in Thawing Permafrost: Causes and Consequences (WeThaw), ERC Starting Grant, 2017-2022
Controls on weathering fluxes from hydrothermally-active volcanic regions (FluxHyd), FNRS, PDR, 2016-2020
Soils under global change (SOGLO), BELSPO, IAP, 2012-2017 (completed)
Programme de Révision de la Carte géologique de la Wallonie, SPW, 1990 – 2019, représentant UCL depuis 2016 (outil indispensable à la connaissance du sous-sol)