Dr Karen Hudson-Edwards 
Senior Lecturer in Environmental Geochemistry and Mineralogy
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Birkbeck, University of London
Malet St
London WC1E 7HX
Tel 020 7679 7715
Fax 020 7679 2867
email: k.hudson-edwards@bbk.ac.uk
Teaching
- Introduction to Geochemistry (1st year)
- Skye field class (1st year)
- Forensic Geology (2nd year)
- Chemistry of the Earth's Surface Environment (3rd-4th year)
- Earth's Resources and Raw Materials (3rd-4th year)
- Hydrogeology and Pollution (3rd-4th year)
- MRes Frontiers in Earth Sciences
- MRes Research Techniques in Earth Sciences
- MRes Individual Directed Reading
Professional Affiliations
I am currently a Felow and Vice-President of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland. In January 2010 I will step down from this role and take on the post of Publications Manager. On behalf of the Society and the specialist Environmental Mineralogy Group (of which I was chair from 2006-9), I am co-organising the meeting Frontiers in Environmental Geoscience 2011, which will be held in Aberystwyth, Wales, in June 2011. If anyone is interested in submitting an idea for a session for this meeting, please contact me.
I am a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and of the Geochemical Society.
Research Interests and Publications
2. Biogeochemical controls on arsenic cycling in the Earth's surface environment
3. Controls on metal and metalloid cycling in mining-affected environments
4. Environmental minerals: formation, stability, contaminant uptake
5. Physical and chemical weathering in river systems
1. Formation, stability and contaminant uptake mechanisms of biogenic sulphate minerals on Earth and Mars
Jarosites [KFe3(SO4)2(OH)6] are among the most fascinating and important minerals on Earth and Mars. They occur in acid sulphate soils, acid mine wastes, saline lakes and hypogene systems, where they control the movement of toxic contaminants such as arsenic, cadmium and copper. In metallurgy, they are precipitated to remove unwanted iron and improve metal concentrates. The ancients used jarosite pigments to give distinct yellow colours to their artworks, and in 2004, jarosite was identified on Mars using Mossbaer spectroscopy. Because jarosite contains water in its structure, its presence suggests that the Martian surface was once wet and may have supported life. Research on jarosite minerals is timely because they can be used both for remediation, to immobilize toxic elements, and because they can give us insights into the potential presence of life on Mars. Using experimental and computational methods, I carry out research with colleagues on the mechanisms of formation, stability and contaminant uptake potential of jarosite and other biogenic sulphate minerals.
Current projects:
• Mechanisms of Al, Cd, Cu and Zn uptake in jarosite surfaces: a computer simulation study (funded by the Royal Society, with Prof. K. Wright, Nanochemistry Research Institute, Curtin University, Australia)
• Capacity and mechanisms of uptake of gold and silver by jarosite and goethite (PhD student Peter Cogram, with Dr R. Siddall, UCL)
Related publications:
Wright, K., Hudson-Edwards, K.A., Smith, A.M.L. and Dubbin, W.E. 2008. Computer simulation studies on the mechanisms of toxic element incorporation in jarosite. AusIMM 9th International Congress for Applied Mineralogy (ICAM), pp. 369-374.
2. Biogeochemical Controls on Arsenic Cycling in the Earth's Surface Environment
Many anoxic lake, river and groundwater systems are contaminated with arsenic (As). Consumption of these waters can lead to As toxicosis in animals, and melanosis, gangrene, cancer and ultimately, death, in humans. This is best illustrated in West Bengal and Bangladesh, which, according to the World Health Organisation, is the worst mass poisoning in the world. My colleagues and I carry out research aimed at better understanding the biogeochemical controls on arsenic pollution. I am part of the London Arsenic Group, a multi-disciplinary group carrying out research on the source, mobility, and fate, of arsenic in the environment.
In 2006 my former PhD student Jane Archer and I, supported by funding from Birkbeck, went to San Antonio de los Cobres in northern Argentina to evaluate potential As pollution of groundwater. We were invited to work on this project with a team from His Heart Missions, who had been working in the area for some time. We determined that drinking water in San Antonio has 25 times more As than the World Health Organization suggests is safe. Our work helped His Heart Missions to raise $70,000 to provide drinking water that is below the WHO guideline for As to every citizen of San Antonio de Los Cobres. Billy Hill Productions is producing a documentary film called 'Troubled Waters' about this important project.
Current projects:
• Studies on fluoride and arsenic contamination of drinking water in and around Lahore, Pakistan. A growing threat to human health (sponsored by the British Council, with Prof. K.J. Cheema, Lahore, Prof. J. Alam, BUET, Prof. M. Maslin, UCL Geography and Dr S. Bell, UCL Environmental Engineering)
• Low-termperature arsenite-oxidizing bacterial mechanisms in Yellowknife, NWT (with Dr J. Santini, UCL and Dr H. Jamieson, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada)
Related publications:
3. Controls on Metal and Metalloid Cycling in Mining-Affected Environments
Current projects:
• Dispersal and storage of sediment-associated metals in the Leichhardt River, Mount Isa, Australia (sponsored by Royal Geographical Society, with PhD student Alana MacKay and Dr M. Taylor, Macquarie University, Australia)
Related publications:
Nagaraju, A., Suresh, S., Killham, K. and Hudson-Edwards, K. 2006. Hydrogeochemistry of waters of Mangampeta barite mining area, Cuddapah basin, Andhra Pradesh, India. Turkish Journal of Engineering and Environmental Sciences, 30, 1-17.
Smolders, A., Archer, J., Stassen, M., Cavera, J.C.L. and Hudson-Edwards, K. 2006. Concentraciones metálicas en cabellos de habitantes de las orillas de la cuenca baja del río Pilcomayo. Revista Boliviana de Ecologia y Conservacion Ambiental, 19, 13-22.
Brewer, P.A., Macklin, M.G., Turner, J.N., and Hudson-Edwards, K.A. 2003. Geomorphological and geochemical adjustments of the Rió Guadiamar following the 1998 Aznalcóllar tailings dam failure, SW Spain. In: 21st Congress of the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), International Symposium on Major Challenges in Tailings Dams, pp. 46-56. Montreal, Canada, 15th June 2003.
Turner, J.N., Brewer, P.A., Macklin, M.G., Hudson-Edwards, K.A., Coulthard, T.J., Howard, A.J. and Jamieson, H.E. 2002. Heavy metal and As transport under low and high flows in the River Guadiamar three years after the Aznalcóllar tailings dam failure: implications for river recovery and management. In J.M. García-Ruiz, J.A.A. Jones & J. Arnáez (Editors) Environmental Change and Water Sustainability. Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología, Zaragoza, Spain, pp. 235-251.
Hudson-Edwards, K.A. 2000. Heavy metal-bearing Mn oxides in river channel and floodplain sediments. In J.D. Cotter-Howells, L.S. Campbell, E. Valsami-Jones and M. Batchelder (eds) Environmental Mineralogy: Microbial Interactions, Anthropogenic Influences, Contaminated Land and Waste Management. Mineralogical Society Series, 9. Mineralogical Society, London, pp. 207-226.
Macklin, M.G., Hudson-Edwards, K.A., Jamieson, H.E., Brewer, P., Coulthard, T.J., Howard, A.J. and Remenda, V.H. 1999. Physical stability and rehabilitation of sustainable aquatic and riparian ecosystems in the Rio Guadiamar, Spain, following the Aznalcóllar mine tailings dam failure. In F. Rubio (ed) Mine Water and Environment. International Congress, International Mine Water Association, September 13-17, 1999, Sevilla, Spain, pp. 271-278.
4. Environmental Minerals: Formation, Stability, Contaminant Uptake
Environmental mineralogy is a rapidly expanding field that draws upon the classical techniques and aspects of mineralogy and interfaces these with novel techniques for micro- and nano-particle and surface characterization, and with the disciplines of engineering, biogeochemistry, soil science, material sciences, medicine, chemistry and biology. Environmental minerals are not like many rock-forming minerals, because they are fine-grained, poorly crystalline and often formed by living organisms. Together with many colleagues, I carry out research on natural and synthetic analogues of these 'environmental' minerals, to determine their mechanisms of formation, their stability and how they take up and sequester contaminants.
I recently co-edited (with Heather Jamieson, Queen's University, Canada; Kaye Savage, Vanderbilt University, USA and Kevin Taylor, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK) a special issue of Canadian Mineralogist entitled 'Minerals in Contaminated Environments: Characterization, Stability, Impact'. This issue was based on a session of the same name held at the Frontiers in Mineral Sciences meeting in Cambridge, UK, in June 2007, and it includes papers reporting studies on natural, synthetic and computationally modelled, contaminated minerals.
Current projects:
• The mineralogy and geochemistry of urban road-deposited sediment (RDS): implications for risk assessment (MMU EPSRC PhD student Judi Barrett, with Dr. K. Taylor, MMU)
• Mechanisms of uranium (VI) reduction by U-respiring bacteria (UCL EPSRC PhD student Linda Dekker, with Drs. J. Santini and W. Burgess, UCL)
• Influence of microbial hydroxymate siderophores on mineral dissolution (PhD student Angela Stewart, with Dr W. Dubbin, NHM)
• Origin and weathering of V-U-Cu-Ag-As nodules at Budleigh Salterton, UK (PhD student Brian Smith, with Dr K. Taylor, MMU, and Dr P. Schofield, NHM)
• Arsenic- and lead-bearing hematite in pyrite ash wastes (with P. Canepa & Dr. M. Alfredsson, University of Kent; D. Kossoff, Birkbeck, and Dr. W. Dubbin, NHM)
Related publications:
5. Physical and Chemical Weathering in River Systems
Current projects:
• Chemical variation in rivers due to continental weathering over a full monsoon cycle, Goa, India. (PhD student Chris Hibbert and Dr M. Widdowson, OU)
Related publications:
Hudson-Edwards, K.A. 2007. Fluvial Environments. Chapter 3 in Environmental Sedimentology, (C. Perry and K.G. Taylor, eds.) Blackwell Scientific Publications, pp. 75-108.
Macklin, M.G., Taylor, M.P., Hudson-Edwards, K.A. and Howard, A.J. 2000. Holocene environmental change in the Yorkshire Ouse basin and its influence on river dynamics and sediment fluxes to the coastal zone. In I. Shennan and J. Andrews (eds) Holocene Land-Ocean Interaction and Environmental Change around the North Sea. Geological Society, London, Special Publication 166, pp. 87-96.
Schell, C., Black, S. and Hudson-Edwards, K.A. 2000. Sediment source characteristics of the Rio Tinto, Huelva, SW Spain. In I. Foster (ed) Tracers in Geomorphology. John Wiley and Sons, Chapter 26, pp. 503-520.
Hudson-Edwards, K.A., Macklin, M.G. and Taylor, M.P. 1999. Holocene sediment-borne chemical storage in the Yorkshire Ouse basin, UK. In H. Ármannsson (ed) Geochemistry of the Earth’s Surface. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 99-102.