Staff Profile

I'm a geochemist and soil scientist. I look at element cycling from soils, across agricultural systems, to the river-ocean system, and relate this to greenhouse gas balance, nutrient availability and soil health. More broadly, I’m interested in examining questions about interconnections of biogeochemical cycling and climate change through Earth history, and how these might evolve in the future under human influence.

I've been at Newcastle University since 2024. Before that, I completed a PhD in Geochemistry at Yale University (supervised by Noah Planavsky), and a Masters' in Earth Sciences at Oxford University.

My current work focuses mainly on carbon dioxide removal (CDR) through enhanced weathering (EW) in managed lands. This practice targets the acceleration of natural rock dissolution in order to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and may be used in agriculture to remediate soil acidification and provide nutrients to soils. I use trace metal analysis and other geochemical tools to track EW in laboratory and field experiments. From my research findings I aim to develop tools and strategies for implementing viable methods of CDR at scale.

If you are looking for a PhD studentship in any of the following areas, please check up to date information on funding available by visiting the following page before emailing: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/fees-funding/search-funding/

I am actively recruiting students for Undergraduate and Masters' research projects, and for PhD projects. If you are interested, please don't hesitate to get in touch! Here are some potential projects that I am seeking to explore further:

-Characterising the variability of trace metals in agricultural soils

-Assessing novel methods of soil metal analysis

-Exploring exchange and transport of ions through soil systems

-Quantifying net greenhouse gas balance across agricultural systems

-Mass-balance accounting of reaction products from enhanced rock weathering

-Assessing the efficacy of strategies to improve crop yield, soil health, and affect greenhouse gas balance in agricultural systems (across geographies, and especially smallholder farms)

-Farmer engagement with geoengineering as ecosystem service

Current Teaching:

NES8105 - Global Challenges in Food Security

NES8106 - Agricultural Systems

• Articles

  • Beerling DJ, Epihov DZ, Kantola IB, Masters MD, Reershemius T, Planavsky NJ, Reinhard CT, Jordan JS, Thorne SJ, Weber J, Val Martin M, Freckleton RP, Hartley SE, James R, Pearce CR, DeLucia EH, Banwart SA. Enhanced weathering in the US Corn Belt delivers carbon removal with agronomic benefits. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2024, 121(9), e2319436121.
  • Suhrhoff TJ, Reershemius T, Wang J, Jordan JS, Reinhard CT, Planavsky NJ. A tool for assessing the sensitivity of soil-based approaches for quantifying enhanced weathering: A US case study. Frontiers in Climate 2024, 6, 1346117.
  • Clarkson MO, Larkin CS, Swoboda P, Reershemius T, Suhrhoff TJ, Maesano CN, Campbell JS. A review of measurement strategies for carbon dioxide removal by enhanced weathering in soil. Frontiers in Climate 2024, 6, 1345224.
  • Reershemius T, Suhrhoff TJ. On error, uncertainty, and assumptions in calculating carbon dioxide removal rates by enhanced rock weathering in Kantola et al., 2023. Global Change Biology 2023, 30(1), e17025.
  • Reershemius T, Kelland ME, Davis IE, DAscanio R, Jordan JS, Kalderon-Asael B, Asael D, Suhrhoff TJ, Epihov DZ, Beerling DJ, Reinhard CT, Planavsky NJ. Initial validation of a soil-based mass-balance approach for empirical monitoring of enhanced rock weathering rates. Environmental Science & Technology 2023, 57(48), 19497–19507.
  • Yang X, Mao J, Li R, Jiang Z, Yu M, Xu L, Reershemius T, Planavsky NJ. The deposition and significance of an Ediacaran non-glacial iron formation. Geobiology 2022, 21(1), 44-65.
  • Zhang S, Planavsky NJ, Katchinoff J, Raymond PA, Kanzaki Y, Reershemius T, Reinhard CT. River chemistry constraints on the carbon capture potential of surficial enhanced rock weathering. Limnology & Oceanography 2022, 67(S2), S148-S157.
  • Reershemius T, Planavsky NJ. What controls the duration and intensity of ocean anoxic events in the Paleozoic and the Mesozoic?. Earth-Science Reviews 2021, 221, 103787.