Carol Kendall | |
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Alma mater | University of Maryland at College Park |
Scientific career | |
Thesis | Impact of isotopic heterogeneity in shallow systems on modeling of stormflow generation (1993) |
Doctoral advisor | Phil Candela |
Carol Kendall is a hydrologist known for her research tracking nutrients and contaminants in aquatic ecosystems using isotopic tracers.
From the University of California, Riverside, Kendall earned a B.S. in geology (1973) and a masters in geology (1976).[1][2] Following her masters she took a position as a geochemist at California Institute of Technology where she remained until 1979. From 1980 until 1990, Kendall was a research hydrologist at the United States Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia. While working full-time,[3] she earned a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park.[4] Starting in 1990, Kendall was the project lead for the National Research Program's Isotope Tracers Project within the United States Geological Survey.[1]
Kendall is known for her research combining multiple stable isotopes to track nutrients through ecosystems. Her early research optimized methods to convert water into hydrogen for isotopic analysis.[5] She has worked in multiple ecosystems, including the San Joaquin River,[6] the Sacramento River,[7] and in San Francisco Bay.[8] Her large-scale survey of oxygen-18 and deuterium in water samples collected from rivers across the United States serves as a proxy for modern precipitation.[9] Her research into the carbon and nitrogen isotopes in particulate material provided a baseline for research into food webs, nutrient transport research,[10] and global patterns of nitrogen in soil and plants.[11] Kendall's research has also used isotope fractionation to track the flow of carbon from streams to the atmosphere[12] and to differentiate between sources of nitrogen.[13]