Ananya Mallik awarded NSF CAREER Award for groundbreaking research on nitrogen dynamics in Earth’s systems

Dr. Ananya Mallik, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Arizona, has been awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award for her groundbreaking research on nitrogen movement within the Earth’s systems.

The CAREER Award, which supports early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models and lead future research, will fund Mallik’s innovative project that investigates the movement of nitrogen between the Earth’s surface and its deep interior through plate tectonics.

"The CAREER proposal is a huge boost for our group to pursue frontier research about deep volatile cycling on Earth, especially focusing on nitrogen,” Mallik said.” It will enable our group to expand into understanding volatile transport and distribution in the different reservoirs of Earth, including Earth-like planets that may have plate tectonics, how each reservoir evolves due to interaction with the other, and ultimately how this may impact habitability of the planet. The education plan would help expand into research-based K-12 education and lead an effort to build a continued pipeline of local high school students in the department who would eventually contribute to the geosciences workforce.”

Nitrogen, a crucial component of life, moves through various Earth systems—such as the atmosphere, land, oceans, and deep interior—helping regulate the planet’s habitability. A key focus of Mallik’s research is understanding how nitrogen is transferred between the surface and the Earth’s interior, specifically in subduction zones, where tectonic plates converge and one plate is forced beneath another. These regions are an excellent natural laboratory for studying nitrogen dynamics, as recent studies suggest that subduction zones transfer more nitrogen deep into the Earth’s mantle than is released by volcanic eruptions.

The project will investigate the role of continental crust in storing nitrogen that is transferred from the surface during subduction. Mallik and her team will analyze samples from two significant geological regions: the Sierra Nevada in California and the Transverse Ranges, also in California, alongside the tectonically altered lower crust in Chino Valley, Arizona. By conducting nitrogen partitioning experiments, the team will examine how nitrogen interacts with lower crust materials and melts. These experiments will shed light on the nitrogen content of primitive arc magmas, which play a key role in the nitrogen exchange between subduction zone reservoirs.

“It’s not just that Ananya does extraordinary world-class science, it’s that she is leading our efforts to grow our Geosciences impact on economic geology, the prosperity of our state and our amazing Tucson Gem and Mineral Show through building the Gem Science degree for our students,” said Dr. Joellen Russell, professor and head of Geosciences at the U of A. “Dr. Mallik is a rock star and we are delighted that she chose the University of Arizona!”

In addition to advancing geosciences knowledge, Mallik’s project incorporates a strong educational component. Some aspects of the research will be integrated into a summer camp for high school students from the Tucson Unified School District. The camp will focus on the geological history of Tucson and Arizona, providing students with a sense of place and a deeper connection to their local environment. The camp also aims to inspire students to pursue studies in geosciences and ultimately enroll in the University of Arizona’s geosciences program.

To learn more about Dr. Mallik, please visit her research lab webpage.