Yanxu Zhang
Associate Professor
Office
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Blessey Hall Room 206
New Orleans, LA 70118
Education & Affiliations
Biography
Dr. Yanxu Zhang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Tulane University and serves as Editor-in-Chief of npj Emerging Contaminants, a Nature Partner Journal dedicated to advancing research on emerging pollutants and their environmental and health impacts.
His research focuses on the global biogeochemical cycling of contaminants and their interactions with Earth systems. By integrating mechanistic understanding with observational data, Dr. Zhang develops advanced Earth System Models to quantify pollutant budgets and assess the environmental impacts of human activities and climate change.
Current projects address mercury, microplastics, PFAS, antibiotics, radionuclides, and other emerging pollutants, with an emphasis on understanding their sources, transport pathways, and long-term environmental consequences. These studies aim to inform global strategies for pollution mitigation and sustainability.
Dr. Zhang earned dual Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Geochemistry from Peking University (2010) and Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Washington (2013). Prior to joining Tulane, he served as a faculty member at Nanjing University and completed postdoctoral research at Harvard University.
For more information, visit the Environmental Biogeochemistry Modeling Group.
Research
Dr. Yanxu Zhang’s research investigates the global biogeochemical cycling of contaminants and their interactions with Earth systems. His overarching goal is to understand how pollutants move through and transform within the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere, and how these processes are influenced by human activities and climate change.
To achieve this, Dr. Zhang integrates mechanistic insights with observational data to develop and refine Earth System Models that quantify pollutant budgets and predict environmental responses under future scenarios. These models provide a framework for assessing the fate and transport of contaminants across multiple scales, from local ecosystems to the global environment.
Current research focuses on mercury (Hg), microplastics, PFAS, antibiotics, radionuclides, and other emerging pollutants. These substances pose significant challenges due to their persistence, toxicity, and complex interactions with natural processes. His work aims to:
- Establish comprehensive global budgets for legacy and emerging contaminants
- Quantify pollutant fluxes and transformation pathways across environmental compartments
- Assess the impacts of anthropogenic emissions and climate-driven changes on pollutant cycling
- Project future contamination risks and their implications for ecosystems and human health
This research is inherently interdisciplinary, requiring collaboration across atmospheric science, oceanography, geochemistry, and environmental engineering. By advancing predictive modeling capabilities and integrating them with empirical observations, Dr. Zhang’s work contributes to a deeper understanding of Earth system dynamics and informs strategies for pollution mitigation and environmental sustainability.
Contributions
Sun et al. 2024. Calcite carbonate sinks low-density plastic debris in open oceans. Nature Communications 15 (1), 4837.
Yuan et al. 2024. Potential decoupling of CO2 and Hg uptake process by global vegetation in the 21st century. Nature Communications 15 (1), 4490.
Fu et al. 2023. Modeling atmospheric microplastic cycle by GEOS-Chem: An optimized estimation by a global dataset suggests likely 50 times lower ocean emissions. One Earth 6, 705-714.
Wu and Zhang, 2023. Toward a Global Model of Methylmercury Biomagnification in Marine Food Webs: Trophic Dynamics and Implications for Human Exposure. Environmental Science & Technology 57(16) 6563-6572.
Zhang et al. 2023. An updated global mercury budget from a coupled atmosphere-land-ocean model: 40% more re-emissions buffer the effect of primary emission reductions. One Earth 6(3), 316-325.
Zhang et al. 2023. Plastic Waste Discharge to the Global Ocean Constrained by Seawater Observations. Nature Communications 14(1) 1372.
Wang et al. 2023. Climate-Driven Changes of Global Marine Mercury Cycles in 2100. PNAS 120(2) e2202488120.
Song et al. 2022. Modeling Mercury Isotopic Fractionation in the Atmosphere. Environmental Pollution 307,119588.
Peng et al. 2021. Plastic waste release caused by COVID-19 and its fate in the global ocean. PNAS 118(47) e2111530118.
Zhang et al. 2021. Global Health Effects of Future Atmospheric Mercury Emissions. Nature Communications 12, 3035.
Zhang et al. 2020. A global model for methylmercury formation and uptake at the base of marine food webs. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 34(2), e2019GB006348.
Wagner et al. 2019. A Global 3-D Ocean Model for PCBs: Benchmark Compounds for Understanding the Impacts of Global Change on Neutral Persistent Organic Pollutants. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 33(3) 469-481.
Wang et al. 2017. Trade-driven relocation of air pollution and health impacts in China. Nature Communications 8, 738.
Zhang et al. 2017. North Atlantic Deep Water formation inhibits high Arctic contamination by continental perfluorooctane sulfonate discharges. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 31(8) 1332-1343.
Zhang et al. 2016. Observed decrease in atmospheric mercury explained by global decline in anthropogenic emissions. PNAS 113(3) 526-531.
