From Hand Samples to Satellites: Geochemistry with Brenda Bowen

In this episode of GeOCHemISTea, Sam talks with Dr. Brenda Bowen, Professor of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Utah, about using remote sensing to understand geochemistry at the scale of entire landscapes.

Brenda traces her work from the Navajo Sandstone and ancient fluid-flow systems to modern salt flats, desert environments, and Mars analogs. We explore how multispectral and hyperspectral data can map mineralogy, how minerals preserve records of water and environmental change, and how surface halite can even provide clues about groundwater depth.

We also talk about interdisciplinary science, unexpected career paths, fieldwork, and why some of the most interesting discoveries happen when geochemistry connects with hydrology, microbiology, ecology, and remote sensing.For this episode we read:

Multispectral Surface Reflectance as an Indicator of Groundwater Depth for Salt Crust Systems: Insights From the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah (Radwin et al., 2026)

Bleaching of Jurassic Navajo Sandstone on Colorado Plateau Laramide highs: Evidence of exhumed hydrocarbon supergiants? (Beitler et al., 2003)

Southwestern Australia Acid-Saline Mineralogy: Observations From Reflectance Spectroscopy (Radwin et al., 2023)

Fracture-focused fluid flow in an acid and redox-influenced system: diagenetic controls on cement mineralogy and geomorphology in the Navajo Sandstone (Bell and Bowen, 2014)

Decadal‐Scale Trajectories of Land Cover Change Along the Colorado and San Juan Rivers in Response to Declining Water Storage in Lake Powell Reservoir (Kasprak et al., 2026)

Mapping mineralogy in evaporite basins through time using multispectral Landsat data: Examples from the Bonneville basin, Utah, USA (Radwin and Bowen, 2020)

Shrinking salt crusts of the Bonneville Basin, Utah: Observations from multispectral remote sensing (2025)