World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
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Chemistry
Denmark
2026
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Environmental Sciences
Denmark
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Chemistry

D-Index
100
Citations
49988
World Ranking
1249
National Ranking
8

Environmental Sciences

D-Index
124
Citations
67316
World Ranking
102
National Ranking
2

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Chemistry in Denmark Leader Award
  • 2026 - Research.com Environmental Sciences in Denmark Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Chemistry in Denmark Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Environmental Sciences in Denmark Leader Award
  • 2023 - Research.com Environmental Sciences in Denmark Leader Award
  • 2022 - Research.com Chemistry in Denmark Leader Award
  • 2022 - Research.com Environmental Sciences in Denmark Leader Award
  • 2011 - Fellow of American Geophysical Union (AGU)
  • 2010 - Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky Medal, European Geosciences Union
  • 2007 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • 2007 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences

Overview

Donald E. Canfield is currently affiliated with the University of Southern Denmark in Denmark. Their research primarily spans Earth and Planetary Sciences, with a significant presence in Environmental Science. Within these fields, Canfield has contributed to several subfields including Paleontology, Geochemistry and Petrology, Geophysics, Oceanography, and Ecology.

The scientist has authored numerous research papers covering a diverse array of main topics. These include:

  • Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
  • Geochemistry and Elemental Analysis
  • Geological and Geochemical Analysis
  • Hydrocarbon Exploration and Reservoir Analysis
  • Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
  • Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena
  • Marine Sponges and Natural Products

Recent publications by Canfield and collaborators demonstrate involvement in studies related to geochemical cycles and sediment analysis, including:

  • Carbon isotopes in clastic rocks and the Neoproterozoic carbon cycle, 2020, American Journal of Science
  • Redox-sensitive trace metals as paleoredox proxies: A review and analysis of data from modern sediments, 2020, Earth-Science Reviews
  • A 200-million-year delay in permanent atmospheric oxygenation, 2021, Nature
  • Sulfur cycling in oceanic oxygen minimum zones, 2021, Limnology and Oceanography
  • Sulfidic anoxia in the oceans during the Late Ordovician mass extinctions - insights from molybdenum and uranium isotopic global redox proxies, 2021, Earth-Science Reviews

Canfield frequently publishes in the following venues:

  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
  • Chemical Geology
  • Earth-Science Reviews
  • Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
  • Nature Communications

The scientist collaborates regularly with several coauthors, including:

  • Shuichang Zhang
  • Xiaomei Wang
  • Huajian Wang
  • Simon W. Poulton
  • Yuntao Ye

In addition to journal articles, Canfield has contributed to book publications. Two titles named Oxygen are forthcoming from Princeton University Press in 2025. There is also a publication titled Fish community structure in some naturally acid Florida lakes from 2021 through UNESCO.

The scientist has been recognized with several awards, including:

  • Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2011
  • Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky Medal, European Geosciences Union, 2010
  • Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2007
  • Member of the National Academy of Sciences, 2007

Best Publications

  • The evolution and future of earth's nitrogen cycle

    Donald Eugene Canfield;Alexander N. Glazer;Paul G. Falkowski

  • The Global Carbon Cycle: A Test of Our Knowledge of Earth as a System

    P. Falkowski;R. J. Scholes;E. Boyle;J. Canadell

  • The use of chromium reduction in the analysis of reduced inorganic sulfur in sediments and shales

    Donald E. Canfield;Robert Raiswell;Joseph T. Westrich;Christopher M. Reaves

  • Development of a sequential extraction procedure for iron: implications for iron partitioning in continentally derived particulates

    Simon W. Poulton;Donald Eugene Canfield

  • A new model for Proterozoic ocean chemistry

    D. E. Canfield

  • Reactive iron in marine sediments

    Donald E. Canfield

  • Factors influencing organic carbon preservation in marine sediments

    Donald E. Canfield

  • THE EARLY HISTORY OF ATMOSPHERIC OXYGEN: Homage to Robert M. Garrels

    D.E. Canfield

  • The anaerobic degradation of organic matter in Danish coastal sediments - Iron reduction, manganese reduction, and sulfate reduction

    Donald E. Canfield;BO Thamdrup;Jens W. Hansen

  • Late-Neoproterozoic deep-ocean oxygenation and the rise of animal life.

    Donald Eugene Canfield;Simon W. Poulton;Guy M. Narbonne

  • Late Proterozoic rise in atmospheric oxygen concentration inferred from phylogenetic and sulphur-isotope studies.

    Donald E. Canfield;Andreas Teske;Andreas Teske

  • Ferruginous Conditions: A Dominant Feature of the Ocean through Earth's History

    Simon W. Poulton;Donald Eugene Canfield

  • The reactivity of sedimentary iron minerals toward sulfide

    Donald E. Canfield;Robert Raiswell;Simon H. Bottrell

  • A new model for atmospheric oxygen over Phanerozoic time.

    Robert A. Berner;Donald E. Canfield

  • Pathways of organic carbon oxidation in three continental margin sediments

    Donald Eugene Canfield;Bo Barker Jørgensen;Henrik Fossing;Ronnie N. Glud

  • N2 production by the anammox reaction in the anoxic water column of Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica.

    Tage Dalsgaard;Donald Eugene Canfield;J Petersen;B. Thamdrup

  • Calibration of Sulfate Levels in the Archean Ocean

    Kirsten S. Habicht;Michael Gade;Bo Thamdrup;Peter Berg

  • Biogeochemistry of Sulfur Isotopes

    D. E. Canfield

  • Sources of iron for pyrite formation in marine sediments

    Robert Raiswell;Donald E. Canfield

  • Comparative Earth History and Late Permian Mass Extinction

    Andrew Knoll;Richard Bambach;Donald E. Canfield;John P. Grotzinger

  • Ferruginous Conditions Dominated Later Neoproterozoic Deep-Water Chemistry

    Donald E. Canfield;Simon W. Poulton;Andrew H. Knoll;Guy M. Narbonne

Frequent Co-Authors

Bo Thamdrup
Bo Thamdrup University of Southern Denmark
Sean A. Crowe
Sean A. Crowe University of British Columbia
Simon W. Poulton
Simon W. Poulton University of Leeds
Robert Raiswell
Robert Raiswell University of Leeds
Christian J. Bjerrum
Christian J. Bjerrum University of Copenhagen
James Farquhar
James Farquhar University of Maryland, College Park
Niels Peter Revsbech
Niels Peter Revsbech Aarhus University
Ronnie N. Glud
Ronnie N. Glud University of Southern Denmark
Tage Dalsgaard
Tage Dalsgaard Aarhus University
Shuichang Zhang
Shuichang Zhang China National Petroleum Corporation (China)

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