Lee Kump

Lee Kump is an American geochemist who serves as a faculty member at Penn State University. His research there focuses heavily on Earth's historical environmental changes and mass extinctions.

Kump is well known for his research on ocean anoxic events, which are periods in Earth's history where the oceans were severely depleted of oxygen. He investigates how these events link to catastrophic marine mass extinctions.

He theorizes that hydrogen sulfide outgassing from the oceans is a primary driver of marine mass extinctions. This geochemical process occurs when deep, anoxic waters release toxic levels of hydrogen sulfide into the environment.

Lee Kump is a prominent figure in the field of geochemistry, specifically working at Penn State. He focuses his research on ancient ocean anoxic events and their devastating impact on prehistoric marine life.