2010–2016 Ph.D. Geochemistry University of Science and Technology
2016-2020 Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Geology & Geophysics, Yale University
2020-2022 Research Fellow, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds
2022- Associate Professor, Institute of Geology & Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Group: The Zhao Biogeochemistry Laboratory

I work mainly on the long-term evolution of global biogeochemical cycles (C, P and O). Through the collection of empirical data, cultivation experiment, and biogeochemical modelling, I try to understand the operational mechanisms and the controlling factors of the global carbon, phosphorus and oxygen cycles as well as the regulation mechanism of global carbon cycle on climate through Earth history.
On the other hand, I'm also interested in developing geochemical proxies for paleoenvironment through investigations on the geochemical behaviors of elements and isotopes (such as Zn, B and U) during fundamental geochemical processes on Earth surface such as chemical weathering, mineral precipitation and diagenesis.
Please contact if you are interested in joining the group.

Researchgate

2024:

1. Mingyu Zhao, Benjamin J. W. Mills, Simon W. Poulton, Bo Wan, Ke-Qing Xiao, Licheng Guo, Zhengtang Guo. Drivers of the global phosphorus cycle over geological time. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment (2024).
2. Sophie Westacott, Ming-Yu Zhao*, & Lidya G. Tarhan*. Extent and biogeochemical impact of Skolithos piperock in the lower Cambrian Zabriskie Quartzite (California, USA). Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology (2024).
3. Licheng Guo*, Shangfa Xiong*, Benjamin J. W. Mills, Terry Isson, Shiling Yang, Jingyi Cui, Yongda Wang, Lei Jiang, Zhifang Xu, Chunfang Cai, Yinan Deng, Guangyi Wei, Mingyu Zhao*, 2024. Acceleration of phosphorus weathering under warm climates. Science Advances 10, eadm7773 (2024).
4. Wei, G.-Y*., Zhao, M. *, Sperling, E.A., Gaines, R.R., Kalderon-Asael, B., Shen, J., Li, C., Zhang, F., Li, G., Zhou, C., Cai, C., Chen, D., Xiao, K.-Q., Jiang, L., Ling, H.-F., Planavsky, N.J., Tarhan, L.G., 2024. Lithium isotopic constraints on the evolution of continental clay mineral factory and marine oxygenation in the earliest Paleozoic Era. Science Advances 10, eadk2152.
5. Mingyu Zhao, Brian Beaty, Lidya Tarhan, Noah Planavsky. 2024 Resetting of shallow-water carbonate boron isotope values during marine burial diagenesis. American Journal of Science. 323(2).  DOI: 10.2475/001c.91398
6. Xiao, K.Q., Liang, C., Wang, Z., Peng, J., Zhao, Y., Zhang, M., Zhao, M., Chen, S., Zhu, Y.G. and Peacock, C.L., 2024. Beyond microbial carbon use efficiency. National Science Review, 11(4), p.nwae059.
7. Ganglan Zhang, Yinan Deng, Fang Chen, Ming Li, Jun Cao, Hongfei Lai, Yangtao Zhu, Shengxiong Yang, Qianyong Liang, Zenggui Kuang, Yunxin Fang, Yufei Liu, Xuexiao Jiang, Mingyu Zhao. 2024. Copper and zinc isotopic compositions of methane-derived carbonates: Implications for paleo-methane seepage and paleoenvironmental proxies. GSA Bulletin. 136
8. Ganglan Zhang, Yangtao Zhu, Yinan Deng, Jun Cao, Pengcong Wang, Ming Li, Gaowen He, Bin Zhao, Mingyu Zhao. Balancing the oceanic Zn isotope budget: The key role of deep-sea pelagic sediments. Geology (2024).
   

2023:

1. Zhao, M., Planavsky, N., Wang, X., Zhang, Y., & Hein, J. R. (2023). A Cenozoic Record of Deep Oceanic Zn Isotopic Composition in Ferromanganese Crusts. American Journal of Science, 323, 10. 
2. Mingyu Zhao, Noah Planavsky, Lidya Tarhan, and Terry Isson. 2023. The influence of warming on phosphorus burial in continental margin sediments. American Journal of Science. 323:6
3. Lin Z, Strauss H, Zhao M. and Halevy I (2023) Editorial: The effects of early diagenesis in various marine environments on the stable isotope records of environmental conditions and biogeochemical processes. Front. Mar. Sci. 10:1161577. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2023.1161577 
4. Liu, Y., Zhao, M., He, T., Li, X. and Poulton, S.W., 2023. Formation of molar tooth structures in low sulfate Precambrian oceans. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 354: 62-73.
5. Kelei Zhu, Jiawei Liu, Mingyu Zhao, Lulu Fu, Zengfeng Du, Fanqi Meng, Lin Gu, Peiyu Liu, Yan Liu, Chaoqun Zhang, Xin Zhang, Jinhua Li. 2024. An intrusion and environmental effects of man-made silver nanoparticles in cold seeps. Science of the Total Environment. 912: 168890
6. Xiao, K.Q., Zhao, Y., Liang, C., Zhao, M., Moore, O.W., Otero-Fari?a, A., Zhu, Y.G., Johnson, K. and Peacock, C.L., 2023. Introducing the soil mineral carbon pump. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, pp.1-2. Doi:10.1038/s43017-023-00396-y
7. Mingyu Zhao*, Benjamin J. W. Mills, William B. Homoky and Caroline L. Peacock. 2023. Mineral-organic carbon preservation and the oxygenation of the Earth. Nature Geoscience. doi: 10.1038/s41561-023-01133-2
8. Gong, Z., Wei, G.-Y., Fakhraee, M., Alcott, L. J., Jiang, L., Zhao, M., & Planavsky, N. J. (2023). Revisiting marine redox conditions during the Ediacaran Shuram carbon isotope excursion. Geobiology, 00, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/gbi.12547
9. Mingyu Zhao, Yao Zhao, Wei Lin and Ke-Qing Xiao. 2023. An overview of experimental simulations of microbial activity in early Earth. Front. Microbiol. 13:1052831. 26 doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1052831

2022:

1. Wei, G.Y., Wang, J., Planavsky, N.J., Zhao, M., Wei, W. and Ling, H.F., 2022. Reply to Cui: Comment on “On the origin of Shuram carbon isotope excursion in South China and its implication for Ediacaran atmospheric oxygen levels”. Precambrian Research, 380, p.106838.
2. Wei, G.Y., Wang, J., Planavsky, N.J., Zhao, M., Bolton, E.W., Jiang, L., Asael, D., Wei, W. and Ling, H.F., 2022. On the origin of Shuram carbon isotope excursion in South China and its implication for Ediacaran atmospheric oxygen levels. Precambrian Research, 375, p.106673.
3. Zhao, M., Tarhan, L., Shull, D., Wang, X., Asael, D. and Planavsky, N., 2022. Covariation between molybdenum and uranium isotopes in reducing marine sediments. Chemical Geology, p.120921.
4. Jiang, L.*, Zhao, M.*, Shen, A., Huang, L., Chen, D. and Cai, C., 2022. Pulses of atmosphere oxygenation during the Cambrian radiation of animals. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 590, p.117565.

2021:

1. Mingyu Zhao, Noah Planavsky, Yiyue Zhang, Dan Asael, and R. Pamela Reid. Evaluation of shallow-water carbonates as a seawater Zn isotope archive. Earth and Planetary Science Letters (2021) 553, 116599.
2. Mingyu Zhao, Ruth Blake, Noah Planavsky, Yuhong Liang, Deren Dogru, Deb Jaisi, Sae Jung Chang, and Sitindra Dirghangi. Oxygen isotopic fingerprint on the phosphorus cycle within deep biosphere. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (2021), 310:169-186.
3. Lidya G. Tarhan*, Mingyu Zhao*, and Noah Planavsky. Bioturbation Feedbacks on the Phosphorus Cycle. Earth and Planetary Science Letters (2021), 566:116961.
4. Sophie Westacott, Noah J. Planavsky, Mingyu Zhao, and Pincelli M. Hull. Revisiting the sedimentary record of the rise of diatoms. PNAS (2021), 118 (27): e2103517118.
5. Yiyue Zhang, Noah J. Planavsky, Mingyu Zhao, Changle Wang, Terry Isson, Dan Asael, and Fei Wang. The isotopic composition of sedimentary organic zinc and implications for the global Zn isotope mass balance. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (2021), 314, pp.16-26.
6. Pan, W., Cao, M., Du, Y., Cheng, M., Zhou, Y.Q., Algeo, T.J., Zhao, M.Y., Thibault, N., Li, C., Wei, G.Y. and Dahl, T.W. Paired U and Mo isotope evidence for pervasive anoxia in the Cryogenian early interglacial ocean. Precambrian Research (2021), 361, 106244.
7. Fangbing Li, Andrew Knudsen, Donald Penman, Mingyu Zhao, and Noah Planavsky. Reverse weathering amplifies the post-Snowball atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Precambrian Research (2021), 364, 106279.

2020:

1. Mingyu Zhao*, Shuang Zhang, Lidya G. Tarhan, Chris Reinhard, and Noah Planavsky*. The role of calcium in regulating marine phosphorus burial and atmospheric oxygenation. Nature communications (2020), 11:2232.
2. Mingyu Zhao*, Noah Planavsky, Guangyi Wei, Zheng Gong, and Amanda Oehlert. Simulating meteoric and mixing zone carbonate diagenesis with a two-dimensional reactive transport model. American Journal of Science (2020), 320 599-636.
3. Annika Brüske, Stefan Weyer, Mingyu Zhao, Noah Planavsky, Antje Wegwerth, Nadja Neubert, Olaf Dellwig, Kimberly V. Lau, and Timothy W. Lyons. Correlated molybdenum and uranium isotope signatures in modern anoxic sediments: Implications for their use as paleo-redox proxy. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (2020), 270 449-474.
4. Terry T. Isson, Mingyu Zhao, and Noah Planavsky. Zinc isotopes. In: Gargaud M. et al. (eds) Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg (2020).
5. Feifei Zhang, álvaro del Rey, Stephen J. Romaniello, Noah J. Planavsky, Xinming Chen, Tais W. Dahl, Timothy Lenton, Matthew Clarkson, Ziheng Li, Kimberly Lau, Mingyu Zhao, and Thomas Algeo, Ariel Anbar. Uranium isotopes in marine carbonates as a global ocean paleoredox proxy: A critical review. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (2020), 287 27-49.

2019:

1. Weiping Li, Yanyan Zhao, Mingyu Zhao, Xiangping Zha, and Yongfei Zheng. Enhanced weathering as a trigger for the rise of atmospheric O2 level from the late Ediacaran to the early Cambrian. Scientific Reports (2019), 9 1-12.
2. Jiang Lei, Noah Planavsky, Mingyu Zhao, Wei Liu, and Xiangli Wang. Authigenic origin for a massive negative carbon isotope excursion. Geology (2019), 47 115-118.

2018:

1. Mingyu Zhao, Christopher T. Reinhard, and Noah Planavsky. Terrestrial methane fluxes and Proterozoic climate. Geology (2018), 46 139-142.
2. Terry T. Isson, Gordon D. Love, Christopher L. Dupont, Christopher T. Reinhard, Alex J. Zumberge, Dan Asael1, Bleuenn Gueguen, John McCrow, Ben C. Gill, Jeremy Owens, Robert H. Rainbird, Alan D. Rooney, Mingyu Zhao, Eva E. Stüeken, Kurt O. Konhauser, Seth G. John, Timothy W. Lyons, and Noah J. Planavsky. Tracking the Rise of Eukaryotes to Ecological Dominance with Zinc Isotopes. Geobiology (2018), 16:341–352.

2017:

1. Mingyu Zhao, and Yongfei Zheng. A geochemical framework for retrieving the linked depositional and diagenetic histories of marine carbonates. Earth and Planetary Science Letters (2017), 460 213-221.
2. Yanyan Zhao, Mingyu Zhao, and Sanzhong Li. Evidences of hydrothermal fluids recorded in microfacies of the Ediacaran cap dolostone: geochemical implications in South China. Precambrian Research (2017), 306 1-21

2016:

1. Mingyu Zhao*, Yongfei Zheng*, and Yanyan Zhao. Seeking a geochemical identifier for authigenic carbonate. Nature Communications (2016), 7:10885; doi: 10.1038/ncomms10885.

2015:

1. Mingyu Zhao, and Yongfei Zheng. The intensity of chemical weathering: Geochemical constraints from marine detrital sediments of Triassic age in South China. Chemical Geology (2015), 391 111–122

2014:

1. Mingyu Zhao, and Yongfei Zheng. 2014. Marine carbonate records of terrigenous input into Paleotethyan seawater: Geochemical constraints from Carboniferous limestones. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (2014), 141 508–531