Most recently he has focused on understanding the chemistry of mercury in aquatic, terrestrial and atmospheric systems, in many cases utilizing mercury stable isotope methods developed in his laboratory. Blum has published over 200 research articles and his work has been cited over 8000 times. He has served on numerous advisory panels for funding agencies including the NSF, NIH, and DOE. He is a past editor of Chemical Geology and Elementa. He is a Fellow of the Geochemical Society, the American Geophysical Union, the Geological Society of America and the AAAS. In 2013 he won the Patterson Medal of the Geochemical Society for his work on mercury isotopes in the environment.