Ricardo Arevalo Jr. Homepage

"To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge." -Copernicus

"Rather than being an interpreter, the scientist who embraces a new paradigm is like the man wearing inverting lenses." -Kuhn

"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." -Einstein

"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. " -Bacon

"Calc-u-later." -McDonough

Graduate Assistant

contact at: gatorick (AT) umd.edu

Department of Geology
University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
Tel: (301) 405-6248
Fax: (301) 405-3597

Education

Bachelor of Science, Geology (2005) University of Florida

Race Results and schedule...

Research Interests

My current research is focused on understanding and quantifying the partitioning behavior, abundance and distribution of trace elements in the modern mantle (based on examining the mantle's accessible derivatives), as well as assessing the allocation and rate of radiogenic heat production in the Earth as determined by the concentration of radioactive elements within the planet’s major silicate reservoirs. Insights provided by trace element systematics can ultimately shed light on the inner dynamics of the planet, including the dominant mode of convection (i.e., layered versus whole-mantle) and the scale of heterogeneity in the upper and lower mantle. The abundances of mildly incompatible elements, such as the first-row transition metals (i.e., Sc through Zn), in mantle melts may reveal clues as to the dominant lithology/lithologies (i.e., peridotite versus pyroxenite) of the mantle source(s).

(from www.sunbeamtech.com)

Analytical Methods

To date, I have characterized the major, minor and trace element chemistry of hundreds of mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB), ocean island basalts (OIB), back-arc basin basalts (BABB), and intraplate picrites via in-situ laser ablation (LA-) ICP-MS methods. Laser ablation methods allow for:

1. spatially-resolved, ng/g-level measurements of millimeter-sized sample specimens.
2. limited sample processing (which is time-consuming, costly and can introduce impurities and/or isobaric interferences).
3. low analytical blanks.
4. limited oxide production and spectral matrix effects.
5. the ability to avoid surface and grain-boundary contamination.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Ireland, T.I., Arevalo Jr., R., Walker, R.J., and McDonough, W.F., in press. Tungsten in Hawaiian picrites: A compositional model for the sources of Hawaiian lavas. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta (73), 4517-4530, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2009.04.016. PDF.

Arevalo Jr., R., McDonough, W.F., and Luong, M., 2009.  The K/U ratio of the silicate Earth: Insights into mantle composition, structure and thermal evolution. Earth and Planetary Science Letters (278), 361-369, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2008.12.023. PDF.

Arevalo Jr., R. and McDonough, W.F., 2008.  Tungsten geochemistry and implications For understanding the Earth’s interior.  Earth and Planetary Science Letters (272), 656-665, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2008.05.031. PDF.

McDonough, W.F. and Arevalo Jr., R., 2008.  Uncertainties in the composition of Earth, its core and silicate sphere. Journal of Physics: Conference Series (136), 022006, doi:10.1088/1742-6596/136/2/022006. PDF.

University of Maryland