Research Opportunities

There are many research opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students.  Listed below are a variety of ongoing research projects along with pictures of field areas and students involved in the research.  


San Simeon Blueschist block
Blueschist block in melange matrix, San Simeon, CA

Li isotopes contact

Li isotope data collected by Supriya Khadke, undergraduate student.

Tracing evidence of fluid flow in eclogite, blueschist and amphibolite blocks in subduction zone mélanges

I have research funding from NSF to fund a graduate student interested in combining fieldwork, petrology, and lithium geochemistry to decipher evidence for fluid flow in high-grade melange zone blocks.   

Ba X-ray map
Ba X-ray map of white mica along with Li concentrations (ppm, in circles) measured using LA-ICP-MS

Rachel and Time Phepane

At the edge of a platinum-group element ore deposit: Magma-wall rock interactions in the Bushveld Complex, South Africa

Tim Johnson and graduate student Rachel Potter look at the far side of the Phepane Dome, eastern Bushveld Complex (left)

Rachel collects a sample of mafic Bushveld rock collected for Li and O isotope analysis. (below)
Rachel sampling Phepane


Cory Thousand Island Lake

Under the Mesozoic Volcano: fluid-rock histories of a fossil hydrothermal system in the Sierra Nevada, USA
Senior thesis student Cory Hanson takes notes on various occurrences of epidote in metavolcanic rocks
 
Cory shear zone  

Alice Bergell

Contact metamorphism in the Oligocene: fluid-rock histories recorded by the Val Malenco serpentinite, Italy

Italian undergraduate student Alice Turina assists in fieldwork; Ventina Glacier in the background. (Left)


Undergraduate student Whitney Ford collects point-counting data using the electron microprobe. (Below)
Whitney microprobe

393/394 projects

I have a variety of ideas for projects investigating fluid-rock interactions during metamorphism that geology undergraduates can work on for their Geology 393/394 project.  Interested students should contact me for further information.  Some projects may involve fieldwork.  Students interested in a project with fieldwork should contact me early - preferably before the summer before the year they enroll in 393/394.


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