CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS OF ROCKS AND MINERALS
Faculty:
Brantley (Water-Rock Interaction)
Deines (Stable Isotope Geochemistry)
Eggler (Igneous Petrology)
Furman (Igneous Petrology/High Temperature Geochemistry),
Heaney (Mineralogy/Crystallography)
Kerrick (Metamorphic Petrology)
Kubicki (Computational Mineral Geochemistry)
Ohmoto (Ores and Stable Isotope Geochemistry)
Description:
The Physics and Chemistry of Rocks and Minerals Group at Penn State is working to unravel the mechanisms by which atomic-scale properties of Earth materials control large-scale geologic processes. We are investigating the relationship between mineral chemistry and rock behavior using a variety of methodologies, which include but are not limited to: theoretical molecular modeling; crystal structure analysis by synchrotron X-ray diffraction; high resolution transmission electron microscopy; stable and radiogenic isotope analysis; major and trace element microanalysis; and mineral surface spectroscopy. We are aided in this work by Penn State’s Materials Characterization Laboratory, which features a wide array of state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation. The breadth of our interests is indicated by the projects we are working on:
- Modeling and observation of the sorption of inorganic ions and organic molecules in aqueous solution to mineral surfaces
- Mechanisms of dissolution and precipitation of earth materials
- Time-resolved atomic structural studies of cation exchange between aqueous solutions and clay materials
- Geochemistry of melt inclusions in minerals as indicators of magma formation and ascent processes
- Microanalytical characterization and stable isotope analysis of mantle minerals
- Changes in atomic structure induced by displacive phase transitions in rock-forming minerals
- Interaction of aqueous species with nanopores in earth materials
- Mechanisms of interaction of biota with earth materials
- Textural indications of rheological controls on eruptive explosivity in volcanoes
- Isotopic microanalysis as an indicator of melt properties and eruptive mechanisms
- Optical phenomena in gem materials
