I am interested in broad aspects of igneous petrology, the earliest history of our planet, ore deposit formation mechanisms, and new ways the geosciences are relevant to society. Below are examples of research directions that I am currently pursuing. 
The main thrust of my research has been, and will continue to be using petrology, isotope geochemistry, and new mass spectrometry techniques to answer fundamental questions about when and how the continental crust formed. I am also developing a research program on crustal distillation, including critical ore deposits globally. 
Ultimately, I am interested in developing projects and collaborations in the areas listed below as well as any other areas.  If you have questions, comments, or other ideas please get in touch!

Research in the Patzkowsky lab focuses on the ecological, evolutionary, and geological processes that control the diversity, distribution, and abundance of fossil taxa in time and space.  Lab members have worked in the Cambrian of Montana, the Ordovician from Pennsylvania to Nevada, the Devonian of central Pennsylvania, the Mississippian of the Illinois and Appalachian basins, the Pennsylvanian and Permian of the Midcontinent, the Paleogene of the Gulf Coast, and the Neogene of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. One of the main threads through all the field research is the collection and interpretation of fossils in a sequence stratigraphic framework emphasizing how the architecture of the stratigraphic record affects the preservation and distribution of fossils. 

The Patzkowsky lab also studies the geographic and environmental patterns of extinction and recovery across the Late Ordovician and end-Cretaceous mass extinctions.  These two mass extinctions had very different effects on the history of life and we are trying to quantify those different effects.  Recently, we have performed this work using a phylogenetic framework. This approach, called phylogenetic paleoecology, is required to understand the evolutionary underpinning of large-scale ecologic patterns of extinction and diversification.  We are also using models of speciation and extinction and models of anatomical change to better constrain the relationship between environmental change and the diversification of a major brachiopod clade during the Ordovician radiations.

My research covers five related areas involving the use of seismic data to investigate Earth structure and processes over a range of scales, from the deep mantle to the surface. Tightly integrated with my research is an education effort to improve diversity in the geosciences.

AfricaArray:  AfricaArray is a multifaceted initiative supporting science education and research in Africa and the U.S. built around interrogating the largest geophysical anomaly in Earth’s mantle to advance our understanding of its origin, structure, composition and influence on mantle dynamics and surface processes (http://africaarray.psu.edu). The AfricaArray network of 53 permanent geophysical observatories in 17 African countries provides seismic, GPS and weather data openly to the community.  Many temporary seismic networks have been deployed over the past 15 years to improve data coverage between the observatories.

Antarctica:  For almost 20 years I have been investigating the structure and origin of geologically intriguing regions of Antarctica, including the Transantarctic Mountains, the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, the Marie Byrd Land Dome, and the West Antarctic Rift System, using seismic data from temporary and permanent networks.  Current efforts are part of the multi-institutional POLENET project (http://polenet.org), where seismic and GPS data from a backbone network of more than 30 stations distributed throughout West Antarctica are being used with data from temporary stations to image details of crust and mantle structure beneath large glaciers that have the potential to collapse catastrophically as the planet warms and cause several meters of sea level rise.

Appalachian Basin:  Connected to the operation of the Pennsylvania State Seismic Network (PASEIS: http://paseis.geosc.psu.edu) is a research effort to assist the mitigation of seismicity caused by hydraulic fracking and wastewater disposal. Induced seismicity in the Appalachian Basin (PA, OH, WV) is occurring in areas where the depth to crystalline basement under the sedimentary cover is fairly shallow (< ~ 4 km).  A new “basement” map is needed to improve risk assessments by regulatory agencies and the development of seismic monitoring requirements.  Seismic data from the PASEIS network, in conjunction with data from other networks, regional 2D industry seismic reflection profiles, and well logs, are being used to map the depth to basement across the Appalachian Basin.  The same data are also being used to investigate Precambrian crust and lithospheric mantle structure beneath the basin to improve our understanding of North American continental structure.

Critical Zone: The critical zone extends from the vegetation canopy downwards to unweathered bedrock, a zone of the earth “critical” for supporting life.  To understand key physical and geochemical processes at the watershed scale within the critical zone that transform bedrock into soil, 3D and 4D (i.e., time lapse) geophysical imaging of the shallow subsurface is needed.  Over the past few years, I have developed a new research thrust to obtain and interpret electrical resistivity and active and passive source seismic data to image the critical zone at Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory. 

Marone’s research group works on earthquake science, friction, fluid flow and geomechanics.  Recent work has focused on the discovery that machine learning can predict the timing and in some cases magnitude of laboratory earthquakes.  Research directions include the mechanics of laboratory earthquakes and the physics of precursory changes in rock properties prior to failure.  Marone’s group recently discovered how to reproduce in the laboratory the full spectrum of slip modes from aseismic and slow slip to elastodynamic rupture. A major research direction involves identifying the mechanisms that allow slow, quasi-dynamic rupture in the laboratory and investigations of the extent to which such mechanisms may also operate on tectonic faults. Other directions include laboratory experiments to investigate the roles of fault slip velocity and slip history on friction (so called rate and state effects) and their application to earthquake faults.  Marone’s group is studying how machine learning and other techniques can be applied to laboratory earthquake prediction to improve forecasts of the spectrum of tectonic failure modes.

I work in environments that are important both as model systems for hypothesis testing in microbial ecology, and for their broad significance to basic science and human societies. First, some of my group studies sulfur cycling, both in the subsurface and in sunlit environments where the geochemistry is similar to conditions on early Earth and possibly on other planets. Second, we study the microbiology of acid mine drainage pollution related to coal and other natural resource extraction. Third, we study how microorganisms degrade hydrocarbons ranging from methane to coal.

• Landscape/ecosystem resilience to climate and land-use change
• Tropical biogeography and paleoenvironments
• Past and future of biodiversity hotspots
• Vegetation controls on weathering and landscape evolution
• Reconstructing the environmental context of hominin evolution

For more info: https://sarahivorypollen.wordpress.com/

I combine field geology, petrography, and stable isotope geochemistry to improve the use of chemical sediments in tectonic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. I am particularly interested in how terrestrial environments, like those in which humans live, responded to globally warm periods in Earth history to better understand how our habitats will adapt (or not) to future warming. To understand the feedbacks of tectonic uplift, weathering, and marine and atmospheric carbon, I measure carbon, oxygen, and clumped isotopes in carbonate rocks to reconstruct uplift of high-altitude terranes and alkalinity of ancient oceans. In addition, I am interested in reconstructing the phosphate levels of Precambrian environments to better understand the how phosphate accumulated for prebiotic phosphorylation and the role phosphate played in biological processes on early Earth.

Current projects:

• What were the alkalinity and phosphate levels of carbonate-forming environments on Precambrian Earth and Mars? How did these chemical conditions impact or facilitate the evolution of early life?  
• What is the fate of wastewater in the Florida Keys, and what novel techniques could be used to remove nutrients from the subsurface karst? (collaboration with Lee Kump)
• What processes facilitate late-stage, shallow carbonate diagenesis, and how can we detect cryptic carbonate alteration on the micron to nanometer scale to improve tectonic reconstructions?
• Who are the metabolic players in organic and inorganic carbon cycling in alkaline lakes, and how do they impact geochemical and isotopic signals recorded in microbial carbonate facies?  (collaboration with CU-Boulder and Weber State University)
• How did Earth’s terrestrial environments respond to globally warm periods and tectonics?