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Students and staff carrying out Student projects
Petrology and Geochemistry

Potential B.Sc. and M.Sc. topics

Here you can find a list of themes in Petrology and Geochemistry, and their description, where B.Sc. and M.Sc. topics can potentially be drawn from.

Research themes:

Use Petrological and Geochemical data to characterize magma plumbing systems below volcanoes, and determine the residence times of melts in various reservoirs. Past case studies have included samples from Mt. Etna (Sicily), Barren Islands (Andaman), Mt. Pinatubo, Mt. St. Helens. A current interest is in the Eifel region.

Within this theme you will find projects to study different time-dependent, kinetic processes and to understand the mechanisms of how mineralogical reactions occur. We have projects to measure diffusion coefficients, to study how fluids react with minerals, etc.. We also study how trace elements and stable isotopes are exchanged between minerals, melts and fluids, and attempt to recreate high-temperature processes that take place at a planetary scale.

Current topics (contact person in brackets):

 

  • How sulfur-loving are high-technology metals (Sn, In, Ga, etc.)?  (BSc. topic - Fonseca)
  • Understanding the wetting properties of S-bearing metallic melts in oxide-rich crystal cummulates. (M.Sc. topic - Fonseca)

Determination of the temperature, the depth (pressure) conditions at which deep seated rocks formed (thermobarometry) and combine these with modeling of compositional zoning profiles (geospeedometry) to determine cooling rates, exhumation rates etc. The overall objective is to find out how deep hot rocks are exhumed and cooled during mountain building, formation of seafloor, and other tectonic processes - we find that these occur in pulses, rather than along continuous paths. Recent study areas have included recent orogens (Himalaya, Alps), the study of different tectonic styles in an early, hot Earth (Coorg Massif, India; Southern Granulite terrain, India) as well as ophiolites from Tibet or seafloor gabbros. There is an interest in how fluids react with the rocks and affect their reaction and mechanical behavior, and this is closely related to #3, the experimental projects.

It is also possible to do completely theoretical computer modelling projects related to the above, if a student has quantitative and programming skills. Modelling about diffusion, and density function theory (DFT) modelling are among the topics we are interesting in pursuing.

These projects may be carried out in some cases in collaboration with scientists from the Forschungsgruppe "Diffusion Chronometry of magmatic systems" (Link to webpage).

Also check our our Brochure for a possible MSc. Study Program with our Institute focusing on Petrology and Geochemistry.