GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES AT BROWN UNIVERSITY
Petrology/Volcanology

Petrology research investigations include: field and experimental studies of the evolution of magmas under varying temperature, pressure and fugacities of oxygen, carbon dioxide and water; theoretical and experimental studies of the structure & solution characteristics of silicate melts; lab and theoretical studies of transport properties of silicate melts and transport processes in crystal-melt systems. Also being studied: origin and differentiation of lunar, Martian and terrestrial magmas, chemistry of magmas in equilibrium with sulfide & sulfate phases, magma ascent in calc-alkaline volcanic complexes, and controls on mineral-liquid element distributions.

Planetary petrology and volcanology at Brown focuses on petrological and volcanological processes that occur on the terrestrial-type planets other than Earth. This research compli-ments studies of similar processes that occur on Earth, and graduate students often add a planetary project to thesis research that is focused on Earth. The planetary science research is conducted on Earth’s Moon, Venus, Mars and the parent bodies of various igneous meteorites. Emeritus Faculty Mac Rutherford’s research involves experimental and analytical phase equilibrium studies of the mineral-melt assemblages found in samples from these planetary bodies and the experimental simulation of igneous processes that occurred.