Thèmes de Recherche :

My research addresses petrological problems by applying the latest techniques in geochemical analysis of rocks and constituent minerals, and integrating this information with petrologic data. I am particularly interested in obtaining new geochemical perspectives on the origin of magmas from the wide variety of magmatic settings found across western North America, both modern and ancient, and their tectonic implications. For my postdoctoral research at LMV, I am conducting isotopic and geochronologic analyses of magmatic rocks from the Northern Cascade Arc, located in Canada and the USA. The terminations of arcs, like the Northern Cascades, tend to be associated with magmas that are compositionally distinct from typical arc magmas. My work addresses how and why magma generation at arc terminations differs from traditional models for subduction zone magmatism.   I am conducting Re-Os isotopic measurements, the first from the Northern Cascades, to determine the relative roles of the mantle, subducting slab, and continental crust in controlling variations in magma compositions. I am also measuring zircon U-Pb ages, primarily of plutonic granitoids in the Cascade arc, by LA-ICP-MS to obtain better constraints on how magma productivity and geochemistry has fluctuated through time as the arc has matured over its ~40 million year history. My project is part of the larger-scale study “The End of an Arc” that is supported by the Région Auvergne, LMV, University of British Columbia, and Simon Fraser University.

Themes of Research:

Isotopic analysis of magmatic rocks, minerals, and glasses by MC-ICP-MS and TIMS

U-Pb zircon geochronology by LA-ICP-MS

Integrating geochemical and petrologic data

Petrogenesis of subduction zone magmas, and relationships with tectonic and thermal regime

Tracking mantle geochemistry and mineralogy across western North America

Origin of temporal and spatial patterns in arc magma geochemistry