Collaborators

Five people standing and posing in front of a massive ornately carved stela at the Archaeological Park and Ruins of Quirigua in Guatemala.
Collaborators

Hans Avé Lallemant, Professor Emeritus of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA.

Ph.D. University of Leiden, 1967

Discipline: Structural Geology, Tectonics

Statement: My research deals mainly with the kinematics of deformation in convergent and transform plate boundaries. The areas I am working in today are in Venezuela (Leeward Antilles, Cordillera de la Costa belt, Villa de Cura complex, Serrania del Interior foreland fold and thrust belt), and Guatemala. In all these areas, plate convergence was or still is strongly oblique to subparallel to the plate boundary zone.
[email protected] 
http://terra.rice.edu/faculty/avelallement/

Hannes K. Brueckner, Adjunct Senior Research Scientist, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY and Emeritus Professor, Queens College, CUNY, Queens, NY

Ph.D., Yale University

Disciplines: Tectonics, Field geology, geochronology (Rb-Sr, U-Pb, Sm-Nd, Re-Os), geochemistry (isotopes and trace elements, particularly the rare earth elements), geotectonics, igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary petrology.

Statement: Field-oriented geologists and laboratory-oriented geochemists suffer a vast communications gap. Members from one group often misunderstand the other's techniques, conclusions and even their language. I have had the good fortune to be educated in structural geology, metamorphic petrology, geochronology, and trace element geochemistry and, therefore, I like to see myself as a link between these two important sub-areas in the earth sciences. In particular, I try to solve petrological, structural and chronological problems of the field geologist by using the modern geochemical laboratory techniques including radiometric dating.[email protected] 
http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/EES/pep/brueckner.html

Kennet Flores Reyes, Research Fellow, Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, American Museum of Natural History

Ph.D. Université de Lausanne, 2009

Disciplines: Geodynamics, regional geology, field geology, subduction zones, HP/LT mélanges and belts, evolution of convergent margins, collisions, plate tectonics and geochemistry.

Statement: I am a self-proclaimed field regional geologist who applies various techniques, including structural geology, geochemistry, metamorphic petrology, geochronology and sedimentology, to develop geodynamic scenarios and plate tectonic models for fossil convergent margins. Most of my field research has been focused on Central American accretionary prisms; obducted, accreted and/or collided ocean floor; ultramafic bodies; and HP/LT mélanges and belts. My other foci are the evolution and modeling of the plate tectonics of the Pacific Ocean including the Circum-Pacific convergent margins and the exhumation tectonics of HP/LT mélanges and belts around the world.
[email protected]

Antonio Garcia Casco, Profesor Titular de Petrología y Geoquímica, Departamento de Mineralogía y Petrología and Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, Facultad de Ciencias. University of Granada, Spain

Ph.D., Univ. Granada, 1993

Disciplines: Metamorphic petrology, phase equilibrium and thermodynamics, experimental petrology and electron microscopy, interpretation of geology in a geodynamic framework.

Statement: He is interested in metamorphism of pelites and basic rocks in convergent plate margins, partial melting of metapelites and metabasites, P-T-t paths and orogenic evolution, and development of petrologic software (algebraic analysis of phase assemblages, multispectral analysis of XR images). He has studied metamorphic-plutonic complexes of the Betic, Variscan, and Caribbean belts, with emphasis in the bearing of these studies in the geodynamic evolution of plate margins.
[email protected] 
http://www.ugr.es/agcasco/personal/

George E. Harlow, Curator of Minerals and Gems, Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY USA

Ph.D. Princeton University, 1977

Disciplines: Mineralogy, crystal chemistry, crystallography, subduction zone mineralogy and processes, gem deposits.

Statement:Trained as a geologist specializing in mineralogy and crystallography, Dr. Harlow has concentrated his research on the chemistry and structure of minerals as tools for understanding their origin and the record of geological processes they contain. This interest and questions about specimens in the gem collection led him to a long-term study of jadeite rock, used as jade, and related rocks from the Motagua Valley in Guatemala, Myanmar (Burma), Japan and, more recently, Cuba. This research has been supported by the National Science Foundation in a collaboration with other geoscientists. Expeditions to Myanmar permitted visits to the famous ruby deposits including the Mogok Stone Tract which has led to a research project on the genesis of the deposit and the myriad minerals and gems they produce. Another major research interest, stimulated by unexpected chemical compositions of some mineral inclusions in diamonds, is the high-pressure crystal chemistry of minerals relevant to the mantle, in particular large ion lithophile elements and H2O.
[email protected] 
http:///research.amnh.org/eps/staff/georgeharlow

Horst R. Marschall, Research Scientist, Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institute, Wood's Hole, MA USA

Ph.D. Universität Heidelberg, 2005
Disciplines: Metamorphic petrology, geochronology and isotope geochemistry, subduction zone processes.

Statement: Part of my research is concerned with the petrology and geochemistry of (ultra)high-pressure metamorphic rocks as probes into physico-chemical processes operating at convergent plate margins. My focus is on the elemental and isotopic fractionation of lithium and boron and their redistribution during metasomatic processes in subduction zones. Of great importance for these studies is the boro-silicate tourmaline as a recorder for B isotopes in rocks. My other interest is in the formation and internal fractionation of the continental crust, including high-temperature metamorphism, partial melting and granite formation. Dating and isotope studies on zircon are core to these studies.
[email protected]

Virginia B. Sisson, Research Associate Professor of Geology and Director of Summer Field Geology, University of Houston, Houston, TX USA

Ph.D., Princeton University, 1985

Disciplines: Metamorphic petrology, structural geology, fluid inclusion studies, convergent margin studies.

Statement: My research involves field oriented petrotectonic studies in Alaska and Guatemala on convergent margins, triple junction interactions, granite emplacement, subduction zone metamorphism and exhumation processes, and jadeitite formation. I have also done field work in Venezuela, British Columbia, India, Malaysia, Norway, California, Washington, Montana, Nevada, Maine, Pennsylvania, and Myanmar, fluid inclusion studies and boron geochemistry of metamorphic rocks.
[email protected] 
http://www.geosc.uh.edu/people/faculty/virginia-sisson/index.php

Guanghai Shi, Professor of Earth Sciences, Director of the Teaching and Lab Center of Gem and Jewelry, at the School of Gemology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing.

Ph. D., Peking University, Beijing, 2000

Discipline: Mineralogy, petrology, gemology, jadeite studies

Statement: My current research mainly focuses on fluid-rock interactions within subduction-zone, and geology of gem deposits, using field, petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical observations from subduction-related metamorphic rocks as records of fluid processes, element redistribution. My research interests include mineralogy, geochronology (U-Pb dating, Ar/Ar, Re-Os), fluid inclusions, microstructure, isotopes as tracers of geochemical cycling and rock magnetism on rock samples formed under very low-pressure-temperature to high-pressure-temperature conditions (including mantle rock), and gemology as well.
[email protected] 
or [email protected] 
http://www.cugb.edu.cn/szdw/homepage.asp?emp_id=1937&emp_xmGuanghai

Sorena S. Sorensen, Geologist & Curator-in-Charge of Rock and Ore Collections, Dept. Mineral Sciences, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC USA.

Ph.D., University of California - Los Angeles, 1984

Disciplines: Geochemistry, metamorphic petrology, mineralogy, fluid-rock interactions.

Statement: Most of my research concerns fluid-rock interactions within the crust of convergent margins. I study the effects of fluids on rocks by means of field work and a variety of geochemical analytical methods, especially cathodoluminesence imaging and trace element determinations. She has a secondary interest in mineral chemistry, and is an authority on both rare-earth-element-rich epidote minerals (e.g., allanite) and jadeite, the gem variety of jade.
[email protected] 
http://mineralsciences.si.edu/staff/pages/sorensen.htm

Tatsuki Tsujimori, Associate Professor, The Pheasant Memorial Laboratory for Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry, Institute for Study of the Earth's Interior, Okayama University, Misasa, Tottori 682-0193, Japan.

Ph.D., Kanazawa University, 1999

Disciplines: Metamorphic petrology, mineralogy, geochemistry, cold subduction zone processes.
[email protected] 
http://web.mac.com/tatsukix/web/Research.html

Estibalitz Ukar, Visiting Assistant Professor, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO USA. Ph.D. U. Texas, Austin, 2010

Disciplines: Structural geology and tectonics, metamorphic petrology

Statement:
[email protected]