Petrology & Mineralogy Department

The Petrology & Mineralogy Department teaches magmatic evolution and metamorphic processes by having students simulate the crystallization and metamorphic pathways of rocks and minerals through Bowen's reaction series and phase-equilibrium thermodynamic modeling. Students alternate between analyzing real rock samples and running thermodynamic simulations to reproduce these pathways; by graduation, they can look at a rock's texture and mineral assemblage alone and work backward to its formation conditions.

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Mathematics Department Physics Department Chemistry Department Biology Department Atmospheric Sciences Department Stratigraphy & Sedimentology Department Structural Geology & Tectonics Department Petrology & Mineralogy Department Geochemistry Department Paleontology & Evolutionary Biology Dept Remote Sensing & Earth Observation Dept Hydrogeology & Soil Science Department Physical Oceanography Department Marine Geology & Geophysics Department Chemical Oceanography Department Marine Biology & Ecology Department

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⭐ Bowen

Chair

💡 igneous_petrology

Researchers (real GeoVerse Lab members) 12

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1859–1939

Alfred Harker

Researcher

💡 Founded systematic igneous petrology, developing the Harker diagram for visualizing magmatic differentiation trends

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1853–1932

George Barrow

Researcher

💡 Established Barrovian metamorphic zones, mapping progressive mineral changes with increasing metamorphic grade in the Scottish Highlands

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1836–1927

Gustav Tschermak von Seysenegg

Researcher

💡 Founded modern mineral classification, developing the Tschermak substitution principle explaining chemical variation in silicate mineral series

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1826–1908

Henry Clifton Sorby

Researcher

💡 Founded petrography by pioneering the thin-section microscopy technique for studying rocks and minerals under polarized light

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1890–1971

Lawrence Bragg

Researcher

💡 Formulated Bragg's law of X-ray diffraction and applied it to determine the atomic structure of minerals, founding X-ray crystallography

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1904–1970

John Frank Schairer

Researcher

💡 Advanced experimental petrology by determining silicate melt phase equilibria, closely collaborating with Bowen on the Geophysical Laboratory phase diagram program

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1867–1943

Frank A. Perret

Researcher

💡 Pioneered direct field observation of active volcanic eruptions, closely documenting the 1929-1932 Mount Vesuvius eruption and eruptive rock products

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1883–1964

Pentti Eskola

Researcher

💡 Introduced the metamorphic facies concept, systematizing the classification of metamorphic rocks by pressure-temperature conditions

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1856–1932

George Frederick Kunz

Researcher

💡 Founded American gemology as a scientific discipline, systematically cataloguing gem minerals and their sources worldwide

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1888–1953

Paul Niggli

Researcher

💡 Developed the Niggli system of rock chemical classification, quantitatively characterizing igneous rock composition independent of mineral mode

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1884–1979

Bruno Sander

Researcher

💡 Founded structural petrology (petrofabrics), the systematic analysis of mineral orientation fabrics recording rock deformation history

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1844–1911

Auguste Michel-Lévy

Researcher

💡 Developed the standard interference color chart used to identify minerals by birefringence under polarized light microscopy