Research concentrations (2003-2004)

The research programs of the Department are divided into the four general domains of magmatism and volcanology, isotope geochemistry and geochronology, geologic risk assessment and response, and ore deposit genesis, which are respectively the responsibilities of Professors M. Dungan, U. Schaltegger, J.-J. Wagner, and L. Fontboté, in collaboration with academic staff members members D. Fontignie, R. Moritz, S. Th. Schmidt, postdoctoral assistants (C. Annen, O. Bachmann, D. Chew, K. Frischknecht, G. Morris, R. Spikings, J.Vallance), and 11 PhD students. Many of these projects involve multiple international collaborators and all involve PhD and MSc students (Europe, North America, South America).

Click here for publications and publications on line resulting from these programs.
Click here for teaching information and for analytical resources.

A. Magmatism and volcanology

1. The primary focus of the group lead by Prof. M. Dungan in cooperation with Dr. Morris, and Dr. R. Spikings is continental arc magmatism, with a special emphasis on understanding intra-crustal open-system magma differentiation. Our approach to these questions is to comprehensively integrate field relations, volcanic stratigraphy, geochronology, and paleomagnetic constraints to develop a rigorous geologic context for all subsequent geochemical and petrologic studies, and then to combine data from whole-rock major element, trace element, and isotope chemistry, petrography, and mineral chemistry to arrive at models for the short-term and long-term magmatic evolution of the volcanic centers of interest.

For the last ten years, our research efforts have been divided between: (1) investigations of large-scale ash-flow tuff volcanism in the Oligocene San Juan volcanic field in collaboration with P.W. Lipman (Ph.D. theses of Olivier Bachman and Fleurice Parat), and (2) a long term study of the Quaternary Tatara-San Pedro complex (TSPC, 36°S, Chilean Andes). The Ph.D. thesis of Fidel Costa was one expression of the latter project. In addition to ongoing investigations of the TSPC in collaboration with colleagues in the UK (Jon Davidson), Australia (Kurt Knesel), Chile (Leo Lopez-Escobar), and the USA (Charles Langmuir & Steve Goldstein, Bill Leeman, John Chesley & Joaquin Ruiz, Fred Frey, Wes Hildreth, Ren Thompson, Laurie Brown, and Mike Rhodes) we are currently synthesizing whole-rock geochemical data from the Quaternary Southern Volcanic Zone between 33°S and 41S and from Tertiary granitoids and crustal xenoliths in Quaternary lavas and tuffs between 35°S and 38°S in order to develop a regional perspective, and we are three years into a detailed investigation of another SVZ volcano, Nevado de Longaví (36.2°S; Ph.D. theses of Carolina Rodríguez and Daniel Sellés).

2. Mesozoic to recent plume-related volcanism (2 PhD students). Projects include: (1) isotopic investigations of large scale dynamic interactions between plume and ridge magma sources in the south Atlantic and southeast Pacific, and more recently in Iceland, in collaboration with a research team at the University of Rhode Island (Dr. D. Fontignie), and (2) a combined geochemical and geochronologic study of the Early Jurassic Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP - 200 Ma) in both South American and Europe from the standpoint of the role of giant plumes in continental breakup and the impact of volcanism on mass extinctions (Dr. A. Marzoli, presently Padua, and U. Schaltegger).

B. Isotope geochemistry and geochronology

A new research program (directed by Prof. Urs Schaltegger in collaboration with academic staff member Dr. Denis Fontignie and post-doctoral assistant Dr. David Chew) is currently under development. New clean laboratories, currently under construction, will be devoted to isotopic tracing of magmatic and metamorphic processes using Sr, Nd, Pb and Hf isotopes, as well as single-grain, low-blank U-Pb geochronology using zircon, monazite, xenotime, and other accessory minerals.

Envisaged research topics are: (1) Paleozoic to Tertiary evolution of the active continental margin of Peru using the isotopic compositions of plutonic and volcanic rocks as probes to determine the nature of continental and mantle sources through time (1 PhD). (2) The evolution of the Kohistan Island Arc Complex in northern Pakistan, with an emphasis on tracing changing mantle sources and intra-arc melting processes during the evolution from an oceanic to a continental arc (1 PhD with J.P. Burg, ETH Zürich). (3) The application of high-precision dating techniques to late orogenic K-rich magmas of the Variscan orogeny (upper Carboniferous to Permian: Bohemian Massif, the Vosges, and Southern Alps). What are the temporal relationships between late-orogenic plutonism, volcanism, extensional tectonics, and mineralization? (4) Using internal textures in zircons (growth zoning and resorption surfaces, recrystallization phenomena) and the trace element compositions of internal domains to unravel complex P-T-t trajectories in high-grade metamorphic (granulite-facies) and associated magmatic rocks, and in granite-related mineralizing systems, using in-situ chemical analyses of trace elements, cathodoluminescence imaging, and Raman spectroscopy.

Existing collaborative projects with other research groups within the UNIGE Department of Mineralogy are: (1) Isotopic studies of mantle heterogeneity using Pb-Sr-Nd-Hf isotope signatures of oceanic basalts from Iceland’s neovolcanic zone (1 PhD), the Azores Islands, and the nearby Mid-Atlantic Ridge, (2) Investigations of the source compositions of volcanic rocks from the 200 Ma CAMP (Central Atlantic Magmatic Province), with provenance from Spain, Portugal and Morocco (1 PhD with A. Marzoli), and (3) Using isotopic tracing for the characterization of ore deposits and their mineralizing fluids (projects with L. Fontboté and R. Moritz in Peru, Bulgaria and Greece).

C. Geologic risk assessment and response

D. Ore deposits

Circulation of fluids is the principal control on the formation of hydrothermal base metal and gold deposits at different levels of the continental crust. The general aim of the Geneva Ore Deposits Group led by Lluís Fontboté and Robert Moritz, in collaboration with post docs and graduate students, is to investigate the geochemistry and role of fluids in the formation of ore deposits. Several projects are coordinated in the frame of the GEODE-ESF initiative. Main current projects, most including at least one PhD or MSc project are the following.

• Zoned base metal ("Cordilleran") veins and replacement deposits in intrusion-related (generally porphyry) systems: Colquijirca-San Gregorio, Cerro De Pasco, Morococha, Domo de Yauli, Peru.
• Relationships among geodynamics, magmatism, and high- and low-sulfidation epithermal deposits in the Cretaceous Srednegorie and Tertiary Rhodope tectonic zones of Bulgaria, including Chelopech and Ada Tepe.
• Fe-oxide copper gold deposits (IOCG): Candelaria-Punta del Cobre, Chile; Salobo, Brazil; Raúl-Condestable, Peru
• Au-skarns: Nambija, Ecuador
• Volcanic Hosted Massive Sulfides (VHMS): Perubar, Peru; La Plata, Ecuador
• Orogenic Gold: Pataz, Peru
• Missississippi Valley-type deposits and low temperature zinc-lead/barite/fluorite veins
• Radiogenic isotopes applied to metallogeny and regional studies (mainly Northern and Central Andes)
• Mineralogy of tailings / Acid mining drainage (in cooperation with B. Dold, Lausanne)
• Other topics

Other pages of this web site give information concerning the publications on line, teaching programs and internet resources related to ore deposits research.

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