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Frank S. Spear
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I enjoy teaching a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses including mineralogy, petrology, field seminars, phase petrology, geochemistry of groundwater systems and computer applications in geology. My teaching goals, whether at the graduate or undergraduate level, are to teach the student to analyze and understand different types of problems while helping to build confidence in his or her own abiliy to solve these problems.
My research group has been working on developing new techniques for the interpretation of metamorphic petrogenesis and especially mineral reactions and chemical zonation. The goal of this work is to construct pressure-temperature-time histories that can be used to interpret the tectonic evolution of a terrane. We have applied these techniques to areas in the Alps, New England, southern Chile and the Mojave desert and we are currently working in British Columbia, New England, the Adirondacks of New York, and the Caledonides of Norway.
Ongoing Research
Garnet Growth in Regional Metamorphic Terranes This is Chris Daniel's Ph. D. research project and is an attempt to better understand the processes of garnet growth and dissolution in areas of progressive regional metamorphism. One outgrowth of this research is the 3D spatial mapping of porphyroblasts such as garnet, staurolite and plagioclase. We have constructed several Quicktime movies to illustrate the 3dimensional distribution of these porphyroblasts. Please click on the above link to go to these animations.
Trace Element Zoning in Garnet Porphyroblasts The extremely slow diffusion rate of trace elements such as scandium (Sc), yittrium (Yr), chromium (Cr), phosphorus (P) in garnet suggests that compositional zoning of these elements may be preserved where the major element zoning is erased due to diffusional reequilibration. The image above is an X-ray map of Cr in garnet. Warm colors indicate a higher concentration of Cr at the rim of thes garnets. More X-ray maps and information are available at the above link.
Joe Pyle is studying the distribution of trace elements in metamorphic rocks as a function of metamorphic grade as potential monitors of metamorphic processes. A major tool in this research will be the collection of X-ray maps showing the distribution of selected trace elements in garnet in order to constrain the reactions that result in trace element redistributions.
Patricia Chalmers is studying the metamorphism of blueschists and eclogites from Syros, Greece using rutile thermometry.
Barbara (Birkes) Firebaugh is doing a maping and petrography study with monozite dating Wantastiqute Mountain in Brattleboro quadrangle in southwest New Hampshire.
I have published a book on metamorphic phase equilibria and several computer programs to perform calculations of interest to metamorphic petrologists. Click below to link to pages describing these:
Selected Recent Research Papers are listed on our "Recent Publications" Page
Some interesting geology links with brief comments
