Bradley Hacker


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Webb 2120


Metamorphic Petrology, Tectonics, Geochronology



My students, postdoctoral scholars, affiliated researchers and I combine field and theoretical studies to understand the physical and chemical processes in Earth's mid-lower crust and uppermost mantle. Topics of interest include: i) formation and exhumation of ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) rocks; ii) ophiolite emplacement and the formation of inverted metamorphic gradients; iii) role of phase changes in earthquakes, diagenesis, and magmatism in subduction zones; iv) formation and refining of continental crust; v) rheology, velocity anisotropy and phase changes in the lower crust; vi) rock physical properties; vii) laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.

Field projects include study of UHP tectonics in Norway, China, Papua New Guinea, and Kazakhstan; ophiolite emplacement in Oman, the Sierra Nevada, and the Klamath Mtns; crustal extension in the Whipple Mtns, the Ruby Mtns, and Crete; formation of continental crust in Tibet, Tajikistan, Alaska, Sierra Nevada, and the Klamath Mtns; collisional orogenesis in Tibet, the Himalaya, and the Pamir.

Analytical method development includes electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD), laser ablation split-stream inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LASS) to simultaneously analyze isotopic and elemental compositions.