GEOCHEMISTRY OF IGNEOUS ROCKS

GEOS 5352
Spring, 2010
MW 4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
FA
Instructor: R.J.Stern (rjstern@utdallas.edu)
Office Hours: MW 4:30-5:30 pm
Office: FO 2.204
Telephone: 972-883-2442
Students:
Erika Jordan <ekjordan18@yahoo.com>
Warren lieu"<lieu.warren@gmail.com
Urmidola Raye uraye@utdallas.edu
Julia Ribeiro <juliaribeiro_mail@yahoo.fr>
Dylan Sheppard dylan.sheppard@gmail.com
This course is intended to acquaint the aspiring petrologist/geochemist with the
composition and significance of igneous rocks and in the use of major and trace elements
in solving problems in their petrogenesis.

Recommended text:
Rollinson, Using Geochemical Data: Evaluation, Presentation, Interpretation
(This is not in the bookstore – must be bought through Amazon.com or another „used
book‟ seller – you should do this immediately because this is a very useful book and there
are not very many copies out there.)
A “fun” read is “Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood” by Oliver Sacks

Grading: 20% class participation, 50% problem sets, 30% class project (20% 10 page
paper, 10% oral presentation). Class projects will focus on using software to address a
petrologic problem of your choice. Software includes P-MELTS, ABS 2 or 3,
FractionatePT3, etc. A short proposal about what you intend to do is due Feb. 22.

Schedule:

Readings (in parentheses) should be completed by the date indicated – this list is
incomplete and will be updated early in the semester.

Jan. 11: Introduction review of Periodic Table (RailsbackGeology2003)

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Jan. 13: Major elements; normative compositions (LeBasStreckeisen1991, LeBas2000,
Arculus2003, Verma2003; Janousek2006)
Jan. 18 – NO CLASS – MLK Day
Jan. 20: Trace elements and Rare Earth elements
Jan. 25: Asteroids and Meteorites (Nittler et al. 2004)
Jan. 27: Meteorites
Jan. 25: Bulk composition of the Earth (McDonough and Sun 1995)
Jan. 27: Peridotite and composition of Depleted Mantle (Bodinier & Godard 2007
Orogenic, Ophiolitic, and Abyssal Peridotites, Treatise on Geochemistry v. 2, Crust and
Mantle, 1-57)
Feb. 1: Abyssal & forearc peridotites
Feb. 3: NO CLASS- RJS in Houston
Feb. 8: Sub continental lithospheric mantle (Pearson et al., 2003. Mantle Samples
included in Volcanic Rocks: Xenoliths and Diaonds. Treatise on Geochemistry, v. 2
Crust and Mantle, 172-275.
Feb. 10: Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalts
Feb. 15: NO CLASS – RJS in San Antonio
Feb. 17: NO CLASS – RJS in San Antonio
Feb. 22: Project proposals due; we will discuss these in class
Feb. 24: Structure of Silicate Melts
March 1: Henry‟s Law and partition coefficients
March 3: Equilibrium and Fractional Crystallization
March 8: Mixing and AFC
March 10: Equilibrium and Fractional Melting
March 15: No class; Spring break
March 17: No class; Spring break
March 22: Ocean Island Basalts
March 24: Continental flood basalts
March 29: Foidites
March 31: Arc basalts
April 5: Back-arc basin basalts
April 7: Continental crust
April 12; No class – GSA SC Branson
April 14: Granitic rocks
April 19: Continental Rift Zone Magmatism
April 21: TBA
April 26: Student presentations
April 28: Student presentations
May 3: Student presentations