Research in petrology at the University of Georgia centers on the compositional evolution of the crust and upper mantle. Previous research focuses have been on the origin and evolution of the Earth’s continents (Alberto Patiño-Douce), studied through a combination of high-pressure experiments and theoretical modeling. The study of the crystallization of intermediate and silicic magmas and the petrogenesis of metaultramafic rocks in the Appalachian Orogen (Sam Swanson). The petrology and composition of the upper mantle through analysis of the mineralogy and bulk composition of mantle-derived xenoliths and magmas (Mike Roden). Current research include experimental, analytical, and field-based geology, petrology, volcanology, and mechanics of multiphase magmas and volatiles in the Earth’s interior (Mattia Pistone).
