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Mitchell Clay

Education:

M.S. in Geoscience at Montclair State University (2017)

B.S., Magna Cum Laude in Geology at Lock Haven University (2015)

 

Research Interests:

·       Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology

·       Mineralogy

·       Geochronology

·       Volcanology

 

Biography:

              Originally from Atco, New Jersey, I studied geology at Lock Haven University in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.  Here, I focused on research involving the mineralogical and textural properties of CAMP gabbro from Bucks County, southeastern PA.

              I went on to receive a Master’s Degree in geoscience from Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey.  I studied and worked as a graduate assistant for both mineralogy and igneous and metamorphic petrology courses.  My research on the petrogenesis of several basaltic lavas from Newberry Volcano, Bend, Oregon produced a master’s thesis and an anticipated journal article.  My main goal at Montclair was to gain an understanding of the mantle source characteristics of Newberry, a rear arc volcano of the Pacific Northwestern USA.

              Currently, I am pursuing a PhD in geological science at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky.  I am conducting research under Dr. David Moecher on a “double dating” approach of detrital zircon.  This method utilizes U-Pb geochronology in tandem with (U-Th)/He thermochronology to learn more about the crystallization and cooling temperatures of detrital zircon from Precambrian Eastern Midcontinent clastic basins underneath Kentucky and Ohio.  My research quantifies sediment recycling during the Neoproterozoic when the Grenville Orogen and the Midcontinent Rift System were important provenance factors.

Selected Publications: