Research in petrology at the University of Georgia centers on the compositional evolution of the crust and upper mantle. Alberto Patiño-Douce is interested in the origin and evolution of the Earth’s continents, which he studies through a combination of high-pressure experiments and theoretical modeling. Sam Swanson studies the crystallization of intermediate and silicic magmas and the petrogenesis of metaultramafic rocks in the Appalachian Orogen. Mike Roden studies the petrology and composition of the upper mantle through analysis of the mineralogy and bulk composition of mantle-derived xenoliths and magmas.
