Research group making a RUMBLE

The RUMBLE lab (Reasearch Unit on Magma, Bedrock, Lava and Eruptions) has spent the last year visiting external labs to support EXCEL and Thesis work.

Professor Carley (from Left), Riley Smith (’17), and Kat Kim (’21) in the halls of the American Museum of Natural History

Kat and Leah operating the SEM at the AMNH.

During the Summer of 2019, Kat Kim (’21) and Leah Shteynman (’20) spent time at the American Museum of Natural History to image apatite and zircon crystals using a cathodoluminescence detector on one of their SEMs. Leah was an REU student at the museum at the time, but took a break from her REU work to collect images of zircons from PA K-Bentonites to support her senior thesis work. Kat was working as an EXCEL student, looking at zoning and composition of apatite crystals from PA K-Bentonites. On one of our visits, we ran into Riley Smith, who was finishing the AMNH master’s in teaching program.

Isabelle operating the Electron Microprobe at Rutgers University

During the Fall 2019 semester, Leah, Kat, Isabelle Rein (’20), and Ed Ruger (’20) visited Rutgers University to use their electron microprobe.  Leah analyzed rhyolitic melt inclusions in zircon, Kat measured the compositions of apatite crystals in PA K bentonites, Ed and Belle measured the compositions of Icelandic apatite crystals (building on the great work of Lissie Connors, whose thesis has been accepted for publication…More to follow soon).