Petrology & Mineralogy Department

The Petrology & Mineralogy Department teaches magmatic evolution and metamorphic processes by having students simulate the crystallization and metamorphic pathways of rocks and minerals through Bowen's reaction series and phase-equilibrium thermodynamic modeling. Students alternate between analyzing real rock samples and running thermodynamic simulations to reproduce these pathways; by graduation, they can look at a rock's texture and mineral assemblage alone and work backward to its formation conditions.