The process that leads to the formation of pegmatite is not one that is well understood or intuitive. We believe we know how igneous rocks form by the solidification of silicate melt. We believe we understand how hydrothermal veins dominated by quartz, carbonates, and other lesser minerals originate by the cooling and reactions of seawater or groundwater that circulate through fractured rock. If that is correct, then pegmatites might arise at a condition that is transitional between these two regimes, originating by some complex interplay between silicate melt and aqueous vapor.

That’s a good hypothesis, and it is the one that has been accepted for more than a century. Proving it, however, has been problematic -- not because of some technical difficulties in analysis or experimentation, but because a wealth of scientific information does not support the model.

My career goal is to seek that hard, scientific evidence for the processes the form pegmatite as most geologists recognize it. This means using all of the tools available for petrologic and geochemical study, but without the standard road map that guides most petrologic analysis. Together with George Morgan and various visiting scientists and graduate students, we employ theoretical and experimental geochemistry; various types of analysis; and numerical modeling to investigate each of the possible contributors to the creation of pegmatite. We go between field areas and lab studies in an iterative fashion, always using one as the check or “ground truth” against the other.

I believe we have made great progress in this quest and that we are getting to the core of the problem. We are ready for the final assault. Look at the Current Research to see where we will turn next to write some of the last pages of our story. If you are interested in challenging but rewarding graduate study that delves into one of Nature’s greatest rock mysteries, then come be a part of this work.