CPCL researchers gravitate toward fundamental geological research that interfaces and impacts a wide range of academic disciplines and industries. Our work relies on a firm understanding of chemistry, physics, materials science, laboratory experiments, and geology as well as numerous analytical tools and datasets. CPCL researchers have the ability to move easily between chemical analyses, electron microscopes, numerical models, and geological data. Our research is demanding, but rewarding.

 

CPCL researchers work toward understanding how carbonate rocks, such as limestones and dolomites, are formed. More specifically, we investigate the post-depositional processes that alter the composition, mineralogy, and crystalline texture of these rocks.

 

Our principal research focus and expertise lies in understanding the causes and outcomes of various mineral transformations during  post-depositional changes to the rock (i.e. diagenesis). In general, once carbonate sediments are deposited, they undergo mineralogical stabilization whereby a heterogeneous assortment of unstable minerals, such as aragonite and high-magnesium calcite, become more stable by transforming to either low-magnesium calcite or dolomite.