Position

Professor and University Research Professor

Professional Affiliations: American Geophysical Union, Geochemical Society, Geological Society of America, Geological Society of Washington, Materials Research Society, Mineralogical Association of Canada, Mineralogical Society of America, Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Newfoundland and Labrador (PEGNL), and Sigma Xi

Contact Information

Office: ER 5020
Phone: 709-864-6785
E-mail:  jhanchar@mun.ca

Research Interests

My research interests include the following current projects in geochemistry and materials science:

1. Use of trace element geochemistry of accessory minerals (e.g., zircon, monazite, titanite, and apatite), rock forming minerals, and melt and fluid inclusions in zircon, quartz, feldspar and apatite, using EPMA, SIMS, and LA-ICPMS to understand crustal processes. Then combining the trace element geochemistry with whole rock Hf, Nd, Sr, and Pb, isotopes, and in situ Hf isotopes in zircon, Nd isotopes in monazite, apatite, and titanite, and Pb isotopes in melt inclusions using MC-ICPMS and LA-MC-ICPMS, respectively, as tracers of crustal and mantle processes. These tools are currently being applied to the following research projects:

• The origin, tectonic controls, and fluid-rock history of hydrothermal low-Ti iron oxide-apatite-(IOA) (also called magnetite-apatite) and iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) mineral deposits, and the related metasomatic alteration of their host rocks from the Adirondack Mountains, New York State (e.g., Lyon Mountain, Mineville), the Norrbotten region (e.g., Kiirunavaara, Gruvberget, and Malmberget) in northern Sweden, and in the Atacama Desert region of northern Chile, e.g., IOA deposits including El Laco and Incahuasi and IOCG deposits in the Punta del Cobre District, and the Marcona region in southern Peru;
• The petrogenesis of metaluminous to peraluminous Cretaceous granites and lower crustal xenoliths from the Mojave Desert in southeastern California.

2. Synthesis and characterization (using EPMA, PIXE, SIMS, LA-ICPMS, LA-MC-ICPMS, Raman, and powder XRD) of high-purity undoped and doped silicate, phosphate, and oxide minerals, and glasses, for structural properties, trace element incorporation, isotope standards, thermodynamic studies, diffusion measurements, spectroscopic studies and storage materials for radioactive waste from dismantled nuclear weapons and spent nuclear fuel;

Experimental and natural sample studies of trace element partitioning between accessory minerals and melts and fluids and other minerals. This research project is primarily focused on the distribution of rare earth elements between fluids/melts and garnet, clinopyroxene, zircon, monazite, and apatite igneous rocks and high grade metamorphic rocks;

3. Applications of cathodoluminescence imaging, Raman spectroscopy, and EPMA microanalysis and X-ray mapping, to problems in mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry, economic geology, and materials science.