- Prof. Terry A. PlankProfessorLamont-Doherty Earth ObservatoryGeochemistry
411 Comer61 Route 9W - PO Box 1000PalisadesNY10964-8000USPhone:(845) 365-8410tplank@ldeo.columbia.eduFields of interest:Geochemistry, Igneous PetrologyMy research is focused on magmas associated with the plate tectonic cycle, at both divergent and convergent plate margins. My main contributions have been to the understanding of: * Magma generation: quantifying the roles of decompression, temperature and water in driving mantle melting * Crustal recycling at subduction zones: providing global flux estimates of marine sediment subducted into oceanic trenches, and tracing sediment geochemically from the seafloor to arc volcanoes * Water content of magmas, and the effects on magma evolution and source composition.
My tools are geochemical, field work has taken me to Nicaragua and the Aleutians, and to sea. I has served on the MARGINS steering committee, the editorial boards of Geology and Earth & Planetary Science Letters, the USArray Advisory Committee, the Bowen Award selection committee, NSF review panels, and as co-chief scientist on Leg 185 of the Ocean Drilling Program. Plank received the Houtermans Medal from the European Association for Geochemistry, the Donath Medal from the Geological Society of America, and is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.
Some of my projects include:
- Mantle dynamics and magmatism across the Basin and Range
- Volatiles In Aleutian Magmas
- Magmatic water along the Central America arc
- Volatiles in Tonga Arc Magmas
Featured in the Following Videos:Selected Publications:Predicting the water content of mafic magmas from the direct water measurement of clinopyroxene phenocrysts, , Geology, (2008)
High water contents in basaltic magmas from Irazu Volcano, Costa Rica, , Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, Nov 15, Volume 168, Issue 1-4, p.68-92, (2007), DOI 10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2007.08.008
Mantle melting as a function of water content beneath back-arc basins, , Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth, Sep 28, Volume 111, Issue B9, p.-, (2006), Doi 10.1029/2005jb003732
Mantle temperature variations beneath back-arc spreading centers inferred from seismology, petrology, and bathymetry, , Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Aug 15, Volume 248, Issue 1-2, p.30-42, (2006), DOI 10.1016/j.epsl.2006.04.011
Constraints from thorium/lanthanum on sediment recycling at subduction zones and the evolution of the continents, , Journal of Petrology, May, Volume 46, Issue 5, p.921-944, (2005), DOI 10.1093/petrology/egi005

