Paleomagnetic sampling of cap carbonates at Ditlovtoppen Svalbard, Norway.
Michael S. Petronis, Ph.D.
Research Interest/Bio Sketch
Dr. Petronis’ research interests and expertise are broadly focused on rock magnetism, paleomagnetism, shallow igneous processes, physical volcanology, structural geology/tectonics, and exploration geophysics. This research program dovetails nicely into petrology research (Proterozoic tectonomagmatism, metamorphism, magma mingling and mixing processes, and within-plate magma genesis), as well as the hydrogeology (fluid flow, water chemistry, soil erosion/water pollution studies), archaeology (pre-Columbian field excavations, collections, and local historic sites), and forestry and ecology (limnology, basin analysis, watershed management, Holocene climate studies) research strengths of the Natural Resource Management and Southwest Studies departments at Highlands University. He choses to approach his research from a perspective of a field geologist, which begins with a well-documented, detailed understanding of the field relations, and only then can the appropriate analytical techniques be applied effectively. To date, his research interests have led him to work in the Basin and Range province, southwest Colorado Plateau, margins of the Rio Grande rift, the High Planes aquifer in Kansas, the Sudete Mountains of Poland and the Czech Republic, Yunnan Province of southwestern China, the Highlands of NW Scotland, Galway Granite in northwest Ireland, Chaí®ne des Puys, France, Leka, Norway, and most recently, the high Arctic (79.5°N) of Svalbard, Norway.