MATTHEW L. GORRING          Assistant Professor B.S. University of Delaware, 1988  M.A. SUNY-Binghamton, 1992  Ph.D. Cornell University, 1997  RESEARCH INTERESTS: Geochemistry and Petrology of Mafic Volcanics and Mantle Xenoliths  Geology and Tectonics of the Southern Andes  Geochemistry and Petrology of igneous and metamorphic rocks of the Hudson Highlands and Newark Basin  Analytical Geochemistry  Email address: gorringm@mail.montclair.edu Telephone: (973) 655-5409  Fax: (973) 655-7047

• GEOS110, Natural Disasters
• GEOS112, Physical Geology
• GEOS443, Mineralogy
• GEOS444, Petrology
• GEOS454, Environmental Geochemistry
• GEOS472, Structural Geology
• GEOS575, Geochemistry
• GEOS578, Igneous & Metamorphic Geology

GORRING, M.L., and S.M. KAY, 'Metasomatized spinel peridotite xenoliths from the central Santa Cruz Province, Argentina and their bearing on late Cenozoic Patagonian plateau magmatism', Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, 77-46, 789, 1996.

GORRING, M.L., KAY, S.M., and V.A. RAMOS, 'Chemical constraints on Neogene slab window mafic magmatism in southern Patagonia', 3rd International Symposium on Andean Geodynamics, St. Malo, France, 1996.

My current research interests focus on application of geochemistry and geochronology of igneous and metamorphic rocks as tools for monitoring mantle and crustal processes and their relation to regional tectonics.  Specific areas of study currently include and Neogene mafic volcanics and peridotite xenoliths from southern Patagonia, Argentina, Middle Proterozoic igneous and metamorphic rocks of the Hudson Highlands, New York, and the Triassic-Jurassic Palisades sill near Fort Lee, NJ.  I routinely collaborate with research scientists from Binghamton University, Cornell University, Universidad de Buenos Aires and the Servicio Geológico de Argentina on projects.  The petrologic research that I do involves both field and laboratory work.  Field work primarily entails sample collection for geochemical analysis in the lab.  Lab work involves sample preparation and chemical analysis of rocks.  This routinely includes working with such instruments as petrographic microscopes, electron microprobes, inductively coupled plasma spectrometers (ICP), neutron activation analysis (INAA), x-ray fluorescence spectrometers (XRF), and thermal ionization mass spectrometers (TIMS).

Current Student Reseach Projects:

• Chris Blake (MS Geoscience)-  Chris is currently working on the petrology of Middle Proterozoic meta-igneous rocks that are exposed in the southern part of the Hudson Highlands in Harriman State Park, NY for his masters thesis.  These rocks are the exposed roots of the Appalachian Mountains and contain intrusive plutonic, sedimentary, and volcanic rocks that were highly deformed and metamorphosed between 1.3 to 1.0 billion years ago during the Grenville Orogeny.  The rocks Chris is studying are a unique suite of metamorphosed volcanic rocks (called the Losee Metamorphic Suite) that are thought to be the oldest rocks exposed in the Hudson Highlands.  The project has two main goals:
(1) constrain the chemistry of the Losee Metamorphic Suite in order to determine tectonic setting and magmatic processes that formed the various units within the suite.

(2) contribute to the understanding of the regional tectonic and magmatic history of the Grenville Orogeny in the Hudson Highlands region.
 

• Jason Gowers (BS Geoscience)-  Jason is a junior geoscience major who is working with me on a set of spectacular exposures of Neogene continental basalts that outcrop on the eastern flanks of the Patagonian Andes in the Santa Cruz Province of southern Argentina.  One of these exposures includes a very large (6000 km²), and high (1500 to 2000 m) basaltic plateau known as the Meseta del Lago Buenos Aires (46.5S). These lavas have erupted in a unique tectonic setting where an actively spreading mid-ocean ridge has collided (~6 million years ago) and has been subducted beneath the South American continent. The project has two main goals:

(1) constrain the chemistry of Patagonian lavas in order to assess the relative contributions of various mantle and crustal components to continental subduction zone basalts.

(2) contribute to the understanding of the regional tectonic and volcanic history of the Andes.
 

Click here for Patagonia research webpage

 

• "A geochemical investigation of basaltic lavas from the Meseta del Lago Buenos Aires, Patagonia Andes, southern Argentina", Montclair State University, Separately Budgeted Research Program, $3000, 6/1/99 to 6/1/00.

• "A geochemical investigation of basaltic lavas from the Meseta del Lago Buenos Aires, Patagonia Andes, southern Argentina", Montclair State University, Sokol Faculty/Student Research Grant Program, $2000, 6/1/99 to 6/1/00.

• "Geochemical studies of the Losee Metamorphic Suite of the New Jersey and Hudson Highlands", Montclair State University, Alumni Association Faculty Grant Program, $1500, 6/1/99 to 6/1/00.

• "Geochemical studies of basaltic lavas from the Patagonian Andes", Montclair State University, Global Education Center, Short-Term Travel Projects, $2100, 12/1/98 to 1/1/99.

•  "Integration of undergraduate research activities in the geology and biology environmental science concentration using an inductively coupled plasma spectrometer", 1999 National Science Foundation, DUE CCLI-A&I Program, $183,870, 1/1/00 to 1/1/02.

GORRING, M.L., and KAY, S.M., ‘Mantle processes and sources of Neogene slab window magmas from southern Patagonia, Argentina’, submitted to Journal of Petrology, May 1999.

GORRING, M.L., and KAY, S.M., ‘Carbonatite metasomatized peridotite xenoliths from southern Patagonia: implications for lithospheric processes and Neogene plateau magmatism’, submitted to Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, December, 1998.

GORRING, M.L., KAY, S.M., ZEITLER, P.K., RAMOS, V.A., RUBIOLO, D., FERNANDEZ, M.I., AND J.L. PANZA, ‘Neogene Patagonian plateau lavas: Continental magmas associated with ridge collision at the Chile Triple Junction’, Tectonics, 16, 1-17, 1997.

GORRING, M.L., and NASLUND, H.R., ‘Geochemical reversals within the lower 100 m of the Palisades sill, New Jersey’  Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 119, 263-276, 1995.
 
 

Send reprint requests to: gorringm@mail.montclair.edu
 

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