New team members

Welcome to new Graduate student Garrett Mitchell! Garrett was an undergraduate here a Maryland, who obtained a double major in Geography and Geology (with honors) and decided to stay a fifth year to obtain a combined BS/MS in Geology. Garrett and Marci Occhi are the first combined Geology BS/MS student!

Current Appointments

I have the honor of serving on the following committees

Ridge2000 Steering Committee

AGU Information Technology Committee

Recent publications

Delescluse, M., L.G.J. Montési, and N. Chamot-Rooke, 2008. Fault reactivation and selective abandonment in the oceanic lithosphere, Geophysical Research Letters, 35, L16312, doi:10.1029/2008GL035066 Link to article

Schouten, H., D.K. Smith, L.G.J. Montési, W. Zhu, and E. M. Klein, 2008. Cracking of lithosphere north of the Galapagos triple junction, Geology, 36(5), 339–342, doi:10.1130/G24431A.1. Link to article

Montési, L.G.J., and M.D. Behn, 2007. Mantle flow and melting underneath Mid-Ocean Ridges, Geophysical Research Letters, 34, L24307, doi:10.1029/2007GL031067. Link to article

Zhu W., L.G.J. Montési, and T.-f. Wong, 2007. A micromechanics model of stress-induced anisotropic permeability reduction during compactive cataclastic flow, J. Geophys. Res., 112, B10207, doi:10.1029/2006JB004456. Link to article

Gregg, P., J. Lin, M.D. Behn, and L.G.J. Montési, 2007. Spreading rate dependence of the gravity structure of oceanic transform faults. Nature, 448, 183-187, doi: 10.1038/nature05962. Link too article

Montési, L.G.J., 2007. A constitutive model for layer development in shear zones near the brittle-ductile transition. Geophysical Research Letters, 34, L08307, doi:10.1029/2007GL029250. Link to article

Student Opportunities

Research Assistantships for Graduate Students are immediately available: we are right now looking for a few good people to come and join the fun in the new geodynamics group at the University of Maryland!

In addition to your principal advisor, you will benefit from the presence of one the best geochemistry group and a young and dynamic geophysics group. All of that within easy reach of Washington D.C.

Ideal candidates would have a strong backgroung in geophysics, fluid dynamics, or scientific computing. However, there are a variety of projects to choose from, and we can adapt each project to satisfy your goals.

In addition to Graduate-level opportunities, we are also looking for undergraduate interns to participate in any of our our projects.

Look for details on exiting projects in the research section of this website and do not hesitate to contact me with any question

Currently funded opportunities

Mid-Ocean Ridge Dynamics (PhD preferred)
	Project Title	Influence of plate boundary evolution on ridge geodynamics
	Funding	NSF Ocean Sciences Ridge2000 Program. 2.5 years full support.
	Tasks	• Develop models of mantle flow underneath mid-ocean ridges using the deal.II Finite Element library
		• Implement time varying plate boundary configuration to characterize how it affect mantle flow and melting
		• Produce synthetic geophysical and geochemical dataset to compare with information from EPR and Endeavour ridges
	Useful skills	Geophysics, non-linear dynamics, and/or scientific computing
Mantle Flow at Subduction Zones (MS or PhD)
	Project Title	A global examination of the subduction zone flow field from seismic anisotropy
	Funding	NSF Earth Science Geophysics Program. 1 year full support.
	Tasks	• Predict pattern of seismic anisotropy in subduction zones for various assumptions of mantle viscosity structure, using the Comsol Multiphysics Finite Element software and postprocessing in Matlab>
		• Compare numerical results with analogue experiments done at the Uiversity of Rhode Island and observations process by the seismology group at Yale University
	Useful skills	Geophysics, non-linear dynamics, and/or scientific computing

Additional research interests include

The following are not the topic of a fully described project at this point, but are certainly active domains of research in my group. Don't hesitate to send me a request for more information if you are interested in these topics:

Development of ductile shear zones below the seismogenic zones
Origin of postseismic deformation
Characterisation of rift and crack morphology on various planets
Thermal evolution of planetary interior
Analysis of crater and wrinkle ridge morphology
Development of thrust faults in planetary lithospheres
Construct a java-based calculator of strength envelopes to be uses by the wider Earth science community