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 Supervision

Undergraduate students

Garrett Mitchell (University of Maryland, College Park, 2007-present)

Piyapa Dejtrakulwong (WHOI Summer Student Fellow)

Graduate Students

Sinead Eley (University of Maryland, College Park, 2008-present)

Caleb MiIls (MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography

Other student collaborators

Matthias Delescluse (École Normal Supérieure, Paris)

Patricia Gregg (MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography)

Jennifer Barry (WHOI Summer Student Fellow)

Classes taught at the University of Maryland

Although I always prepare websites for these classes, the sites are hosted by ELMS/Blackboard at the University of Maryland. Access is reserved to registered students. Do send me an email for any information request.

GEOL100: Physical Geology

A general survey of the rocks and minerals composing the earth, its surface features and the agents that form them, and the dynamic forces of plate tectonics. The class will start with an introduction to the various rock types encountered on Earth and their origin. We will then focus on the way these rock deforms, starting from microscopic processes and culminating with an account of the global structure of our planet and its deformation regime: plate tectonics. Returning to the surface, we will expose the various processes that form our landscapes and the geological record. We will end with the interaction between the Earth and life on Earth, especially humans, and the place of the Earth in the solar system.

GEOL457/GEOL789A: Seismology

General overview of the basics of seismology, starting with wave propagation, seismic reflection and refraction. Application to the determination of the seismic velocity and anisotropy structure of the Earth. Earthquake generation, postseismic deformation and creep events, relation to faulting and plate tectonics.

GEOL789M: Computational Geodynamics

An introduction to the techniques used to model geodynamics processes. The focus is on understanding and applying techniques, not on proving their worth and programming. You will become conversant in Finite Element, Boundary Elements, and Finite Differences modeling, although we will not explore these topics the rigor expected by Applied Mathematics.

Classes taught in the MIT/WHOI Joint Program

12.521: Computation Geodynamics Modeling (with Jian Lin)

An overview of numerical methods used in geodynamics modeling such as Finite Element, Finite Difference, and Boundary Elements. The emphasis is on the derivation of each methods and how to use some common software, but not on the implementation and programmation of each technique

12.756: Geodynamics seminar, The Early Earth (with Glenn Gaetani)

A series of external speakers invited to review current research topics related to the Geodynamics of the Early Earth, followed by a geological excursion to the Superior Province in Ontario

The sponsors' corner

My research is possible thanks to the support of the National Science Fundation and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.