Areas of Expertise

Throughout my Master and Doctoral studies a main question motivated my research:

-   Is obduction an intrinsic process or is it simply continental subduction?

From this straightforward interrogation stemmed other questions which were also part the research undergone during my Doctoral studies:

-   What forces are responsible for such transport (continental underplating/thrusting of oceanic lithosphere onto continental lithosphere) and how do these forces translate in terms of mineral transformations and geochemistry (metasomatism/metamorphism/volcanism)?

-   Are there particular geodynamic contexts favourable for ophiolite emplacement? If so, which ones?

-   What are the effects of and links with other far field geodynamic processes (accretion-subduction-collision)?

-   How are mantle, lithospheric and crustal dynamics and deformation linked throughout ocean closing?

Clues to the reconstruction of the history of these events (obduction and subduction) are available through the study of ophiolites all around the world. The Tethyan ophiolites have provided and continue to furnish an exceptionally well preserved record of the evolution of the oceanic domains from which they originated.

Geology,                            Sedimentology,                   Petrography,           Thermo-chemistry,             Geomorphology,

Tectonics,                          Stratigraphy,                        Petrology,                Thermo-barometry,            Tectonophysics,

Structural geology,           Geochronology,                   Rheology,                Radiometric dating,            Geodynamics,

Geological mapping,       Sequence Stratigraphy,      Petrophysics,           Isotopic geochemistry,       Numerical modelling

Facies determination (sedimentary, igneous, volcanic and metamorphic)

Structural characterization/measurement (sedimentary fill, bedding, foliation/schistosity, faults, folds, mapping)

Thin section observation (optical minerology, SEM)

Whole rock geochemistry (LA-ICP-MS) and mineral chemistry (EPMA)

Radiometric dating (⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar, U-Pb)

Stable (δ¹⁸O - δ¹³C) and radiogenic (Sr, Nd, Pb) isotopes