Kang Chen
Graduate Student
Contact
CHEM 0226
kchen123 [at] umd [dot] edu
Laboratory
Advisors
Research Interests
To study the formation and evolution of the continental crust I am investigating the Archean crust of the Yangtze Craton, South China, using isotope and trace element geochemistry of whole rocks and zircons. For the first time, and using high-spatial resolution methods we have documented magmatic zircon ages of ~2.6-2.7 Ga and interpreted these data as evidence of significant additions of juvenile crust to the Yangtze Craton in the final stage of Archean. I have completed three years of my graduate study at China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) and I am currently engaged in a one-year research visit at the University of Maryland, where my research focuses on partial melting of the middle to lower continental crustal amphibolite- to granulite- facies metapelites. During my stay in Maryland, I will be interpreting Lu-Hf and Sm-Nd data I obtained in Wuhan in terms of the influence of partial melting. I will also be undertaking Li isotope analyses to investigate how Li is affected by lower crustal melting.