Roberto Braga

A project in Petrography is more than classifying rocks. It’s discovering the Earth’s history recorded in minerals and textures.
Rocks have their code and the task to unravel this code is not easy. Outcrops, structures, minerals and their chemistry, diagrams ... all this arsenal is necessary if we want to learn the rock language. The student has to master two or more techniques (including field and computer modeling) to get something out of apparently dull rocks.

A petrography project is a good training to become a talented geologist. Topics include:

Metamorphic Petrology
How crystalline basements evolve? How deep into the Earth do they dive? How do they differentiate? What are the processes that bring metamorphic rocks back to the Earth’s surface? Here and example from the grey literature.

Petrography applied to building stones
Stones form a great deal of cultural heritage. Together with Fausto Peddis from LAGIRN-DICAM and others colleagues who are part of the TeCoRe degree I investigate the modifications of stones in our built environment. Here an example.

Critical Raw Materials
Some elements as the Rare Earth metals are used in every new technology with low Greenhouse Gas emission. Their supply is a matter of concern for the European Community (here).

Interested? Contact me