B.Sc.,
M.Sc.,
McMaster
University
M.A.,
The
John's
Hopkins
University
Ph.D.
currently
University
of
Ottawa
Dolores Durant started picking up rocks on the beach as a child and she still hasn't stopped. Joining a mineral collecting club as a teenager opened up a whole new world of the splendour of crystals along with a constant amazement that such perfect and varied structures form naturally in the Earth. A desire to understand everything about how the Earth works plus a love of travel has lead to a diverse career that includes mapping Triassic red beds in New Brunswick, looking for gold in northern Ontario, oil in Alberta, anthracite coal in northern British Columbia, climbing up volcanoes in Hawaii and down into meteor craters in Arizona and Germany. Studies included doing electron spin resonance dating of ancient horse teeth from France, collection dyke rocks in Colorado for an M.Sc. investigating the crystal size distribution in order to determine the evolution of the dyke magma.
Currently Dolores is working on a Ph.D. on orbicular diorites that she collected in California. The orbs are made of alternating shells of plagioclase and orthopyroxene that form in a magma that is far from equilibrium. The work will include studying dendritic crystal growth, mineral compositions, grain sizes, crystal zoning, shell mineralogy and thicknesses. This information will lead to a mathematical model simulating Orbicular formation. This information should increase our knowledge about the conditions in a magma chamber just after the magma is injected and before it cools and crystallises.
The orbicules are also a clue to a larger phenomenon, that of oscillating pattern formation which is ubiquitous throughout geology. Fine scale repetitive layering is found in all types of rocks worldwide. By comparing the patterns from different geological settings, she hopes to learn about the mechanism responsible for their formation.
