Rock Types Studied: Studies are largely of basaltic lavas, gabbroic and ultramafic xenoliths in basaltic lavas, the Hawaiian magma system, continental alkalic basalts, continental flood basalts
Instrumentation: Application of electron microprobe and x-ray fluorescence spectrometry analytical techniques.
Collaboration: Joint research projects with geology-colleagues in the U.S., Brazil, and Hungary
Graduate student projects: Thesis research should place emphasis on compositional characteristics of igneous or mantle rocks -- such as determinations for whole-rock major- and trace-element compositions (including REE), using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and/or ICP-MS, mineral compositions determined by electron microprobe, and isotopic compositions.
Courses taught: Physical geology (website ); igneous and metamorphic petrology (for undergrads); mineralogy; advanced igneous petrology; electron microprobe analysis; and mantle petrology
Some recent publications:
McCarter, R.L., Fodor. R.V., and Trusdell, Frank, 2006. Perspectives on basaltic magma crystrallization and differentiation: lava-lake blocks erupted at Mauna Loa volcano summit, Hawaii. Lithos 90, 187-213.
Weinstein, J.P., Fodor, R.V., and Bauer, G.R., 2004. Koolau shield basalt as xenoliths entrained during rejuvenated-stage eruptions: perspectives on magma mixing. Bulletin of Volcanology 66, 182-199.
Fodor, R.V., Sial, A.N, and Gandhok, G, 2002. Petrology of spinel peridotite xenoliths from northeastern Brazil: lithosphere with a high geothermal gradient imparted by Fernando de Noronha plume. Jour South American Earth Sciences 15, 199-214
Fodor, R.V., 2001. The role of tonalite and diorite in Mauna Kea volcano, Hawaii, magmatism: petrology of summit-region leucocratic xenoliths. Jour Petrology 42, 1685-1704
Fodor, R.V., 2000. Plagioclase of Hawaiian tholeiitic and alkalic magma parentages: distinctions based on REE, Sr, Ba, Hf, and Ta. Mineralogy and Petrology 69, 213-225
Fodor, R.V. and Hanan, B.B., 2000. Geochemical evidence for the Trindade hotspot trace: Columbia seamount ankaramite. Lithos 51, 293-304
Fodor, R.V., Bauer, G.R., and Jacobs, R.S., 1998. Alkalic magma modified by incorporation of diverse tholeiitic components: 'complex' hybridization on Kahoolawe Island, Hawaii. Mineralogy and Petrology 63, 73-94
Fodor, R.V, Mukasa, S.B., and Sial, A.N., 1998. Isotopic and trace-element indications of lithospheric and asthenospheric components in Tertiary alkalic basalts, northeastern Brazil. Lithos 43, 197-217
Fodor, R.V., and Galar, P., 1997. A view into the subsurface of Mauna Kea volcano, Hawaii: crystallization processes interpreted through the petrology and petrography of gabbroic and ultramafic xenoliths. Jour. Petrology 38, 581-624
Kosecki, Joanna, and Fodor, R.V., 1997. Petrology, mineralogy, and geochemistry of the Rolesville granitic batholith, eastern Piedmont, North Carolina. Southeastern Geology 37, 91-107
Dobosi, G., Fodor, R.V., and Goldberg, S.A., 1995. Late-Cenozoic alkalic basalt magmatism in the northern Pannonian basin, eastern Europe: petrology, source compositions, and relationship to tectonics. Acta Vulcanologica 7 , 199-207
Fodor, R.V., Dobosi, G., and Sial, A.N., 1995. Zoned clinopyroxenes in alkalic basalt: clues to fractionation and magma-mixing histories for seemingly primitive magmas. Chem. Erde 55, 133-148
Fodor, R.V., Jacobs, R.S., and Bauer, G.R., 1994. Hollandite in Hawaiian basalt: a relocation site for weathering-mobilized elements. Mineral. Mag. 58, 589-596
Fodor, R.V. and Moore, R.B., 1994. Petrology of gabbroic xenoliths in 1960 Kilauea basalt: crystalline remnants of prior (1955) magmatism. Bull Volcanol. 56, 62-74
