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 -- and all the minerals assemblages with.  Most recently, I have added silicic pyroclastic rocks and lavas to the research mix, particularly from central Arizona.

Instrumentation: Application of my Department's electron microprobe and using the x-ray fluorescence spetrometry data, ICP-MS data, and isotope data obtained from other labs, generally labs of collaborators.

Collaboration: Joint research projects with geology-colleagues in the U.S., Brazil, and Hungary

Graduate student projects:

Thesis research should emphasize igneous or mantle rocks (mainly as xenoliths) that are thoughtfully and meaningfully collected (e.g., above, Arizona volcanics sampled by Brian and Katie) -- and then analyzed for whole-rock major- and trace-element compositions (including REE) using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and/or ICP-MS and/or INAA, mineral compositions using electron microprobe, and, if possible to obtain and include, Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic compositions (most recently accomplished at Univ. North Carolina-Chapel Hill isotope lab).

Courses taught:

Over a two-year period, I teach each of the following at least once: Physical geology (website ); Igneous and metamorphic petrology (for undergrads); Mineralogy; Advanced igneous petrology; and Electron microprobe analysis

I also like to run Fall Break field trips to great places out West, such as Arizona, the Cascades, and New Mexico (above, field trip at the Albuquerque volcanoes, 2006; more NM pictures below). Our Department offers one-credit hour for these 5-day field trips....to have a great time checking out igneous rocks and features, and camping.  

Here's our NM field gang in the Black Range, southwestern NM (Oct. 2006)

My friend and colleague Glenn Bauer with me.....and Albuquerque and the Sandia Mts. in the background

Greetings.....from my temporary office at Eotvos Lorand Technical University in Budapest....my 'headquarters'

when teaching Advanced Igneous Petrology, Spring, 2009, on a Fulbright grant to Hungary

Below:  at Fodor's confectionery, Kecskemit, Hungary (June, 2009)

Below: doing something useful with geologic material ....making pottery to sell

Above: Selling my pottery, with Peggy helping, at the NCSU Craft Center Fair, November, 2011

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Some recent publications:

Fodor, R.V., and Bauer, G.R., 2012. Did Kahoolawe volcano, Hawaii, evolve to alkalic composition magmatism? Journal of Geology 120, 191-202.

Fodor, R.V., and Vetter, S.K., 2011. Miocene basaltic magmatism in the Goldfield-Superstition volcanic province, centeral Arizona: geochemistry, mineralogy, and petrology. Rocky Mountain Geology 46, 31-71. reprint

Fodor, R.V., and Bauer, G.R., 2010. Kahoolawe Island, Hawaii: The role of an 'inaccessible' shield volcano in the petrology of the Hawaiian islands and plume. Chemie der Erde 70, 101-123.

  Fodor, R.V., 2009. Diorite segregations in gabbro: geochemical characteristics and conditions for origin assessed at diorite-gabbro contacts. Journal of Geology 117, 109-125.

 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.

  Huang, S, Frey, F.A., Bichert-Toft, J., Fodor, R.V., Bauer, G.R., Xu, G., 2005. Enriched components in the Hawaiian plume: evidence from Kahoolawe volcano, Hawaii, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 6, Q11006, doi:10.1029/2005 GC001012 (on-line journal)

 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

Other 'stuff'