Prof. Dr. Thomas Müller



Position: Associate Professor in Metamorphic Petrology

Area of expertise: fluid-rock interaction, reactive transport, reaction kinetics, diffusion chronometry, Early Earth



Research Interests

Metamorphic and experimental petrology. I use numerical models together with phase petrology and thermodynamic calculations to advance our understanding of the complex interaction of the processes, generating rock textures. My research focuses on the kinetics of geochemical and petrologic processes on different scales, ranging from entire contact aureoles over outcrop scale, and down to the scale of single grains. Field mapping of these various scales, is a fundamental tool to understand structural and textural relationships providing the basis for most investigations. Ongoing research focuses on non-equilibrium processes during texture formation and investigates the kinetics of minerals reactions in various geological settings (igneous and metamorphic). This study aims to constrain specific reaction rates and shed light on actual mechanisms during minerals formation and crustal processes. These data allow determination of timescales of various geological events. Another important part of my research is my laboratory work which includes a combination of various geochemical analyses (chemical-, isotope, and trace element compositions), and statistical treatment of spatial data.



Profile

09/2019 – 07/2020: Associate Professor for Metamorphic Petrology and Hydrothermal systems at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Leeds, UK
11/2014 – 08/2019: Lecturer for Metamorphic petrology/geochemistry at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Leeds, UK
09/2010 – 10/2014: Junior Professor (Assistent Professor) at the Ruhr-University Bochum, DE
09/2010 – 08/2014: Adjunct Researcher at the New York Center for Astrobiology hosted at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY, US
01/2010 – 12/2010: Adjunct Professor at the Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY, US
08/2009 – 08/2010: Post-doctoral fellowship at the New York Center for Astrobiology hosted at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY, US
01/2008 – 08/2009: Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (Associated Researcher) at the Ruhr-University Bochum, DE
04/2007 – 12/2007: Post-doctoral fellowship at the Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY, US
05/2003 – 03/2007: PhD studies at the University of Lausanne, CH

PhD thesis: Nucleation and growth of metamorphic minerals in contact aureoles

10/2000 – 07/2001: Erasmus stipend for a one year stay at the University of Oviedo, Spain
10/1997 – 06/2003: Diploma studies in Earth Sciences at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany

Diploma thesis: Structural and petrological study of the northern Ubehebe contact aureole, Death Valley, CA, USA



Awards and Qualifications

2007: Outstanding Ph.D.-thesis award from the Faculty of Geosciences and Environment University of Lausanne (Switzerland)
2018: Fellow of the higher Education academy (FHEA)
2019: Max-Hey Medal awarded by the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland



Student education

My teaching at the Georg-August-University includes:

B.Geo.101a: System der Erde 1a
B.Geo.106, LV1: Petrologie
B.Geo.207, LV4: Quantitative Bildanalyse
B.Geo.210: Bachelor-Projekt
M.Geo.121, Course 1: Polarization microscope petrography of metamorphic rocks
M.Geo. 121, Course 2: Advanced application of scanning electron microscopy
M.Geo.141, LV2: Diffusion in minerals and melts


Editorial activities

Associate editor for American Mineralogist
Associate editor for Mineralogical Magazine



Publications