Ralf Halama

Biography

Born in the beautiful Pfalz region of southwestern Germany, I studied Geology at the University of Mainz, Germany, and the University of Glasgow, Scotland, receiving a Diplom (M.Sc.) in Geology in 2000 with a thesis about mass transfer and element mobility in metasedimentary rocks of the Caples Terrane (South Island, New Zealand). In 2003, I obtained a doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.) in Mineralogy from the University of Tübingen, Germany, with a thesis about petrological and isotope geochemical investigations of carbonatites, basalts, gabbros and anorthosites of the Gardar Province (South Greenland).

I held postdoctoral positions at the Institut de Physique du Globe (Paris, France), the University of Maryland (USA), and the Universities of Kiel and Potsdam (Germany). I was awarded a Feodor-Lynen research fellowship from the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation in 2005 and the Habilitation (Facultas Docendi) in Geochemistry with a thesis about tracking geochemical cycling using novel stable isotope systems from the University of Kiel in 2011. I was appointed lecturer in Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology at Keele University in 2015.

Research and scholarship

My research interests include various aspects of igneous and metamorphic petrology as well as geochemistry. Main research themes are:

• Petrogenesis of alkaline igneous rocks and carbonatites
• Light element stable isotopes (B, Li, N) as geochemical tracers
• Geochronology and fluid-rock interaction processes in metamorphic rocks
• Geochemical cycling in subduction zones

Past and present field areas of my research are in the Gardar Province (South Greenland), the Raspas Complex (Ecuador), the Coastal Cordillera (Chile), the Lesser Caucasus Volcanic Belt (Armenia) and the Sesia Zone (Western Alps, Italy).

I am a member of the Keele Petrology Group and of the Deutsche Mineralogische Gesellschaft, the European Association of Geochemistry and the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland. From 2016 to 2021, I was Chief Editor of the Journal of Mineralogy and Geochemistry (Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie) and in 2020, I was appointed as Associate Editor for Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. I have served as committee member and treasurer in the Metamorphic Studies Group and have written more than 140 reviews for scientific journals.

Teaching

Year 1

• ESC-10070: Minerals and Rocks

Year 2

• ESC-20001: Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology
• ESC-20064: Geochemistry

Year 3

• ESC-30028: Economic Geology
• ESC-30030: Advanced Petrology and Structural Geology
• ESC-30032/39: Independent Field Project
• ESC-30033: Volcanic and Magmatic Processes

Year 4 (MGEOLOGY)

• ESC-40004: Geoscience Research Project
• ESC-40005: Research in Context
• ESC-40006: Research Report

Field courses

• ESC-30030: Isle of Mull (Scotland)
• ESC-30033: Southern Italy / Santorini (Greece) / Lake District (UK)

PGR/PGT students

Current PhD students

• Olalekan Olatunji; PhD title: Radioactivity and trace element concentrations in different environmental media of southern Nigeria.
• Ben Harris; PhD title: The role of phengite in volatile cycling in subduction zones.

Past PhD students

• Rebecca Wiltshire, 2021. PhD title: Xenoliths as tracers of magmatic and intra-crustal processes at subduction zone volcanoes. Unpublished PhD thesis, Keele University.
• Sean Whitley, 2019. PhD title: The transitions in eruption styles of arc eruptions. Unpublished PhD thesis, Keele University.
• Francois van der Straaten, 2008. PhD title: Retrogression of eclogites to blueschists: a record of fluid infiltration during uplift in subduction zones. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Kiel, Germany.

PGT students

• K. Sokol. 2016. Petrological study of the Tezhsar Alkaline Complex (TAC), Armenia; insights to alkaline magmatism of the Eurasian-Arabian collision zone. Unpublished MGeo thesis, Keele University
• J. Funnell. 2017. Inferring crystallisation and emplacement processes in the Upper Zone of the Bushveld complex through analysis of magnetite and gabbronorite samples. Unpublished MGeo thesis, Keele University.
• K. Mclaren. 2017. Origin of the felsic xenoliths of the Garusar cinder cone, Armenia: Implications for the mechanisms of melting in that region. Unpublished MSc thesis, Keele University.
• K. Burrows (2018): Distinguishing sandstones in historic buildings using handheld X-Ray fluorescence analysis. Unpublished MSc thesis, Keele University.
• S. Whitfield (2018): Geochemical analyses of the alteration and variation across the rhyolites of Parys Mountain, Anglesey. Unpublished MSc thesis, Keele University.
• B. Yang (2018): Using the difference in trace element concentrations to distinguish the obsidian from different deposits of Lipari and Vulcano (Aeolian Islands, Italy). Unpublished MSc thesis, Keele University.
• H. Reese (2019): Mineralisation of the Shap Granite, Cumbria, UK. Unpublished MGeo thesis, Keele University.
• C.-L. Rogers (2019): The petrogenesis of alkaline igneous rocks from Loch Borralan, Scotland. Unpublished MSc thesis, Keele University.
• M. Godley (2019): The Ross of Mull Granite boundary; a petrological and geochemical approach. Unpublished MSc thesis, Keele University.
• D. Sellers (2020): The petrology of the Loch Borralan Complex and implications for economic geology in alkaline igneous rocks. Unpublished MSc thesis, Keele University.
• M. Leaf (2022): Linking granitoid geochemistry to lithium resource potential. Unpublished MSc thesis, Keele University.