Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Gibson Professor, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences
Contact
329 John T. Tate Hall
116 Church Street Se
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Affiliations
Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Gibson Professor, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences
May consider graduate students. As a metamorphic geologist in the Structure, Tectonics, And Metamorphic Petrology (STAMP) research group, I am interested in using metamorphic rocks to reconstruct the chemical and physical processes that drove metamorphism in continental and oceanic crust and that eventually returned these rocks to the Earth’s surface. Ongoing collaboration with Christian Teyssier (UMN) and Patrice Rey (U Sydney) focuses on the dynamics of partially molten crust, including the trajectory of flow (vertical, lateral), magnitude of flow, driving mechanisms, and the thermal and mechanical consequences for continental evolution. I am also currently directing a large, multidisciplinary research project in Turkey (CD-CAT, Continental Dynamics-Central Anatolian Tectonics), to investigate the mantle-to-surface dynamics during the development of a tectonic escape system. I have also long been interested in metamorphic textures; for example, microstructures in garnet and the interaction of deformation and metamorphism in different tectonic settings, from the scale of mineral grains to mountain belts. Major field sites are in the North American Cordillera, Turkey, France, and Norway.
Undergraduate research opportunities to assist on various projects on topics in metamorphic petrology, mineralogy, structural geology, and/or tectonics, typically involving petrography (thin sections) and one or more analytical method to determine mineral composition and/or microstructure. Co-advised with Christian Teyssier and STAMP grad students
Structure Tectonics and Metamorphic Petrology Research Group
AB Smith College, 1985
MS University of Washington, 1987 (Bernard W. Evans)
PhD University of Washington, 1991 (Bernard W. Evans)
Postdoctoral Fellow University of Calgary, 1991-92 (Edward D. Ghent)
Fornash, K.F., Petty, C., Toraman, E., Topuz, G., and Whitney, D.L. (2026) Report of a rare, well-preserved lawsonite eclogite (Elekdağ, Central Pontides, Türkiye). European Journal of Mineralogy.
Whitney, D.L., and Bodnar, R.J. (2026) What are critical minerals? Frontiers for Young Minds, 14, Article 1661475. doi: 10.3389/frym.2026.1661475.
Blatchford, H.J., Whitney, D.L., Teyssier, C., Gordon, S.M., Dektar, E.C., Kylander-Clark, A.R.C. (2026) Shear zone-hosted titanite, rutile, and quartz capture a detailed exhumation history of an ultrahigh-pressure terrane: Otrøya, Western Gneiss Region, Norway. Lithos 524-525, 108437. doi: 10.1016/j.lithos.2026.108437
Whitney, D.L., Bezada, M., Hansen, L.N., Teyssier, C., Wada, I., and Zhou, X. (2026) Escape tectonics. Tectonophysics, 920, 231029. doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2025.231029. (invited review paper)
Hamelin, C., Biedermann, A.R., Michels, Z., Teyssier, C., and Whitney, D.L. (2025) Magnetic and crystallographic fabric analyses of amphibolite: A proposed methodology applied to a migmatite dome. Journal of Geophysical Research – Solid Earth. 130, e2024JB029679. doi: 10.1029/2024JB029679
Roger, F., Trap, P., Teyssier, C., Whitney, D.L., Paquette, J.-L., Hamelin, C., Respaut, J.-P., Coëffier, N., Vanardois, J., and Rey, P.F. (2025) Permian fluid circulation and deformation along a crustal-scale shear zone in the Montagne Noire gneiss dome (southern French Massif Central). Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France. doi: 10.1051/bsgf/2025012.
Whitney, D.L., Wilke, M., *Hanel, S.E., Heidelbach, F., Mathon, O., and Rosa, A.D. (2025) Fe3+/Fe variation in lawsonite and epidote in subducted oceanic crust. European Journal of Mineralogy, 37, 143-149. doi: 10.5194/ejm-37-143-2025.
Vanardois, J., Trap, P., Teyssier, C., and Whitney, D.L. (2024) A reappraisal of nappe structures and strain patterns in the core of the Variscan orogen (French Massif Central). Tectonics. 43, e2024TC008366. doi: 10.1029/2024TC008366.
Jin, X., Whitney, D.L., Zhang, Y.-X., Blatchford, H.J., Zhang, K.-J., Tsujimori, T., Xiao, Y.-Y., Liu, H., von der Handt, A., Yan, L.-L., Liu, Y., and Li, C.-Y. (2024) Isochemical metamorphism genesis of the newly discovered Baqing jadeitite, eastern-central Tibet, China: evidence from its metamorphic evolution. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 42, 1069–1097. doi: 10.1111/jmg.12790.
Kang, P., Martin, L.A.J., Vitale Brovarone, A., and Whitney, D.L. (2024) Lawsonite and garnet oxygen isotope record of fluid-rock interaction during subduction. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 25, e2023GC011389, doi: 10.1029/2023GC011389.
Delph, J.R., Darin, M.H., Whitney, D.L., Cosca, M.A., Teyssier, C., Kaymakcı, N., Eken, T., Reid, M.R., and Beck, S.L. (2024) Deep lithospheric controls on surface deformation and seismicity around the East Anatolian Fault Zone and A3 Triple Junction. GSA Today, 34, 4–12, doi: 10.1130/GSATG584A.1.
Modjarrad, M., Whitney, D.L., and Omrani, H. (2024) The P–T–X conditions of staurolite-garnet metabasites, NW Iran: implications for metamorphism during Arabia-Eurasia collision. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences: X 11, 100175, doi: 10.1016/j.jaesx.2024.100175.
Modjarrad, M., Whitney, D.L., and Omrani, H. (2024) Petrologic evolution of the Gysian ophiolitic serpentinites, NW Iran. Acta Geochimica. doi: 0.1007/s11631-024-00682-6.
Ibrahim, Y., Rey, P., Whitney, D.L., Teyssier, C., Roger, F., Bosse, V., and Cenki, B. (2024) From dome to duplex: convergent gravitational collapse explains coeval intracratonic doming and nappe tectonics, central Australia. Geology, 52, 210-215. doi: 10.1130/G51721.1
McFadden, R., Taylor, J.M., Whitney, D.L., Teyssier, C., Seaton, N.C.A., Schroeder, H., Senjem, A., and Johnson, I. (2024) Deformation conditions and kinematic vorticity in the Wildhorse Detachment, Pioneer Metamorphic Core Complex, Idaho. Journal of Structural Geology, 178, 105031. doi: 10.1016/j.jsg.2023.105031
Whitney, D.L., Vanardois, J., Taylor, J.M., and Teyssier, C. (2023) The rise and fall of continents. Frontiers for Young Minds, 11:1114471. doi: 10.3389/frym.2023.1114471
Whitney, D.L., Delph, J.R., Thomson, S.N., Beck, Brocard, G.Y., Cosca, M.A., Darin, M.H., S.L., Kaymakçı, N., #Meijers, M.J.M., Okay, A., Rojay, B., Teyssier, C., and Umhoefer, P.J. (2023) Breaking plates: creation of the East Anatolian fault, the Anatolian plate, and a tectonic escape system. Geology, 51, 673–677. doi: 10.1130/G51211.1.
Taylor, J.M., Teyssier, C., Whitney, D.L., McFadden, R.R., and Barou, F. (2023) Linked microstructural and geochemical evolution of mylonitic quartzite during exhumation of a core complex. Journal of Structural Geology, 169, doi: 10.1016/j.jsg.2023.104846.