Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences
Contact
329 John T. Tate Hall
116 Church Street Se
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Affiliations
Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences
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.
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)
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, v. 34, p. 4–12, doi: 10.1130/GSATG584A.1.
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.
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. doi: 10.1130/G51721.1
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: 10.1111/jmg.12523
Whitney, D.L., Delph, J.R., Thomson, S.N., Beck, Brocard, G.Y., Cosca, M.A., Darin, M.H., S.L., Kaymakcı, 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. 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.
Hamelin, C., Whitney, D.L., Roger, F., and Teyssier, C. (2022) Orogenic eclogites record relative magnitude of deep crustal flow and extent of migmatite-eclogite interaction. Lithos, 434-435. doi: 10.1016/j.lithos.2022.106917
Kang, P., Whitney, D.L., Martin, L.A.J., and Fornash, K.F. (2022) Lawsonite trace-element record of subduction fluids. Journal of Petrology, 63, 1-32. doi: 10.1093/petrology/egac065
Raia, N.H., Whitney, D.L., Teyssier, C., and Lesimple, S. (2022) Serpentinites of different tectonic origin in an exhumed subduction complex (New Caledonia, SW Pacific). Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 23, e2022GC010395. doi: 10.1029/2022GC010395
Newville, C., Whitney, D.L., Kang, P., Raia, N.H., and Fornash, K.F. (2021) How the Earth recycles. Frontiers for Young Minds, doi: 10.3389/frym.2021.599596.
Gordon, S.M., Kirkland, C.L., Reddy, S.M., Blatchford, H.J., Whitney, D.L., Teyssier, C., Evans, N.J., and McDonald, B.J. (2021) Deformation-enhanced recrystallization of titanite drives decoupling between U-Pb and trace elements. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 560, Article number 116810, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2021.116810.
Kang, P., Whitney, D.L., and Fornash, K.F. (2020) Controls on development of different mineral assemblages in gabbro and basalt during subduction metamorphism. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 175:113, doi: 10.1007/s00410-020-01753-6.
Umhoefer, P.J., Lefebvre, C., Thomson, S.N., Cosca, M.A., Teyssier, C., and Whitney, D.L. (2020) Cenozoic tectonic evolution of a reactivated suture zone during the transition from Arabia - Eurasia collision to escape tectonics: the Ecemiş fault and adjacent basins, central Anatolia, Turkey. Geosphere, 16, 1358–1384, doi: 10.1130 /GES02255.1.
Whitney, D.L., Fornash, K.F., Kang, P., Ghent, E.D., Martin, L., Okay, A.I., and Vitale Brovarone, A. (2020) Lawsonite composition and zoning as tracers of subduction processes: a global review. Lithos (invited review paper), 370-371, 105636. doi: 10.1016/j.lithos.2020.105636.
Whitney, D.L., Hamelin, C., Teyssier, C., Raia, N.H., Korchinski, M.S., Seaton, N.C.A., Bagley, B.C., von der Handt, A., Roger, F., and Rey, P.F. (2020) Deep crustal source of gneiss dome rocks revealed by coeval eclogite and migmatite in the Montagne Noire dome, French Massif Central. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 38, 297-327. doi:10.1111/jmg.12523.
Fornash, K.F., and Whitney, D.L. (2020) Lawsonite-rich veins and layers as archives of fluid and element cycling at the slab-mantle interface (Sivrihisar Massif, Turkey). Chemical Geology, 533. doi: 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2019.119356