Ryan E Frazer, Ph.D.
I am an isotope geochemist interested in using high-precision measurements of radiogenic isotopes such as Sr, Nd, and Pb to answer questions in igneous petrology, economic geology, tectonics, and the stratigraphic record.
I joined the USGS as a Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow in 2020 to examine the ages and sources of igneous rocks in the central Colorado Mineral Belt using the facilities and instrumentation available in the Denver Radiogenic Isotope Laboratory. As part of that work, I helped develop laboratory and instrumentation methods to perform high-precision zircon U-Pb geochronology by chemical abrasion-isotope dilution-thermal ionization mass spectrometry (CA-ID-TIMS) at the USGS. My current work includes performing geochemical analyses of rocks and minerals for projects funded by the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program and the Mineral Resources Program, among others.
Prior to joining the USGS I worked in the Bowring Isotope Laboratory at MIT, where I applied U-Pb zircon CA-ID-TIMS geochronology to various projects, including the chronostratigraphy of the Permian-Triassic Karoo Basin of South Africa and the timing of magmatism and deformation in the Scottish Caledonides. Prior to that, I completed my Ph.D. and M.S. at UNC–Chapel Hill, studying the rates and sources of magmatism in the central Sierra Nevada, CA and the Grizzly Peak magmatic system, CO, particularly with respect to the links between plutonic and volcanic rocks, supervolcano eruptions, and the tectonic history of magmatic arcs. I first became interested in the geology and geochemistry of the Sierra Nevada through undergraduate research at Pomona College.
