Home , Go Back to faculty page DONNA L. WHITNEY Professor PhD, 1991, University of Washington Research Group Web Page: Metamorphic Geology Research Group Office: 116 Pillsbury Hall Phone: (612) 626-7582 Fax: (612) 625-3819 Email: dwhitney@...

   Most of my research is geared toward understanding what goes on in the deep crust during the construction and unroofing of mountain belts, and trying to find new ways to use metamorphic rocks to learn about tectonic processes. I study metamorphic terrains in collisional mountain belts and magmatic arcs to document pressure-temperature-time-deformation paths, determine rates and processes of metamorphic mineral growth and associated tectonic processes, evaluate the mechanism and consequence of partial melting, and interpret the physical conditions and chemical effects of deformation at different crustal levels. This work occurs at the scale of mountain belts -- for example, the North American Cordillera (Washington, British Columbia), eastern Mediterranean (Greece, Turkey), and the northern Appalachians -- and at the microscopic scale -- for example, studies of microstructures in garnet and reaction textures, and deformation textures in Al2SiO5 polymorphs and high-pressure assemblages (lawsonite blueschist/eclogite facies rocks).

• Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America, Elected 2005
• Guest Professor, ETH-Zurich, 2004-05
• Fellow of the Geological Society of America, Elected 2003
• University of Minnesota McKnight Land-Grant Professor, 1998-2000
• Best Instructor Award, Geology & Geophysics, IT Student Board, UMN, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2006-07
• Association of Women Geoscientists Distinguished Lecturer (1999, 2001, 2005-08)
• Mineralogical Society of America lecturer, 1998-1999
• NSF CAREER Award (1996-2001)

• Earth & Its Environments
• Mineralogy
• Petrology/Metamorphic Petrology
• Freshman Seminar: Geology and Civilization

• Pressure-temperature-crystallization
• Interactions of tectonics, metamorphism, and surface processes
• Orogeny
• The Lower Crust
• Metamorphic Geology and Mountains

• Umhoefer, P.J., Whitney, D.L., Teyssier, C., Fayon, A.K., Casale, G., and Heizler, M.J. (in press) Yo-yo tectonics in a wrench zone, central Anatolia. In: Till, A., Roeske, S., Sample, J., and Foster, D. (eds.), Exhumation and Continental Strike-Slip Fault Systems, Geological Society of America Special Paper 434.
• Whitney, D.L., Tepper, J.H., Hirschmann, M.M., and Hurlow, H.A. (in press) Late-orogenic mafic magmatism in the North Cascades, Washington: petrology and tectonic setting of the Skymo layered intrusion. Geological Society of America Bulletin.
• Whitney, D. L., C. Teyssier, and M. T. Heizler (2007), Gneiss domes, metamorphic core complexes, and wrench zones: Thermal and structural evolution of the Ni_de Massif, central Anatolia, Tectonics, 26, TC5002, doi:10.1029/2006TC002040.
• Whitney, D.L., Teyssier, C., Kruckenberg, S.C., Morgan, V., and Iredale, L. (2007) High-pressure - low-temperature metamorphism of metasedimentary rocks, southern Menderes Massif, western Turkey. Lithos. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2007.07.001
• Fayon, A.K., and Whitney, D.L. (2007) Tectonic vs. magmatic processes and the resetting of apatite fission track ages: an example from the Ni_de Massif, Turkey. Tectonophysics 434, 1-13. doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2007.01.003
• Whitney, D.L., Fayon, A.K., Broz, M.E., and Cook, R.F. (2007) The Mohs scale revisited: exploring the relationship of scratch resistance, hardness, and other physical properties of minerals. Journal of Geoscience Education, 55, 54-59.
• Whitney, D.L., Broz, M.E., and Cook, R.F. (2007) Hardness, fracture toughness, and elastic modulus of some common metamorphic minerals. American Mineralogist, 92, 281-288.
• MacLeod, K.G., Whitney, D.L., Huber, B.T., and Koeberl, C. (2007) Impact and extinction in remarkably complete K/T boundary section from Demerara Rise, tropical western North Atlantic. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 119, 101-115.
• Fayon, A.K., Duranczyk, I.M., and Whitney, D.L. (2007) Doing Time: Incorporating fission track analysis in undergraduate science curriculum. Journal of Geoscience Education, 55 (3).
• Davis, P.B., and Whitney, D.L. (2006) Petrogenesis of lawsonite and epidote eclogites and blueschist, Sivrihisar Massif, Turkey. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 24, 823-849.
• Whitney, D.L. and Davis, P.B. (2006) Why is lawsonite eclogite so rare?: Metamorphism and preservation of lawsonite eclogite, Sivrihisar, Turkey. Geology, 34, 473-476.
• Broz, M., Cook, R.F., and Whitney, D.L. (2006) Microhardness, toughness, and modulus of Mohs scale minerals. American Mineralogist, 91, 135-142.
• Teyssier, C., Ferré, E., Whitney, D.L., Norlander, B., Vanderhaeghe, O., and Parkinson, D. (2005) Flow of partially molten crust and origin of detachments during collapse of the Cordilleran orogen. In: Bruhn, D., and Burlini, L. (eds.), High-Strain Zones: Structure and Physical Properties. Geological Society of London Special Publication 245, 39-64.
• Whitney, D.L., Teyssier, C., and Vanderhaeghe, O. (2004) Gneiss domes and crustal flow. In: Whitney, D.L., Teyssier, C., and Siddoway, C.S. (eds.), Gneiss Domes and Orogeny, Geological Society of America Special Paper 380, 15-33.
• Fayon, A.K., Whitney, D.L., and Teyssier, C. (2004) Exhumation of orogenic crust: diapiric ascent vs. low-angle normal faulting. In: Whitney, D.L., Teyssier, C., and Siddoway, C.S., (eds.), Gneiss Domes and Orogeny, Geological Society of America Special Paper 380, 129-139.
• Whitney, D.L. and Hamilton, M. (2004) Timing of high-grade metamorphism in central Turkey and the assembly of Anatolia. Journal of the Geological Society of London, 161 (5), 823-828.
• Paterson, S.R., Miller, R.B., Alsleben, H., Whitney, D.L., Valley, P.M., and Hurlow, H. (2004) Driving mechanisms for > 40 km of exhumation during contraction and extension in a continental arc, Cascades core, Washington. Tectonics, 23 (3), doi TC3005 10.1029/2002TC001440.
• Sepahi, A., Whitney, D.L., and Baharifar, A.A. (2004) Petrogenesis of andalusite-kyanite-sillimanite veins and host rocks, Sanandaj-Sirjan metamorphic belt, Hamadan, Iran. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 22, 119-134.
• Whitney, D.L., Teyssier, C., and Fayon, A.K. (2004) Isothermal decompression, partial melting, and the exhumation of deep continental crust. In: Grocott, J., Tikoff, B., McCaffrey, K.J.W., and Taylor, G. (eds.), Vertical Coupling and Decoupling in the Lithosphere, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 227, 313-326.
• Whitney, D.L., Paterson, S.R., Schmidt, K.L., Glazner, A.F., and Kopf, C. (2004) Growth and demise of continental arcs and orogenic plateaux in the North American Cordillera: from Baja to British Columbia. In: Grocott, J., Tikoff, B., McCaffrey, K.J.W., and Taylor, G. (eds.), Vertical Coupling and Decoupling in the Lithosphere, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 227, 167-176.
• Whitney, D.L., Teyssier, C., Fayon, A.K., Hamilton, M.A., and Heizler, M. (2003) Tectonic controls on metamorphism, partial melting, and intrusion: timing of regional metamorphism and magmatism of the Nigde Massif, Turkey. Tectonophysics, 376, 37-60.
• Valley, P.M., Whitney, D.L., Paterson, S.R., Miller, R.B., and Alsleben, H. (2003) Metamorphism of deepest exposed arc rocks in the Cretaceous to Paleogene Cascades belt, Washington: evidence for large-scale vertical motion in a continental arc. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 21, 203-220.
• Teyssier, C., and Whitney, D.L. (2002) Gneiss domes and orogeny. Geology, 30, 1139-1142.
• Whitney, D.L. (2002) Coexisting andalusite, kyanite, and sillimanite: sequential formation of three polymorphs during progressive metamorphism near the Al2SiO5 triple point, Sivrihisar, Turkey. American Mineralogist, 84, 405-416.
• Whitney, D.L. and Bozkurt, E. (2002) Metamorphic history of the southern Menderes Massif, western Turkey. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 114, 829-838.
• Norlander, B.H., Whitney, D.L., Teyssier, C., and Vanderhaeghe, O. (2002) High temperature decompression of the Shuswap metamorphic core complex, Canadian Cordillera. Lithos, 61, 103-125.

• 2007-2009, NSF-Tectonics, Field-based analysis of subduction petrofabrics (co-PI: C. Teyssier)
• 2005-2008, NSF-Petrology & Geochemistry, Tectonics of metamorphic crystallization
• 2005-2008, NSF-Tectonics, Collaborative research: Linking deep and shallow crustal processes in a continental arc, North Cascades (with R. Miller, SJSU; S. Bowring, MIT)
• 2004-2007, NSF-Tectonics, Field-based analysis of diapiric and channel flow of partially molten crust (PI: Teyssier)
• 2001-2003, NSF-Tectonics, Rates of thermal and structural processes in an oblique orogen (co-PI: C. Teyssier)
• 2001-2003, NSF-Geophysics, Experimental and microstructural study of garnet fracture mechanics (co-PI: D. Kohlstedt)

• American Geophysical Union
• Geological Society of America
• Mineralogical Society of America