This a petrologic, geochemical and isotopic (Pb, Sr, Nd & O) study of a comprehensive suite of lower crustal and mantle xenoliths that occur in Tertiary age (50 Ma) alkaline rocks of the Bearpaw Mountains, north central Montana. The grant will support research of the PI, will provide funding for a graduate student (Mr. Yoram Meroz) and will contribute to the support of the isotope geochemistry facility in Earth Sciences that is under the directorship of the PI. The xenoliths represent a unique sampling of material from a wide variety of levels within the Wyoming craton lithosphere down to a depth of at least 100km. They should provide information on the chemical evolution, age, and physical properties of deep continental crust and ther underlying lithospheric mantle.
