Education | Contact Information | Research Interests | Research Activities | Research Publications

Education

Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1963.

Contact Information

Department of Geological Sciences
314 Mitchell Hall, CB#3315
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3315

email: fullagar@unc.edu

telephone: (919) 962-0677

fax: (919) 966-4519

Research Interests

• Evolution of Appalachians and other orogenic belts.
• Rb-Sr and U-Pb geochronological studies of episodes of igneous activity.
• metamorphism and deformation, and mylonite formation; Sr and Nd isotopic variations in southern Appalachians.
• use of Sr isotopes to study sedimentary processes.
• Rb-Sr dates of glauconites.

Research Activities

• Evolution of the crystalline rocks in the southern Appalachians and elsewhere. These studies include geochemical, geochronological, petrographic and field investigations. In the last two years, a new clean lab plus thermal ionization mass spectrometer have enabled us to initiate Sm-Nd isotopic studies as well as age determinations on very small quantities of zircon. Topics of special interest include:
  • timing of igneous activity and metamorphic episodes.
  • mylonite dates and timing of fault zone formation.
• Sr and other isotopes are being used to assess the source of fluids which interacted along thrust faults with crystalline rocks in the Blue Ridge.
• In the sedimentary environment, Sr isotopes are being used to place constraints on fluid circulation systems in ocean floor sediments and rocks. Sr isotopic compositions of fossils and carbonates from deep- sea cores are being used both to determine the age of samples and to try to assess the extent of alteration of the analyzed samples. Many analyses of Cenozoic glauconites give incorrect dates; we are trying to determine the reason why.

Selected Research Publications

Harris, W.B., and Fullagar, P.D., 1989, Comparison of Rb-Sr and K-Ar dates of middle Eocene bentonite and glauconite, southeastern Atlantic Coastal Plain: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 101, p. 573-577.

 

McSween, H.Y., Jr., Speer, J.A., and Fullagar, P.D., 1991, Plutonic rocks, in Horton, J.W., Jr., and Zullo, V.A., eds., The geology of the Carolinas: Carolina Geological Society 50th anniversary volume: University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, p. 109-126.

 

Paull, C.K., Chanton, J.P., Martens, C.S., Fullagar, P.D., Neumann, A.C., and Coston, J.A., 1991, Seawater circulation through the flank of the Florida Platform: Evidence and implication: Marine Geology, v. 102, p. 265-279.

 

Meen, J.K., Rogers, J.J.W., and Fullagar, P.D., 1992, Pb isotopic compositions of the Western Dharwar Craton, southern India: Evidence for distinct Middle Archean terranes in a Late Archean craton: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 56, p. 2455-2470.

 

Schedl, A., McCabe, C., Montanez, I.P., Fullagar, P.D., and Valley, J.W., 1992, Alleghenian regional diagenesis: A response to the migration of modified metamorphic fluids derived from beneath the Blue Ridge-Piedmont thrust sheet: Journal of Geology, v. 100, p. 339-352.

 

Fullagar, P.D., 1992, Geochronological studies of fault-related rocks, in Bartholomew, M.J., Hyndman, D.W., Mogk, D.W., and Mason, R., eds., Characterization and comparison of ancient and Mesozoic continental margins - Proceedings of the 8th International Congress on Basement Tectonics: Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, p. 37-51.

 

Goldberg, S.A. and Fullagar, P.D., 1993, Alleghenian Rb-Sr mineral ages from the Inner Piedmont of southwestern North Carolina, in Hatcher, R.D., Jr., and Davis, T.L., eds., Studies of Inner Piedmont geology with a focus on the Columbus Promontory: Carolina Geological Society Field Trip Guidebook, North Carolina Geological Survey, Raleigh, p. 105-107.

 

Su, Q., Goldberg, S.A., and Fullagar, P.D., 1994, Precise U-Pb ages of Late Proterozoic plutons in the southern Appalachian Blue Ridge and their implications for the initial rifting of Laurentia: Precambrian Research, v. 68, p. 81-96.

 

Su, Q. and Fullagar, P.D., 1995, Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd isotopic systematics during greenschist facies metamorphism and deformation: Examples from the southern Appalachian Blue Ridge: Journal of Geology, v. 103, p. 423-436.

 

Paull, C.K., Fullagar, P.D., Bralower, T.J., and Rohl, U., 1995, Seawater ventilation of mid-Pacific guyots drilled during Leg 143, in Winterer, E.L., Sager, W.W., Firth, J.V., and Sinton, J.M., eds., Proceedings Ocean Drilling Project, Scientific Results, v. 143: College Station, Texas, Ocean Drilling Program, p. 231-240.

 

Jenkyns, H.C., Paull, C.K., Cummins, D.I., and Fullagar, P.D., 1995, Strontium-isotope stratigraphy of Lower Cretaceous atoll carbonates in the Mid-Pacific Mountains, in Winterer, E.L., Sager, W.W., Firth, J.V., and Sinton, J.M., eds., Proceedings Ocean Drilling Project, Scientific Results, v. 143: College Station, Texas, Ocean Drilling Program, p. 89-97.

 

Schedl, A., Fullagar, P.D., and Valley, J.W., 1997, Implications of geochemical and gravity data for the nature of strata beneath the Blue Ridge-Piedmont thrust sheet, U.S.A.: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 146, p. 165-179.

 

Fullagar, P. D., Goldberg, S. A., and Butler, J. R., 1997, Nd and Sr isotopic characterization of crystalline rocks from the southern Appalachian Piedmont and Blue Ridge, North and South Carolina, in Sinha, A. K., Whalen, J. B., and Hogan, J. P., eds., The nature of magmatism in the Appalachian Orogen: Geological Society of America Memoir 191, p. 165-179.

 

Miller, C. F., Fullagar, P. D., Sando, T. W., Kish, S. A., Solomon, G. C., Russell, G. S., and Wood Steltenpohl, L. F., 1997, Low-potassium, trondhjemitic to granodioritic plutonism in the eastern Blue Ridge, southwestern North Carolina-northeastern Georgia, in Sinha, A. K., Whalen, J. B., and Hogan, J. P., eds., The nature of magmatism in the Appalachian Orogen: Geological Society of America Memoir 191, p. 235-254.

 

Bralower, T. J., Fullagar, P. D., Paull, C. K. Dwyer, G. S., and Leckie, R. M., 1997, Mid-Cretaceous strontium-isotope stratigraphy of deep-sea sections: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 109, p. 1421-1442.

 

Fullagar, P. D., Rodriguez, N. M., and Paull, C. K., 1997, Diffusion of isotopically modern Sr+2 into gas hydrate-bearing sediment on the Blake Ridge (ODP Leg 164): EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, v. 78, p. F343.

 

Harris, W.B., Fullagar, P.D., and Tovo, L.L., 1997, Significance of young Paleocene Rb-Sr and K-Ar glauconite dates from the Lang Syne Formation, Savannah River Site, South Carolina: Southeastern Geology, v. 37, p. 55-72.

 

Snoke, A.W. and Fullagar, P.D., 1998, Rb-Sr study of an ultramylonite zone in granitic orthogneiss, in Snoke, A.W., Tullis, J., and Todd, V.R., eds., Fault-Related Rocks--A Photographic Atlas: Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, p. 214-217.

 

Woods, T. L., Spruill, R. K., and Fullagar, P. D., 1998, Strontium isotopes as tracers of groundwater evolution in the Upper Castle Hayne aquifer on the North Carolina Coastal Plain: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 30, p. 66-67.

 

Harris, W.B., Mendrick, S., and Fullagar, P.D., 2000, Correlation of onshore-offshore Oligocene through lower Miocene strata using 87Sr/86Sr isotopic ratios, north flank of Cape Fear Arch, North Carolina, in Harris, W.B. and Segall, M., eds., Onshore-offshore correlation of Cenozoic strata, western margin of North Atlantic: Sedimentary Geology, v. 134, p. 49-63.

 

Ussler, W., III, Paull, C.K., and Fullagar, P.D., 2000, Pore-water strontium isotopes from the Leg 171B drilling transect down the Blake Spur, in Kroon, D., Norris, R.D., and Klaus, A., eds.: Proceedings Ocean Drilling Project, Scientific Results, v. 171B: available on World Wide Web

 

Woods, T.L., Fullagar, P.D., Spruill, R.K., and Sutton, L.C., 2000, Strontium isotopes and major elements as tracers of groundwater evolution: Example from the Upper Castle Hayne aquifer of North Carolina: Journal of Groundwater, v. 38, p. 762-771.

 

MacLeod, K.G., Huber, B.T., and Fullagar, P.D., 2000, Evidence for a small (~0.00003) but resolvable increase in seawater 87Sr/86Sr ratios across the K/T boundary: Geology, submitted.