FACULTY
DANIEL GIBSON
Chair and Professor
EARTH SCIENCES
AREAS OF INTEREST
Dr. Gibson is interested in crustal processes associated with mountain building events (orogenesis). His research focuses on structural, petrologic, and U-Th-Pb geochronologic analyses of tectonized rocks exhumed from all crustal levels. Dan's research is field intensive in areas that include British Columbia and Yukon Cordillera , and the Canadian Shield within Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Fieldwork involves detailed mapping and sample collection for structural, metamorphic, and geochronologic analyses. Dan also pursues cutting-edge geochronologic techniques that utilize chemical mapping and in-situ U-Th-Pb analyses of radiogenic minerals such as monazite to link precise geochronologic ages with specific metamorphic and structural processes. Dan's research group include motivated graduate students working on structural/tectonic problems within the Canadian Cordillera and Canadian Shield.
EDUCATION
- B.A., Colgate University, USA, 1994
- M.Sc., Carleton University, Canada, 1997
- Ph.D., Carleton University, Canada, 2003
Xinyue Xu
Assistant Professor
EARTH SCIENCES
AREAS OF INTEREST
Dr. Xu is an economic geologist specializing in the geochemistry of critical metals and ore-forming processes. Her research investigates high-temperature melts and fluids involved in mineralization within crustal environments, including porphyry, skarn, iron oxide–apatite (IOA), carbonatite, and pegmatite systems. She uses fluid and melt inclusion analysis to examine the transport, enrichment, and deposition of metals. Dr. Xu’s work has redefined the origins of skarn and IOA deposits and introduced salt melts as a distinct type of geologic fluid. Her current research focuses on the geological processes responsible for the formation of critical mineral resources in Canada, particularly in British Columbia.
EDUCATION
- BSc., Anhui University of Science and Technology, China, 2018
- Ph.D., Hefei University of Technology, China, 2022
