Ibanez-Mejia

Mauricio Ibanez-Mejia

  • Adjunct Professor

PhD, University of Arizona

Research Overview

My main interests lie in the application of geochemical techniques, particularly isotope geochemistry, to elucidate the timing and mechanisms of a variety of high-temperature processes in the solid Earth. In particular, my research combines the use of radiogenic isotope systems used to determine the time and rates of lithospheric and tectonometamorphic processes (e.g., U-Pb in zircon, baddeleyite, apatite, titanite; Lu-Hf and Sm-Nd in garnet), with geochemical tracers such as elemental abundances and isotopic compositions (both radiogenic and stable) of rocks and minerals, in order to better understand petrologic processes in a robust temporal framework.

More information about the research we conduct can be found in my group’s website at: www.ibanezmejia.org.

Research Interests

  • Radiogenic isotope geochemistry
  • geochronology
  • tectonics of mountain belts and lithospheric evolution
  • large-scale sedimentary provenance
  • large igneous province magmatism
  • chronology and tectonics of terrane transfer and supercontinent accretion

Selected Publications

  • Ibañez-Mejia, M., Tissot, F.L.H. (in press) Extreme Zr stable isotope fractionation during magmatic fractional crystallization. Science Advances.
  • Tissot, F., Ibañez-Mejia, M., Boehnke, P., Dauphas, N., McGee, D., Grove, T., Harrison, T.M. (2019) 238U/235U measurements in single-zircon crystals: implications for the Hadean environment, magmatic differentiation and geochronology. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry.
  • Eddy, M. P., Ibañez-Mejia, M., Burgess, S. D., Coble, M. A., Cordani, U. G., DesOrmeau, J., Gehrels, G.E., Li, X., MacLennan, S., Pecha, M., Sato, K., Schoene, B., Valencia, V.A., Vervoort, J.D., Wang, T. (2018). GHR1 Zircon - A New Eocene Natural Reference Material for Microbeam U-Pb Geochronology and Hf Isotopic Analysis of Zircon. Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research, 458, 37–20. doi:10.1111/ggr.122461
  • Ibañez-Mejia, M., Pullen, A. Pepper, M., Ghoshal, G., Ibanez-Mejia, J.C.§ (2018) Use and abuse of detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology – A case from the Río Orinoco delta, eastern Venezuela. Geology. doi:10.1130/G45596.1
  • Pullen, A., Ibañez-Mejia, M., Gehrels, G. E., Giesler, D., & Pecha, M. (2018). Optimization of a Laser Ablation-Single Collector-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer (Thermo Element2) for Accurate, Precise, and Efficient Zircon U-Th-Pb Geochronology. Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, 332(1-2), 19. http://doi.org/10.1029/2018GC007889
  • Ibañez-Mejia, M., Bloch, E. M., & Vervoort, J. D. (2018). Timescales of collisional metamorphism from Sm-Nd, Lu-Hf and U-Pb thermochronology: A case from the Proterozoic Putumayo Orogen of Amazonia. Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta, 235, 103–126. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2018.05.017
  • Bloch, E., Ibañez-Mejia, M., Murray, K., Vervoort, J., Müntener, O. (2017) Recent crustal foundering in the Northern Volcanic Zone of the Andean arc: Petrological insights from the roots of a modern subduction zone. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 476, pp. 47-58, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2017.07.041
  • Eddy, M.P., Jagoutz, O., Ibañez-Mejia, M. (2017). Timing of initial seafloor spreading in the Newfoundland-Iberia rift. Geology, G38766.1