Mark D. Barton
· Professor of GeosciencesUniversity of Arizona · Geosciences
Active 1982–2025
About
Mark D. Barton is a Professor of Geosciences and the Director of the Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources at the University of Arizona. He earned his BS and MS degrees from Virginia Tech in 1977 and 1978, respectively, and completed his PhD at the University of Chicago in 1981. Following a post-doctoral fellowship at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, he taught at the University of California, Los Angeles before joining the University of Arizona faculty in 1990. He co-founded the Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources in 2008 and led the creation of the School of Mining and Mineral Resources in 2021. His research interests encompass many aspects of energy and mass transfer in the Earth's lithosphere, with applications to mineral deposits. Recent research has focused on critical minerals in various geologic environments, recovery of critical minerals from mine waste, and assessment of abandoned mine lands. He has developed and managed multiple industry-government consortia on mineral challenges and collaborates with numerous companies and government agencies. Mark has advised over 24 PhD students and more than 60 master's students. His broad research interests include economic geology, geochemistry, petrology, mineralogy, and tectonics, utilizing tools such as geologic mapping, lab-based petrology and geochemistry, and theoretical approaches.
Research topics
- Geology
- Environmental chemistry
- Environmental science
- Materials science
- Engineering
- Chemistry
- Organic chemistry
- Chemical engineering
- Remote sensing
- Geomorphology
- Paleontology
- Mineralogy
- Waste management
- Geochemistry
Selected publications
Abstracts with programs - Geological Society of America · 2025-01-01
articleEpisodic copper mineralization in sedimentary basins: evidence from the Paradox Basin, USA
Earth and Planetary Science Letters · 2025-09-08
articleGeological Society of America Bulletin · 2025-01-30 · 2 citations
articleAbstract While it has been known for some time that reducing fluids have bleached red beds adjacent to fault zones and regionally across the Colorado Plateau, the volumes of fluids expelled along faults have never been quantified. We have developed and applied a suite of one-dimensional hydrologic models to test the hypothesis that internally generated, reducing fluids migrated up sub-basin bounding faults across the Paradox Basin and bleached overlying red beds. The internal fluid driving mechanisms included are mechanical compaction, petroleum and natural gas generation, aquathermal expansion of water, and clay dewatering. The model was calibrated using pressure, temperature, porosity, permeability, and vitrinite reflectance data. Model results indicate that sediment compaction was the most important pressure generation mechanism, producing the majority of internal fluids sourced during basin evolution. Peak fluid migration occurred during the Pennsylvanian–Permian (325–300 Ma) and Cretaceous (95–65 Ma) periods, the latter being concurrent with simulated peak oil/gas generation (87–74 Ma), which likely played a role in the bleaching of red beds. Batch geochemical advection models and mass balance calculations were utilized to estimate the volume of bleaching in an idealized reservoir having a thickness (~100 m) and porosity (0.2) corresponding to bleached reservoirs observed in the Paradox Basin. Bleaching volume calculations show that internal fluid driving mechanisms were likely responsible for fault-related alteration observed within the Wingate, Morrison, and Navajo Formations in four localities across the Paradox Basin in the Colorado Plateau, Utah and Colorado, USA. The volume calculation required that 33%–55% of the total basinal fluids, composed of hydrogen-sulfide and paleo-seawater, migrated into an overlying red bed reservoir (0.5 wt% Fe2O3).
Abstracts with programs - Geological Society of America · 2024-01-01
articleCARBONATES AS A WINDOW INTO FLUID PROCESSES IN THE PARADOX BASIN, UT AND CO
Abstracts with programs - Geological Society of America · 2024-01-01
articleNON-MAGMATIC PERALKALINE SODIC METASOMATISM, NORTHWEST ARIZONA
Abstracts with programs - Geological Society of America · 2024-01-01
articleSenior authorASSESSMENT AND RECOVERY OF CRITICAL ELEMENTS IN WASTE FROM PORPHYRY COPPER MINING
Abstracts with programs - Geological Society of America · 2024-01-01
articleSenior authorParadox Basin Uranium-Vanadium Deposits: Comparative Mineralogy and Paragenesis
Mining Metallurgy & Exploration · 2024-11-13 · 4 citations
articleSenior authorMining Metallurgy & Exploration · 2024-09-10
articleADVANCES IN GEOLOGY OF PORPHYRY COPPER DEPOSITS OF THE LARAMIDE ARC, SOUTHWESTERN NORTH AMERICA
Abstracts with programs - Geological Society of America · 2024-01-01
article
Recent grants
Petrochemical Studies of Fe-Oxide (-Cu-Au-REE) Hydrothermal Systems
NSF · $156k · 1999–2001
NSF · $98k · 2006–2008
NSF · $209k · 2009–2011
Frequent coauthors
- 33 shared
Eric Seedorff
- 21 shared
Isabel Barton
Arizona Geological Survey
- 15 shared
Shirley P. Dutton
- 14 shared
Simone E. Runyon
Wyoming Department of Education
- 12 shared
Carson A. Richardson
- 12 shared
Roy E. Greig
University of Massachusetts Lowell
- 11 shared
F. K. Mazdab
University of Arizona
- 9 shared
Carlos Pirmez
Awards & honors
- Mineralogical Society of America Award
- Lindgren Award (Society of Economic Geologists)
- MSA Fellow
- GSA Fellow
- SEG Fellow
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