Postdoc Position: Identifying Controls on Critical Minerals in Massachusetts Pegmatites
Project Description
September 9, 2025
Funded by EarthMRI and working in close collaboration with the USGS, the Massachusetts Geological Survey seeks a broadly trained hard rock geochemist to lead fieldwork, petrographic analysis, and conceptual model development to evaluate the genetic processes that lead to occurrences of complex pegmatites in Massachusetts. The region of interest in north central Massachusetts is in the footprint of the Acadian Altiplano, an apparent locus of critical mineral-bearing pegmatites, and contains several historic mines where rare earth metal-bearing minerals have historically been extracted.
The main goal of this project is to develop a detailed map, geochemical description, and process-based understanding of pegmatites in central Massachusetts (Sterling and Fitchburg quadrangles) that have historically yielded lithium and other rare metal-bearing critical minerals. Project deliverables will offer insights into the geochemical, petrologic, and tectonic (i.e. earth history) controls on where lithium-bearing (as well as other critical minerals) pegmatites occur in close alignment with State and Earth MRI goals. Furthermore, the focus area overlaps with a planned EarthMRI airborne geophysics survey that is being flown at present during summer 2025, which will allow for extrapolation beyond areas that are investigated directly in the field. These surveys can identify hidden structures and geologic elements that may be important to understanding the occurrence of these pegmatites (e.g. plutonic body at depth) or even help identify more of them.
Our main project objectives are to answer the following driving questions (1) What structural, petrologic, tectonic, chronological, or location differences might explain why some pegmatites in this region are rich in rare elements, while others are compositionally simple (i.e. quartz feldspar mica) pegmatites? (2) What are the tectonic controls on the present-day location of complex pegmatites, and what is their relationship to past tectonic events in New England?
position announcement seeking a postdoc