Massimo Coltorti is Full Professor in Petrography and Petrology at the Department of Earth Sciences, Ferrara University, Italy. He is President of the National Petrography Group in Italy, Councillor of SIMP (Società Italiana Mineralogia e Petrologia) and Secretary of Petrology within GMPV Division at EGU.
His main research topics have been:
- Petrology of volcano-plutonic complexes from continental and oceanic setting in Italy (Alpi Carniche; Predazzo and Monzoni in the Southern Alps; Vulsini Mts. in Central Italy; Iblean Mts. in Sicily), Brazil (Juquià, Fortaleza), Angola (Tchivira-Bonga), Canary Islands (Tenerife, Fuerteventura) and Antarctica (Mt. Melbourne).
- Petrology of ocean basin basements and ophiolites. The first topic was developed in the framework of the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) with participation in Leg 134 (Vanuatu) and collaboration with Legs 124 (Celebes and Sulu Basins) and 131 (Nankay Trough), while the second has been concentrated on peri-Mediterranean (Italy and Albania) and peri-Caribbean (Venezuela, Guatemala, Cuba, Hispaniola and Costa Rica) ophiolitic complexes.
- Petrology of mantle xenoliths from alkaline lavas and metasomatic processes in the lithospheric continental mantle of Lessini Mts and Iblean Mts. (Italy), Tallante (Spain), Mt. Melbourne (Antarctica), Patagonia and oceanic mantle of Canary Islands, Cape Verde and Gran Comores.
Experimental petrology on the structure of silicatic liquids and immiscibility processes in the Fayalite-Leucite-Quartz system.
Petrology of basic-ultrabasic complexes in the Ivrea-Verbano Zone and in Archean greenstone belts (Hidrolina, Crixas – Brazil).
Additional information and a list of publications can be found here.
