W. Crawford Elliott
Associate Professor Chemistry, Geosciences- Education
Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University, 1988
- Specializations
Geochemistry
- Biography
Research Interests: Clay Mineralogy
My research interests center on the study of the following three problems: 1) understanding the sorption of radiocesium on phyllosilicate minerals; 2) the study of the kinetics of the smectite to illite process in argillaceous rocks (bentonites, K-bentonites and shales) and the use of these data to understand the movement of energy and fluids in foreland basins; and 3) developing a predictive model to understand accumulations of the rare earth metals in highly weathered rocks in the Atlantic Coastal Plain. I also codirect with Prof. Marion Wampler (GATECH-retired) a K-Ar laboratory, probably the only functioning K-Ar lab in the US.I have been collaborating with colleagues at Kyoto Prefectural University (Profs. A. Nakao, and J. Yanai) in testing a hypothesis for the aeolian origin of micaceous minerals in volcanic soils in Japan.Other topics of interest include: Origin of the clay minerals at the K-T boundary in Denmark, Glauconite clay mineralogy in the Coastal Plain, Genesis of platinum minerals in the Polish Kupferschiefer, clay mineralogy of the Woodford and Barnett Shales (R. Whittington M.S. Thesis).