Interests

Recent pub!: Peterson, A., DeSutter, T., Saini-Eidukat, B., Meehan, M., 2023, Origination of Produced Water (Brine) in the Williston Basin, NDSU Extension Publication WQ2083

I'm a geologist with interests in mineralogy, petrology, ore deposits, environmental geochemistry including aqueous geochemistry, and education. In the lab I work with light microscopy, electron microscopy, X-ray difraction and X-ray fluorescence. I enjoy field work and leading field experiences for students and community members.

Water geochemistry projects I collaborate on include REEs and other metals in river systems in North Dakota, Montana and Japan. A current project with soil scientists is remediation of brine-impacted land in the oil producing area of North Dakota. I have also worked with soil scientists to understand the source of heavy metal content (such as cadmium) of soils in northeastern ND. Igneous rock types I've investigated range from mafic (Duluth Complex, Minnesota, USA, and similar intrusions in Finland) to silicic (Argentina). Ore deposit projects include Cu-Ni, platinum group elements (PGE), silver, gold, manganese, zinc and germanium.

In western North Dakota, I'm working with Tim Nesheim of the ND Geologic Survey on the petrology and geochemistry of deeply buried Precambrian basement rocks of the Trans-Hudson Orogeny. I have also researched the occurrence of the toxic, fiber-like, mineral erionite, and in related work, the mineral content and amount of fugitive dust generated from gravel roads by oil exploration activities.

With Paul Weiblen and colleagues, we experimented with Pulsed Power Disaggregation for mineral liberation. I've also carried out geophysical investigations for mineral exploration using magnetic and electromagnetic and induced polarization methods.

With many colleagues, led by Brian Slator, I've helped design virtual worlds for education, in my case for geology, and research into how people learn in such environments.

I carry out a variety of analytical work on geologic and engineered materials.

See the following pages for other projects.