Kent Ratajeski
Lecturer
B.S. 1992, New Mexico Tech
M.S. 1995, University of Maryland, College Park
Ph.D. 1999, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Kent Ratajeski’s research interests include: (1) the igneous petrology, geochemistry, and geochronology of granitic rocks, and (2) geoscience education and online curriculum development.  His doctoral work in igneous petrology with Allen Glazner at UNC-Chapel Hill involved a study of the Late Cretaceous granites in Yosemite Valley, California which included field mapping, whole-rock and mineral geochemistry (including isotopes), U-Pb zircon geochronology, and partial melting experiments carried out at the USGS in Menlo Park, California.  The results of his research imply that large-volumes of granitic magma may be derived by partial melting of mafic lower crust of continental-margin arcs, without the appreciable addition of an ancient crustal component.  Kent has been back to the Sierra Nevada several times for collaborations with other researchers.  More recently, Dr. Ratajeski has been active in the Georgia Piedmont, advising a student research project involving a high-precision geochronological study of the Elberton Granite using the new U-Pb zircon chemical abrasion method.

Kent has been developing innovative ways to integrate research and education since his postdoc with David Mogk at Montana State University in 2004-2005.  This work has resulted in several online educational modules housed at the Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College which use web-based geochemical and crystallographic databases to encourage interactive learning within the mineralogy and petrology curriculum.

Loveless, W.T., and Ratajeski, K., 2007, High-precision U-Pb zircon geochronology of the Elberton Granite, northeast Georgia: preliminary Ca-TIMS results: Geological Society of America, Southeast Section meeting.

Ratajeski, K., 2006, A digital resource collection supporting the use of Earthchem databases in geoscience courses: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 38, p. 524.

Lehnert, K., Ratajeski, K., and Walker, D., 2006, Using online igneous geochemical databases for research and teaching: short course handbook, Geological Society of America Meeting, Philadelphia, October, 2006.

Ratajeski, K., 2005, Students as field trip leaders: promoting active learning and group collaboration with a semester-culminating field trip project in Montana: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 37, p. 412.

Ratajeski, K., Mogk, D., and Warnick, M., 2005, The Montana-Yellowstone geologic field guide database: a digital resource to integrate field-based research, teaching, and learning: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 37, p. 283.

Ratajeski, K., Mogk, D., and Downs, R.T., 2005, Teaching mineralogy with crystal structure databases and visualization software: a digital resource collection: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 15th Annual Goldschmidt Conference, Moscow, Idaho, May 20-25, v. 69, p. A665.

Ratajeski, K., Sisson, T.W., and Glazner, A.F., 2005, Experimental and geochemical evidence for derivation of the El Capitan Granite, California, from hydrous, mafic lower crust: Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, v. 149, p. 713-734.

Sisson, T.W., Ratajeski, K., Hankins, W.B., and Glazner, A.F., 2005, Voluminous granitic magmas from common basaltic sources: Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, v. 148, p. 635-661.

Ratajeski, K., Glazner, A.F., and Miller, B.V., 2001, Geology and geochemistry of mafic to felsic plutonic rocks in the Cretaceous intrusive suite of Yosemite Valley, California: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 113, p. 1486-1502.

Ratajeski, K., and Sisson, T.W., 1999, Loss of iron from gold capsules in rock-melting experiments: American Mineralogist, v. 84, p. 1521-1527.

Ingersoll, R.V., Ratajeski, K., Glazner, A.F., and Cloos, M., 1999, Mesozoic convergent margin of central California, in Wagner, D.L., and Graham, S.A. (eds.), Geologic field trips in northern California: California Division of Mines and Geology, Special Publication 119.

Ratajeski, K., and Campbell, A.R., 1994, Distribution of fluid inclusions in igneous quartz of the Capitan pluton, New Mexico, USA: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 58, p. 1161-1174.