Martin Ross

Associate Professor of Geology
at Northeastern University since 1978
Department of Earth & Environmental Science
14 Holmes Hall
Northeastern University
Boston, MA 02115-5096
617.373.3263
m.ross@neu.edu

Education

Ph.D. 1978 University of Idaho
Dissertation: “Stratigraphy, Structure, and Petrology of Columbia River Basalt in a portion of the Grande Ronde River-Blue Mountains Area of Oregon and Washington”
M.S. 1970 Kent State University
Thesis: Quantitative Petrography of Precambrian Mafic Dikes in the Bald Mountain Area, Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming.

Research Interests

  • The petrology and tectonics of Proterozoic to Mesozoic mafic dike swarms of the Avalon terrane in southeastern New England.
  • The nature and origin of chemical and mineralogic trends within individual dikes.
  • The stratigraphy, petrology, and origin of the Columbia River Basalts and related silicic volcanics in southeast Oregon and adjacent portions of California, Nevada, and Idaho.
  • The origins of magma pillow-like structures and variations in phenocryst concentrations in individual lavas of Steens Basalt.

Faculty Research

Selected Publications

  • Ross, M. E., 2010, An Early Triassic 40Ar/39Ar age for a camptonite dyke in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: Atlantic Geology, V. 46, pg. 127-135.
  • Camp, V. E., Ross, M. E., Duncan, R. A., Jarboe, N. A., Coe, R. S., and Johnson, J.A., in press, The Steens Basalt: Earliest Lavas of the Columbia River Basalt Group, in, Reidel, S.P. , Camp. V.E., Tolan, T. L., Martin, B. S., Wolf, J. A., and Ross, M.E. (eds.), Geological Society of America Special Paper.
  • Hooper, P.R., Camp, V.E., Reidel, S.P., and Ross, M.E., in review, The Columbia River Basalts: a regional perspective: in Cheney et. al. (eds), Geology of Washington State, University of Washington Press. * Hooper, P.R., Camp, V.E., Reidel, S.P., and Ross, M.E., in review, The Columbia River Basalts: a regional perspective: in Cheney et. al. (eds), Geology of Washington State, University of Washington Press.
  • Hooper, P.R., Camp, V.E., Reidel, S.P., and Ross, M.R., 2007, The origin of the Columbia River flood basalt province: plume versus nonplume models: in (Foulger, G.R. and Jurdy, D.M. (eds), Plates, Plumes and Planetary Processes, Geological Society of America Special Paper.
  • Ross, M. E., 2004, Dike swarms of Cape Ann, Massachusetts, in Hanson, L.S., (ed), Field Trips from Boston, MA to Saco Bay, ME: 96th Annual New England Intercollegiate Geologic Field Conference Guidebook, Salem, Massachusetts, Salem State College, p. 219-236.
  • Camp, V.E. and Ross, M.E., 2004, Mantle dynamics and genesis of mafic magmatism in the intermontane Pacific Northwest: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 109, 14 p.
  • Camp, V. E., Ross, M. E., and Hanson, W. E., 2003, Genesis of flood basalts and Basin-and-Range volcanics from Steens Mountain to the Malheur River Gorge, Oregon: Geological Society of Amercia, Bulletin, v. 115, no. 1, p. 105-128.
  • Ross, M. E., 2001, Igneous petrology of the Pine Hill area, Medford, Massachusetts: in West, D. P., and Bailey, R. H., (eds), Guidebook for Geological Field Trips in New England, Geological Society of America, Annual Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts, p. M-1 to M-25.
  • Ross, M. E., and Bailey, R. H., 2001, Igneous and sedimentary petrology of East Point, Nahant, Massachusetts: in West, D. P., and Bailey, R. H., (eds), Guidebook for Geological Field Trips in New England, Geological Society of America, Annual Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts, p. O-1 to O-29.

Complete list of publications

Teaching Interests

I teach a wide variety of advanced and introductory undergraduate courses including igneous petrology, structural geology, environmental geology, geology and land-use planning, optical mineralogy, and field geology. I have led extended field trips for undergraduate geology students to the Pacific Northwest, the Black Hills, and Iceland.