R. H. Mitchell


Dr. R.H. Mitchell

Dr. R.H. Mitchell

B.Sc. M.Sc. D.Sc.(University of Manchester)
Ph.D. (McMaster University)

Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Willet G. Miller Medal Royal Society of Canada (2003)
Past President's Medal Mineralogical Association of Canada (1994)

Contact Information:

Office:CB 4006

Phone:(807) 343-8287

Email: Click to Contact

Personal Information

Professional Associations

  • The Geochemical Society
  • Mineralogical Association of Canada (Past President)
  • Mineralogical Society of America
  • Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland
  • Canadian Radiation Protection Society
  • International Organization Committee for Kimberlite Conferences (President)
  • IUGS Subcommission on the nomenclature of Kimberlites, Lamproites and Lamprophyres
  • Associate Editor The Canadian Mineralogist, Lithos; Edited several volumes on Alkaline Rocks.

Research Interests

Active research programs with graduate students and post-doctoral fellows continue in the following areas:

  1. Mineralogy and petrology of kimberlite, alkaline rocks and carbonatites:

    Studies of the mineralogy and petrology of kimberlites and alkaline rocks are based upon detailed investigations of the paragenesis and composition of major and accessory minerals present using back-scattered electron imagery and quantitative energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, respectively. The objective of these studies is to understand the origins and evolution of the parental magmas to this diverse group of rock types. A secondary objective is to explain the origin of economic deposits of diamond and strategic rare metals such as zirconium, niobium, tantalum and the rare earth elements.

  2. Crystallography of oxides and fluorides - especially perovskite- and hollandite group compounds:

    Powder X-ray and/or neutron diffraction methods are used to study the crystal chemistry of natural and synthetic oxides and fluorides. Crystal structures are determined from these diffraction data by the Rietveld refinement method. The objective of these studies are to understand the crystallochemical controls on the formation of the diverse structural types adopted by oxides and fluorides.

Selected Relevant Publications

Books

  1. Mitchell, R.H. 1986. Kimberlites: Mineralogy, Geochemistry and Petrology. Plenum Publishing Company, New York, 442 pp.
  2. Mitchell, R.H. & Bergman, S.C. 1991. Petrology of Lamproites Plenum Publishing Company, New York, 447 pp.
  3. Mitchell, R.H. 1995. Petrology of Kimberlites, Orangeites and Related Rocks Plenum Publishing Company, New York, 410 pp.
  4. Mitchell, R.H. 1997. Kimberlites, Orangeites, Lamproites, Melilitites and Minettes: A Petrographic Atlas Almaz Press Inc. Thunder Bay, 249 pp. (www.almazpress.com)
  5. Mitchell, R.H. 2002. Perovskites: Modern and Ancient Almaz Press Inc, Thunder Bay 249 pp (www.alamazpress.com)

Selected Papers

  1. Chakhmouradian, A.R. & Mitchell, R.H. The mineralogy of Ba- and Zr-rich alkaline pegmatites from Gordon Butte, Crazy Mountains (Montana, USA): Comparisons between potassic and sodic agpaitic pegmatite. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology. 143, 93-114, 2002.
  2. Chakhmouradian, A.R. & Mitchell, R.H. New data on pyrochlore- and perovskite-group minerals from the Lovozero alkaline complex, Russia. European Journal of Mineralogy 14, 821-836, 2002.
  3. Hammond, A. & Mitchell, R.H. Accessory mineralogy of the Swartruggens orangeite. Mineralogy & Petrology, 76, 1-19,2002.
  4. Mitchell, R.H. & Edgar, A.D. Melting experiments on SiO2-rich lamproites to 6.4 GPa and their bearing on the sources of lamproite magmas. Mineralogy and Petrology, 74, 115 -128, 2002.
  5. Mitchell, R.H. & Kjarsgaard, B.A. Solubility of niobium in the system CaCO3 - Ca(OH)2 - NaNbO3 at 0.1 GPa pressure. Contributions Mineralogy and Petrology, 144, 93-97. 2003
  6. Ross, K.C., Mitchell, R.H., & Chakhmouradian, A.R. The crystal structure of synthetic simmonsite, Na2LiAlF6. Journal of Solid State Chemistry, 172, 95-101, 2003.