Dr. Lassiter's research focus is on the application of isotope and trace element geochemistry to fundamental problems of the Earth's origin and evolution, including but not limited to: Structure and chemical evolution of the mantle and crust; Origin of mantle plumes and nature of plume/lithosphere interaction; Generation and segregation of magma; Origin and chemical evolution of continental lithosphere; Chemical fluxes in constructive and destructive tectonic environments. Current areas of interest include the role of crust and lithospheric mantle recycling in the generation of mantle chemical heterogeneity, the origin and distribution of water and other volatile elements in the Earth's interior, and the thermal and chemical evolution of the Earth's core and core/mantle boundary.

Areas of Expertise

Earth's origin and evolution, isotope and trace element geochemistry, the role of crust and lithospheric mantle recycling in the generation of mantle chemical heterogeneity, the origin and distribution of water and other volatile elements in the Earth's interior, and the thermal and chemical evolution of the Earth's core and core/mantle boundary


Research Locations



Postdoctoral Fellowship - National Science Foundation (1995 - 1997)

The Berkeley Fellowship - to be entered (1993 - 1995)

Graduate Research Fellowship - National Science Foundation (1990 - 1993)

Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society - Brown University (1989)

Sigma Xi Science Honor Society - Brown University (1989)

Associate Editor, Reviews of Geophysics (2002)

Member, American Geophysical Union

member, Geochemical Society

member, European Union of Geosciences

Graduate Students

Benjamin L Byerly, Ph.D., expected 2013
I use the major element, trace element, and isotopic (Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf-Os) chemistry of abyssal peridotites and mantle xenoliths to understand the evolution of the lithospheric and asthenospheric mantle.

Edward W Marshall, Ph.D., expected 2017
My current research project looks at mantle hydration and metastomatism underneath the Colorado Plateau. My research will look into the timing and circumstances of the alteration as well as the rheologic implications on the stable Colorado Plateau. Prior research has been in the petrology and geochemistry of the Allsaw Anorthosite in the Ontario Grenville province, oxygen fugacity of the upper zone of the Bushveld Complex and the serpentinites of the Philadelphia area.