David Moecher
University of Kentucky, KY·Earth & Environmental Science
Rare earth elements are metals with strong magnetic properties, and they are critical to the energy transition. The U.S.
- Fields
Earth & Environmental Science
Chemistry
- Topics
rare earth elements
critical minerals
monazite
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Determine whether monazite carried by rivers from the Appalachians to the Atlantic coast comes from metamorphic rocks, granitic rocks or both, by dating detrital grains with laser-ablation split-stream mass spectrometry (LASS-ICP-MS).
- Survey the ages and rare earth chemistry of monazite in Piedmont and Blue Ridge bedrock sources not yet characterized, to trace sediment pathways to the Coastal Plain.
- Use neodymium isotope compositions of monazite and source rocks as an independent test of where Coastal Plain monazite came from and whether its source changed over geologic time.
More about the research
has only one producing domestic source, and most of the world's supply comes from a single mine in China. Earlier work showed that monazite is widespread in rivers and sediments of the southeastern U.S. Monazite is the most common rare-earth-bearing mineral in Earth's crust. Finding where it comes from could guide exploration for new domestic supplies.
Why it matters
Knowing which Appalachian rocks supply the monazite in coastal deposits could help mining companies focus on the richest source regions for rare earth elements. That could reduce U.S. dependence on a single foreign supplier of metals needed for magnets and energy technologies. The project also trains students for careers in critical mineral exploration.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Johannes Haemmerli
Washington State University, WA·Earth & Environmental Science
Identify which accessory minerals, such as zircon, apatite, allanite and titanite, take part in mineral reactions caused by deformation in granitic rocks, using electron probe microanalysis.
Alexander Pullen
Clemson University, SC·Earth & Environmental Science
Reconstruct the Miocene–Pleistocene sediment sources of the Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin using detrital zircon uranium-lead (U-Pb) dating and neodymium (Nd) isotope provenance analysis.
Igor Puchtel
University of Maryland, MD·Earth & Environmental Science
Estimate the timing, volumes and proportions of continental and oceanic crust extracted in the Archean, using lead, samarium-neodymium and lutetium-hafnium isotopes in thirteen 3.6–2.7-billion-year-old komatiite-basalt systems.
The school
University of Kentucky: 34 labs on PI Pages, $528M a year on research, 319 research doctorates a year.
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