His PhD at the University of Pavia was focused on unraveling processes and mechanisms at play during metamorphism of deeply subducted rocks from the Lago di Cignana ultra-high pressure unit, Western Alps, Italy. These aspects are mostly details of metamorphism, fluid-rock interaction, deformation, and stress. I approached this topic by a combination of petrological and microstructural work on garnet and rutile, and mineral inclusions therein.
The topic for his postdoc at Njord is the residual, intracrystalline stresses in pyroxenes in the wall rock of pseudotachylites from the Lofoten. I'll do this by high-angular resolution electron backscatter diffraction (HR-EBSD), which allows us to determine elastic strains and stresses at high resolution and precision. This will be coupled with nano-indentation experiments on these minerals to determine their mechanical properties. The final aim of this work is to understand the distribution of stresses before and during brittle failure of strong dry lower crustal rocks, in the context of earthquakes.