Laboratory of CrUStal Processes (CUSP) at SUNY Fredonia

Welcome to my website!

PI: Wentao Cao

(CV, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, LinkedIn, Department webpage)

Email: cao@fredonia.edu

Phone: 716-673-3884

Address: 122 Houghton Hall, Department of Geology & Environmental Science, SUNY Fredonia, Fredonia, NY 14063


I am an Assistant Professor at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Fredonia. My group's current research examines metamorphic rocks to unravel associated petrological and tectonic processes in the crust, along with other side projects. Current projects include:

  • Formation, differentiation, and exhumation of orogenic lower crust

  • Modeling melting of crustal lithologies

  • Development of retrograde textures

  • Metasomatism and fluid-rock interactions

If you'd like to collaborate, are interested in conducting a project, or have any research ideas, feel free to get in touch with me.

News:

  • New paper on the exhumation of orogenic lower crust from the Grenville Province in GSA Memoir 220. See here [PDF] for the paper. Nov. 2022

  • Open position at Dept. Geology & Env. Sci: Lecturer in Environmental Science; See details at Fredonia's Interview Exchange. Fall, 2021

  • New paper on partial melting in retrogressed eclogite from the Grenville Province is accepted to publish in Precambrian Research! See here [PDF] for the paper. October, 2020

  • New paper examining the effect of seafloor alteration on subduction fluid transportation is accepted to publish in Journal of Petrology! See here for the paper. August, 2020.

  • Welcome to the new semester! Christian Clark and Sarah O'Leary will join the group for Directed Study. Dominique Martello will continue her work on P-T conditions of blueschist from Tibet. August 2020

  • New paper studying partial melting of zoisite eclogite is published in European Journal of Mineralogy! See here for the open-access paper. Summer, 2020.

  • Congrats to Trevor Dwyer for winning a third place undergraduate presentation at BAPG (Buffalo Association of Professional Geologist) Scholarship Event! See here for more details. We also congratulate him to his graduation from Fredonia. Dwyer will head to the Univ. of Akron as a master student. May, 2020.

  • New paper on the onset of plate tectonics published in Earth-Science Reviews! Check out the paper by Palin et al. at here.