Robert Tucker

Research Geologist

Short Biography

Robert D. Tucker has been a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey since 2006.  Prior to that he was Associate Professor of Geology in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at Washington Unversity in St. Louis, MO (USA).  He is a specialist in high-precision U-Pb geochronology; the regional geology and tectonics of North America, northern Europe, and Madagascar; and the regional geology and nonfuel mineral resources of Afghanistan.

EDUCATION: Ph.D. Yale University, 1985; M.S. University of Massachusetts, 1977

RECENT PUBLICATIONS (only those from 2012-2011)

Tucker, R.D., Peters, S.G., Roig, J.Y., Théveniaut, H., Delor, C., 2012. Notice explicative des cartes géologique et métallogéniques de la République de Madagascar à 1/1,000,000. Ministère des Mines, PGRM, Antananarivo, République de Madagascar

Tucker, R.D. and Moine, B., 2012, Discussion of:  Petrogenesis and Nd-, Pb-, Sr-isotope geochemistry of the Cenozoic olivine melilites and olivine nephelinites (“ankaratrites”) in Madagascar by Leone Melluso, Anton P. le Roex, and Vincenzo Morra.  Lithos 127, 505-521, LITHOS (2012), doi: 10.1016/j.lithos.2011.11.027

Tucker, R.D., Belkin, H.E., Schulz, K.J., Peters, S.P., Horton, F., Buttleman, K., and Scott, E.R., 2012, A light rare-earth element (LREE) resource in the Khanneshin carbonatite complex of southern Afghanistan.  Economic Geology 107, pp. 197-208. 

Roig, J.Y., Tucker, R.D., Delor, C., Peters, S.G., Théveniaut, H., 2012. Carte géologique de la République de Madagascar à 1/1,000,000. Ministère des Mines, PGRM, Antananarivo, République de Madagascar, 1 color sheet. 

Peters, S.G., Roig, J.Y., Tucker, R.D., Théveniaut, H., Delor, C., 2012. Carte des roches et minéraux industriels de la République de Madagascar à 1/1,000,000. Ministère des Mines, PGRM, Antananarivo, République de Madagascar, 1 color sheet.

Peters, S.G., Roig, J.Y., Tucker, R.D., Théveniaut, H., Delor, C., 2012. Carte des substances métalliques de la République de Madagascar à 1/1,000,000. Ministère des Mines, PGRM, Antananarivo, République de Madagascar, 1 color sheet.

Thomas, W.A., Tucker, R.D., Astini, R.A., and Denison, R.E., 2012, Ages of pre-rift basement and synrift rocks along the conjugate rift and transform margins of the Argentine Precordillera and Laurentia. Geosphere. v.8, no 6. doi: 10.1130/GES00800.1.

Rankin, D.W., Tucker, R.D., Amelin, Y.A, 2012, The Bronson Hill sequence in the Upper Connecticut Valley: The demise of the Foster Hill Fault and the shrinking of the Piermont Allochthon. Bulletin Geological Society of America. doi:10.1130/B30590.1.

De Waele, B., Thomas, R.J., Macey, P.H., Horstwood, M. S.A., Tucker, R.D., Pitfield, P.J., Schofield, D.I., Goodenough, K.M., Bauer, W., Key, R.M., Potter, C.J., Armstrong, R.A., Miller, J.A., Randriamananjara, T., Ralison, Vonimanitra, Rafahatelo, J.-M., Rabarimanana, M., and Bejoma, M.,  2011, Provenance and tectonic significance of the Palaeoproterozoic metasedimentary successions of  central and northern Madagascar. Precambrian Research 189, 18-42. doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2011.04.004. 

Tucker, R.D., Roig, J.-Y., Macey, P.H., Delor, C., Amelin, Y., Armstrong, R.A., Rabarimanana, M.H., and Ralison, A.V., 2011,  A new geological framework for south-central Madagascar and the “out-of-Africa” hypothesis.  Precambrian Research 185, 109-130.  doi:10.1016/j.precamres2010.12.008. 

Tucker, R.D., Roig, J.-Y., Delor, C., Amelin, Y., Goncalves, P., Rabarimanana, M.H., Ralison, A.V. and Belcher, R.W., 2011, Neoproterozoic Extension in the Greater Dharwar Craton: A Reevaluation of the “Betsimisaraka Suture” in Madagascar. Canadian Journal of Earth Science, Special Issue 48 (2), 389-417. doi:10.1139/E10-034. 

Tucker, R.D., Belkin, H.E., Schulz, K.J., Peters, S.G., and Buttleman, K.P., 2011, Rare earth element mineralogy, geochemistry, and preliminary resource assessment of the Khanneshin carbonatite complex, Helmand Province, Afghanistan: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011–1207, 50 p., available only at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1207/. 

Tucker, R.D., Peters, S.G., Schulz, K.J., Renaud, K.M., Stettner, W.R., Masonic, L.M., and Packard, P.H., comps., 2011, Geologic map of the Khanneshin carbonatite complex, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, modified from the 1976 original map compilation of V.G. Cheremytsin: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011–1244, one sheet, scale 1:10,000. Also available at  http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1244/. 

Tucker, R.D., Belkin, H.E., Schulz, K.J., Peters, S.G., Buttleman, K.P., 2011, Chapter 21A. Summary of the mineral information package for Khanneshin area of REE interest, in Peters, S.G., King, T.V.V., Mack, T.J., and Chornack, M.P., (eds..),  and the U.S. Geological Survey Afghanistan Mineral Assessment Team, 2011, Summaries of important areas for mineral investment and production opportunities of nonfuel minerals in Afghanistan: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011–1204, 1,810 p.  plus appendixes on DVD. (Also available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1204/.)  

Tucker, R.D., Schulz, K.J., and Peters, S.G., 2011, Chapter 6A Summary of the Mineral Information Package for the Dusar-Shaida-Misgaran Copper-Tin Area of Interest, Afghanistan, in Peters, S.G., King, T.V.V., Mack, T.J., and Chornack, M.P., (eds..), and the U.S. Geological Survey Afghanistan Mineral Assessment Team, 2011, Summaries of important areas for mineral investment and production opportunities of nonfuel minerals in Afghanistan: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011–1204, 1,810 p.  plus appendixes on DVD. (Also available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1204.)  

Peters, S.G., R.D. Tucker, and Hubbard, B.E., 2011, Chapter 4.0 Summary of the mineral information package for Balkhab copper area of interest, , in Peters, S.G., King, T.V.V., Mack, T.J., and Chornack, M.P., (eds..), and the U.S. Geological Survey Afghanistan Mineral Assessment Team, 2011, Summaries of important areas for mineral investment and production opportunities of nonfuel minerals in Afghanistan: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011–1204, 1,810 p.  plus appendixes on DVD. (Also available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1204/.)

Cucciniello, C., Conrad, J., Grifa, C., Melluso, L., Mercurio, M., Morra, V., Tucker, R.D., Vincent, M., 2011, Petrology and geochemistry of Cretaceous mafic and silicic dykes and spatially associated lavas in central-eastern coastal Madagascar, in Dyke Swarms: Keys for Geodynamic Interpretation, Srivastava, R.K. (ed.) Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 345-375. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-12496-9_21.  

Renaud, K.M., Tucker, R.D., Peters, S.G., Stettner, W.R., Masonic, L.M., and Moran, T.W., comps., 2011, Geologic map of the Haji-Gak iron deposit, Bamyan Province, Afghanistan,  modified from the 1965 original map compilation of  M.S. Smirnov and I.K. Kusov:  U.S.  Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011–1185–A, one sheet, scale 1:10,000.  Also available at  http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1185-A/. 

Renaud, K.M., Tucker, R.D., Peters, S.G., Stettner, W.R., Masonic, L.M., and Moran, T.W., comps., 2011, Geologic map of the western Haji-Gak iron deposit, Bamyan Province, Afghanistan, modified from the 1965 original map compilation of V.V. Reshetniak and I.K. Kusov:  U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011–1185–B, one sheet, scale 1:4,000. Also available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1185-B/. 

My Science Topics

My USGS Science Strategy Areas

Other Areas of Expertise :

-  Regional geology and tectonics of the Paleozoic orogens of the northeast US, Canada, Norway, and Great Britain

-  High-precision U-Pb geochronology (TIMS) and the calibration of geological time, with special emphasis on the Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian Periods.

-  Application of high-precision U-Pb geochronology to the study of orogenic belts

-  Precambrian geology and tectonics of Madagascar and the Seychelles

-  The Cenozoic geology and rare earth elements resources of Madagascar

-  Regional geology and economic geology of the nonfuel resources of Afghanistan (Khanneshin, Haji Gak, Balkhab, Dusar-Shaida, and Aynak)

-  Regional geology and rare earth element resources of central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan)