My research is concerned with the fundamental processes of metamorphic change at all scales from the mineral lattice to the continental crust, but with particular emphasis on the relationships between microstructures at the scale of the mineral grains and the thermodynamic and kinetic controls on metamorphic reaction processes.
Understanding these grain-scale processes forms the basis for addressing large-scale problems in tectonics and crustal evolution. Together with other members of Oxford’s Hard Rock Group, I am contributing to research in several areas, including: the evolution of the metamorphic core of the Himalaya and Karakoram, the formation and exhumation of eclogites in collision zones, the petrology of ophiolite complexes and their high-temperature metamorphic soles, and partial melting processes in relation to granulite formation and the generation of granites.
I have taught courses with a significant practical component in metamorphic petrology, microstructure of ductile deformation, crustal evolution (in relation to ore deposits) and geological map interpretation.
More detail (much more!) can be found on my home page, and on the Hard Rock Group web site.
View Selected Publications
- Waters, D.J. (2019). Metamorphic constraints on the tectonic evolution of the High Himalaya in Nepal: the art of the possible. In: Treloar, P.J. & Searle, M.P. (eds), Himalayan Tectonics: A Modern Synthesis, Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 483, doi: 10.1144/SP483-2018-187
- Forshaw, J.B., Waters, D.J., Pattison, D.R.M., Palin, R.M. and Gopon, P. (2019). A comparison of observed and thermodynamically predicted phase equilibria and mineral compositions in mafic granulites. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 37, 153–179. doi: 10.1111/jmg.12454.
- Waters, D.J., Law, R.D., Searle, M.P. and Jessup, M.J. (2018). Structural and thermal evolution of the South Tibetan Detachment shear zone in the Mt. Everest region, from the 1933 sample collection of L.R. Wager. In: Ferrero, S., Lanari, P., Goncalves, P. and Grosch, E. (eds) Metamorphic Geology: Microscale to Mountain Belts. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 478, 335–372. doi: 10.1144/SP478.17.
- Searle, M.P., Morley, C.K., Waters, D.J., Gardiner, N.J, U Kyi Htun and Robb, L.J. (2017). Tectonic and metamorphic evolution of the Mogok Metamorphic and Jade Mines belts and ophiolitic terranes of Burma (Myanmar). In: Barber, A.J., & Khin Zaw Crow, M.J. (eds). Myanmar: Geology, Resources and Tectonics. Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 48, 261–293. doi:10.1144/M48.12
- Palin, R.M., Weller, O.M., Waters, D.J. and Dyck, B. (2016). Quantifying geological uncertainty in metamorphic phase equilibria modelling; a Monte Carlo assessment and implications for tectonic interpretations. Geoscience Frontiers, 7, 591–607. doi: 10.1016/j.gsf.2015.08.005
- Searle, M.P., Waters, D.J., Garber, J.M., Rioux, M., Cherry, A.G. and Ambrose T.K. (2015). Structure and metamorphism beneath the obducting Oman ophiolite: Evidence from the Bani Hamid granulites, northern Oman mountains. Geosphere, 11 (6), online 2 October 2015. doi:10.1130/GES01199.1
- Palin, R.M., St-Onge, M.R., Waters, D.J., Searle, M.P. and Dyck, B. (2014). Phase equilibria modelling of retrograde amphibole and clinozoisite in mafic eclogite from the Tso Morari massif, northwest India: constraining the P–T–M(H2O) conditions of exhumation. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 32 (7) 675–693. DOI: 10.1111/jmg.12085
- White, A.J.R., Waters, D.J. and Robb, L.J. (2013). The application of P–T–X(CO2) modelling in constraining metamorphism and hydrothermal alteration at the Damang gold deposit, Ghana. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 31 (9), 937–961. DOI: 10.1111/jmg.12051
- Pownall, J.M., Waters, D.J., Searle, M.P., Shail, R.K. and Robb, L.J. (2012). Shallow laccolithic emplacement of the Land’s End and Tregonning Granites, Cornwall, UK: Evidence from aureole field relations and P-T modelling of cordierite-anthophyllite hornfels. Geosphere, 8 (6), 1467-1504. doi:10.1130/GES00802.1
- Cottle, J.M., Waters, D.J., Riley, D., Beyssac, O. and Jessup, M.J. (2011). Metamorphic history of the South Tibetan Detachment System, Mt. Everest region, revealed by RSCM thermometry and phase equilibria modeling. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 29 (5), 561–582. doi: 10.1111/j.1525-1314.2011.00930.x
- Álvarez-Valero, A.M. and Waters, D.J. (2010). Partially melted crustal xenoliths as a window into sub-volcanic processes: evidence from the Neogene magmatic province of the Betic cordillera, SE Spain. Journal of Petrology, 51, 973-991. doi:10.1093/petrology/egq007
- Crowley, J.L., Waters, D.J., Searle, M.P. and Bowring, S.A. (2009). Pleistocene melting and rapid exhumation of the Nanga Parbat massif, Pakistan: age and P-T conditions of accessory mineral growth in migmatite and leucogranite. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 288, 408-420.