Current research projects include:
1) The non-liquid compositions of the peraluminous Cardigan Pluton, NH, indicate the presence of excess garnet, either from peritectic garnet entrainment or phenocrystic garnet accumulation. Determining between a peritectic and phenocrystic origin is essential to understand the petrogenesis and compositional variation of this and other peraluminous plutons (Dorais and Spencer, 2014; Dorais and Tubrett, 2012; Dorais, 2012; Dorais et al., 2009)
2) Igneous rocks of New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and Massachusetts are being examined to determine the nature of the basement beneath the allochthonous cover rocks to constrain the location of the Laurentian and peri-Gondwanan boundary in central New England (Dorais et al., 2014; Dorais et al., 2012; Dorais et al., 2009; Dorais., 2003; Dorais and Paige, 2000, Watts et al., 2000)..
3) The meta-igneous rocks and paragneisses of the Massabesic Gneiss and Rye Complexes, peri-Gondwanan terranes exposed in southern New Hampshire, are being examined to determine their tectonic settings, P-T-t conditions, and their relationships to other peri-Gondwanan terranes of the Northern Appalachians. The role of the Massabesic Gneiss Complex in the Acadian and Alleghanian orogenies in New England is also being investigated (Dorais et al., 2014; Dorais et al., 2012; Dorais et al., 2001).
4) One of the more intractable problems with large igneous provinces and specifically with continental flood basalts is the identification of primary basalt compositions. Continental flood basalts have proven particularly difficult because they contain strong evidence of a crustal component that, together with their low Mg numbers and Ni contents indicative of differentiation, obscures primary melt compositions. The trace element and isotopic compositions of clinopyroxene and plagioclase in rocks of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province give clues to the primary magma compositions and the origin of this large, flood basalt province (Harper et al., in prep.; Dorais and Tubrett, 2008; Dorais et al., 2005)