Rate My Professor Nicholas Tailby

Dr. Nicholas Tailby is a Lecturer in Geology in the School of Environmental and Rural Science at the University of New England. He earned a Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours and a Doctor of Philosophy in Science from the Australian National University. Tailby's research in geochemistry, petrology, and geology integrates experimental mineral synthesis under controlled conditions with studies of natural rocks to examine mineral responses to environmental factors such as pressure, temperature, and volatile partial pressures. This work combines thermodynamics, which describes chemical equilibria in minerals, and kinetics, which assesses how mineral compositions change during system perturbations, to make inferences about rock formation conditions.

His primary academic interests focus on minerals including quartz, zircon, apatite, garnet, biotite, and plagioclase as indicators of continental crust geological environments. Tailby applies thermobarometry to quartz phenocrysts in volcanic rocks to determine pre-eruptive magma chamber conditions and eruption triggers like mafic melt influxes. He analyzes zonation profiles and diffusion interfaces for crystallization temperatures and magma residence times. Additionally, he studies polyvalent trace elements to evaluate redox states across geological time, from modern volcanics to Hadean zircons of the Jack Hills, Western Australia, and Bishop Tuff, California, while developing redox sensors in apatite. Tailby has co-authored influential publications such as 'The oxidation state of Hadean magmas and implications for early Earth’s atmosphere' (Nature, 2011), 'Ce and Eu anomalies in zircon as proxies for the oxidation state of magmas' (Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 2012), 'Low-temperature crystallization of granites and the implications for crustal magmatism' (Nature, 2018), 'Al diffusion in quartz' (American Mineralogist, 2018), and 'Eu speciation in apatite at 1 bar' (American Mineralogist, 2023). With over 2,294 citations on Google Scholar, his contributions have shaped understandings of magmatic processes, redox proxies, and early Earth geochemistry. He coordinates units including Ore Deposit Geology, Environmental Geology, Resource Geology and Environmental Issues, and Earth Materials.