M. Encarnación Roda Robles

M. Encarnación Roda Robles

Lanpostua
Puesto de trabajo

Profesora Titular Universidad (Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, UPV/EHU)

Formakuntza eta ibilbidea
Formación y trayectoria

I obtained the Bachelor´s degree in Geology in 1988 and the Ph D degree in 1993, at the University of the Basque Country (Spain). For 32 years I have done research on pegmatitic rocks, mainly those enriched in lithium and other scarce elements from the Central Iberian Zone (Spain and Portugal), New England (USA), the Pampean Ranges (Argentina) and the Southern Tin Belt (Namibia). I have also studied REE-rich hiperalkaline rocks from Greenland. This research is not only focused on the mineralogy of these rocks, but also on their petrogenesis and implications for the regional geology. Since the end of my Ph D, I have cooperated with many researchers from other countries, with numerous stays abroad: the first one in Toulouse (France) with a postdoctoral fellowship for a course (1994/95), and one of the last ones in New Orleans (USA), for 5 months in 2012, as Invited Research Scholar. Since 2009 I belong to the MP2 research group (Mineralogy, Petrology & Pegmatites), belonging to the University of New Orleans. Since January 2020 I am the leader of the Spanish team of the European projectGREENPEG, focussed on the development of mineral exploration toolboxes to identify buried pegmatitic rocks.

I have taught (mainly on the geology of ore deposits)at the University of the Basque Country since 1996, mainly at the Department of Mineralogy & Petrology of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology, but also at the University School of Mine Engineering. Nowadays I am a teacher in the master GEOREC (Geological Resources) at the University of Granada; and from 2009 I am a faculty member of the yearly “Maine Pegmatite Workshop” (USA), organized by the Research Department of the Maine Mineral & Gem Museum. I have also discovered and described a new mineral (zavaliaite).

Bokazioa / motibazioa
Vocación / motivación

I felt attracted by minerals and rocks since I was a child, and was very curious to know how they were formed. I am also aware of the dependence that our society has on raw materials, including minerals. These are finite commodities and their deeper knowledge may contribute to a better and more rational and sustainable use, as well as to a lower environmental impact in the mining activities.

Ikerketa-taldea eta ikerketa-lerroak
Grupo de investigación y líneas de investigación

Since 2013 I lead the Consolidated Research Group VARISBLIP (Group for the research of the behaviour of boron, lithium, phosphorous and other scarce elements in crustal materials during the Variscan Orogeny), belonging to the UPV/EHU.The other members of this group are the doctors Alfonso Pesquera Pérez, Pedro Pablo Gil Crespo, Idoia Garate Olave, Jon Errandonea Martin and José Miguel Herrero Rubio. Our research is mainly focused on the study of the mineralogy, origin and regional distribution of pegmatitic rocks enriched in lithium, tin, phosphorous, boron, niobium and tantalum, of Variscan age, in the Central Iberian Zone (Spain and Portugal) and New England (USA).

Alderdi aipagarriak
Aspectos destacables

In my opinion, the best part of the research in geology is the need of doing field-work on the terrain to develop any study. This has allowed me to know many different places, including Spain, Portugal, Argentina, USA, India, Morocco, Norwayor Greenland. Of course, this has been joined to meeting scientists from all those places. This has enriched me greatly, not only professionally, but also personally.

Europako proiektuak
Proyectos europeos

The GREENPEG (New Exploration Tools for European Pegmatite Green-Tech Resources)(www.greenpeg.eu)European project is framed in the “Horizon 2020 Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials” EU program (Program type: Innovation Action; Contract number: 869274). The duration of the project is 56 months and the total costs are 9,248,355€, distributed among 13 partners. This project´sgoal is the development of an innovative and competitive toolset for the exploration of buried pegmatitic rocks mainly enriched in lithium, caesium, tantalum, niobium and ultrapure quartz. This will help to equip the European mineral industry with an easy to use tool to explore for these materials, which are needed for the “Green Technology”, contributing to secure raw materials supply within Europe.

Etorkizunari begira…
Mirando al futuro…

I would like to follow doing research, contributing to the understanding of the geology of pegmatites and their usefulness for the industry. Hopefully, the younger scientists belonging to our research group will be able to follow doing research on this and other related topics.