ccondit@mit.edu

Cailey B. Condit
  • NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow 2018-2019
  • PhD, Geological Sciences, U. Colorado Boulder, 2017
  • BA, Geology, Middlebury Col, 2011
Biographical Overview
Dr. Condit was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow in Prof. Matej Pec's lab in ERL/EAPS from 2018-2019. She is now an assistant professor in the Earth and Space Sciences Department at the University of Washington and is part of their Subduction Zone Initiative. She studies the relationships and feedbacks between mechanical and chemical processes that take place during deformation within the lithosphere, particularly when fluids are involved. She utilizes exhumed swaths of deep crust as natural laboratories, working in both continental collisional zones and subduction interfaces, examining the way fluids promote and influence strain localization, strength, deformation, and chemically transform rocks through metasomatism and metamorphism. Another key aspect of her research is reconstructing how these chemical and mechanical processes modify the physical properties of the lithosphere (e.g., density, composition, rheology, seismic anisotropy). Understanding these modifications, through detailed work on both naturally and experimentally deformed rocks, has direct implications for interpretations of both geophysical and geodynamic observations.