Francesco G M Stoppa
Francesco G. M. Stoppa | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Residence | Pescara, Italy |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Alma mater | University of Perugia |
| Known for | Italian carbonatites, Expanding Earth |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Volcanology, Petrology, Geology |
| Institutions | University of Chieti–Pescara (G. d'Annunzio) |
Francesco G. M. Stoppa is an Italian volcanologist and petrologist who is a full professor of petrography and petrology at the University of Chieti–Pescara "G. d'Annunzio". He is internationally recognized for his studies of carbonatites and alkaline magmatism, and is credited with identifying the first occurrences of carbonatites in Italy.
Biography
Stoppa graduated from the University of Perugia in 1975 and obtained a Ph.D. in geology in 1988. He became a full professor of petrography and petrology in the Department of Psychological, Health and Territory Sciences at the Gabriele d'Annunzio University of Chieti–Pescara, where he has headed research in the earth sciences.
Work
Stoppa's research focuses on the volcanology, mineralogy, and petrology of alkaline and carbonatite rocks, on late-stage carbonatites and related ore deposits, and on the relationships between volcanism and tectonics. He is credited with identifying the first occurrences of carbonatites in Italy and has published extensively on Italian sites including Polino, Cupaello, San Venanzo, Oricola, Grotta del Cervo, and Vulture, presenting them as evidence of mantle-derived magmatic processes. He has also been involved in the conservation and promotion of volcanoes as educational parks.
In addition to his petrological work, Stoppa has questioned the application of subduction-related plate-tectonic models to the geology of Italy and the Mediterranean. He has proposed a geodynamic model in which mantle expansion grows eastward above a cold chemical plume trapped in the mantle transition zone (410–670 km), a line of argument connected to the Expanding Earth hypothesis.