Research Interests

My research has always focused on igneous petrology, high-temperature geochemistry, and geochronology. I have pioneered the study of accessory minerals as petrogenetic markers. My articles on this matter published in Chemical Geology (Bea et al., 1994), Journal of Petrology (Bea, 1996), and Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (Bea and Montero, 1999) are widely cited.
The accessories mineralogy is directly related to the geochemistry of heat-producing elements. These studies led me to investigate the origin of the energy required to melt the continental crust and produce granites. The results highlight the fundamental role of radiogenic heat (Bea, 2012).
Studying the physical mechanisms of petrogenetic processes requires very sophisticated numerical models, for which I had to train in multiphysics model programming. Accordingly, I have developed dynamic models of crystallization of magmatic chambers (Bea, 2010) and diffusion in minerals (Bea and Montero, 2013).
Since 2007, as a consequence of the idea of ​​setting up a SHRIMP ionic microprobe laboratory in Granada, my interest has switched to geochronology and isotopic geology (oxygen, hafnium) of zircon, especially on the problem of the survival and stability of inherited zircons. I led the team that first found continental zircons in paleo-oceanic rocks (Bea et al., 2001), demonstrated the exceptional abundance of inherited zircons in the Cambro-Ordovician magmatism of Iberia, and explained their relationship with the dynamics of emplacement (Bea et al., 2007).
These findings led me to investigate some aspects of zircon inheritance mechanisms such as dissolution kinetics (Bea et al., 2007), and diffusion of radiogenic Pb and Oxygen isotopes during incorporation into magma (Bea and Montero, 2013). I investigated the reasons for the occurrence of ancient zircons, found in recent MORB rocks of the Atlantic Ocean (Bortnikov et al, 2019; Bea et al., 2020).
Regarding regional experience, I have worked in Iberia, The Urals, Kola, Transbaikalia, Egypt, and Western Sahara, where we found a previously unknown alkaline province of great economic and scientific significance (Bea et al., 2014, 2016).