Bergantz's interests are in the quantitative treatment of geologic transport processes at a variety of scales and in a variety of settings. The physical petrology group has as its main emphasis the physics of magmas, hydrothermal systems, metamorphism and eruption processes. The students develop and use a diverse suite of tools to address these systems: numerical and laboratory experiments, geological and geophysical measurements, and the theoretical foundations of physical chemistry and continuum mechanics. All students are encouraged to do fieldwork and to develop transport models in a sensible geological context.