Headshot of Kevin Righter.

Kevin Righter

Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Office Location
208A Hutchison Hall
Telephone
(585) 275-5345

Office Hours: By appointment

Research Overview

Dr. Righter studies the petrology and geochemistry of planetary bodies, including Earth, Moon, Mars, Mercury, and asteroids and meteorites. His expertise spans igneous petrology, geochemistry, thermodynamics, meteoritics, and planetary science. Dr. Righter has a particular focus on experimental petrology and is building a lab that will allow simulation of high pressures and temperatures relevant planetary interiors, at the University of Rochester.

His group is motivated to understand the building blocks and conditions of planet formation, and understand the role of volatiles (H2O, CO2, S2) in influencing magmatism and melting in planetary mantles, and their influence on surface and atmospheric compositions.

Dr. Righter’s research has fallen in four general areas including [1] trying to understand core formation and planetary differentiation during planet formation, [2] Origin of the Earth and Moon, [3] meteorite formation pathways, [4] the origin and evolution of asteroid Bennu via the OSIRIS-REx NASA sample return mission, and [5] the origin and evolution of basic magmas in the western Mexican volcanic belt. Some selected publications for each of these areas are presented below.

Research Areas

Planetary differentiation and core formation

Planetary differentiation and core formation.
Geochemistry of planetary differentiation at high pressure and temperature: These are schematic cross sections through a terrestrial planet undergoing accretion and differentiation, from [A] core formation, [B] magma ocean crystallization from 0 to 99% solid, [C] trapped residual liquid from the magma ocean, and [D] later melting of solid liquid mixtures that might represent isotopically enriched and depleted material.

Origin and evolution of the Moon

A view of the moon rising from space.
View of Earth from the vantage point of the Moon in this image taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) (image courtesy of NASA).

Meteorites

A chemical map of a thin section of meteorite.
Chemical map of a thin section of the Chelyabinsk LL5 chondrite impact melt breccia meteorite that fell in Russia in 2013. The left side of the images shows textures in the original LL5 chondritic lithology, while the right side shows the fine grained melted portion that is the impact melt.

Asteroid Bennu

A gif of an asteriod.
This mosaic of OSIRIS-REx images shows Bennu’s surface as the asteroid rotates. Images were collected as OSIRIS-REx approached Bennu using the spacecraft’s long-range PolyCam imager in 2018.

Magmatism and tectonism in western Mexican volcanic belt

Thin section image (crossed polars) of an olivine basal.
Thin section image (crossed polars) of an olivine basalt from the western Mexican volcanic belt. Groundmass is partially glassy and contains laths of plagioclase feldspar. Olivine phenocrysts contain tiny inclusions of chromian spinel. Field of view is ~ 2.5 mm.

Research Interests

  • Igneous petrology, mantle geochemistry, experimental petrology, origin of the Earth and Moon, and planetary melting
  • Planetary interiors, core formation, high pressure phase equilibria, combining trace element partitioning and isotopic tracers, redox state of magmas and terrestrial planets
  • Meteorites, early solar system processes, cosmochemistry

Courses Offered (subject to change)

  • EES 206/406:  Planetary Petrology
  • EES 255/455:  Planetary Science: Geologic Evolution and Planetary Habitability
  • EES 258/448:  Cosmochemistry

Selected Publications

  • Boujibar, A., Righter, K., Fountaine, E., Collinet, M., Lambart, S., Nittler, L.R., Pando, K.M. (2025) A Pyroxenite mantle on Mercury? Experimental insights from enstatite chondrite melting at pressures up to 5 GPa. Icarus, 437, 116602; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2025.116602.
  • Crossley, S.D., Setera, J.B., Anzures, B.A., Iacovino, K., Buckley, W.P., Eckley, S.A., O’Neal, E.W., Maisano, J.A., Simon, J.I., Righter, K. (2025) “Percolative sulfide core formation in oxidized planetary bodies,” Nature Communications 16, 3233; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58517-8.
  • Mallick, E., Prissel, K., Righter, K. and Jackson, C. (2025) The fate of nitrogen in deep magma oceans. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 394, 298-318.
  • Bekaert, D.V., Auro, M. Righter, K., Peterson, L.D., Heard, A.W., Davis, D., Füri, E., Marrocchi, Y., Irving, A.J., Prissel, K., Burton, K., Fitoussi, C., Nielsen, S.G., (2024) Vanadium isotope fractionation during early planetary evolution: insights from achondrite analyses. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 652, 119202.
  • Righter, K., Pando, K., Humayun, M., Yang, S., Rowland, R., Boujibar, A. (2023) Activity model for 36 elements in Fe-Ni-Si-S-C liquids with application to terrestrial planet accretion and mantle geochemistry: new data for Ru, Re, Pt, Os, Ti, Nb, and Ta. Geochimica et CosmochimicaActa 354, 211-128.
  • Canup, R.M., Righter, K., Dauphas, N., Pahlevan, K., Ćuk, M., Lock, S.J., Stewart, S.T., Salmon, J., Rufu, R., Nakajima, M. and Magna, T. (2023) Origin of the Moon. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 89, pp.53-102.
  • Righter, K. (2019) Volatile element depletion of the Moon—The roles of precursors, post-impact disk dynamics, and core formation. Science advances, 5(1), eaau7658.
  • Righter, K., M. Welby, H. Bates, A. King, P. Schofield, J. Schutt, R. Harvey, J. Karner, B. Rougeux, K. Pando, C. Satterwhite (2025) Pairing and classification assessment of CM chondrites from the Meteorite Hills, Transantarctic mountains. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 60, 1249-1262; https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.14353.
  • Righter, K. (2024) The influence of ALH 84001 on our understanding of the origin and evolution of Mars. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 60, 74-102.
  • Righter, K., Alexander, C.M., Foustoukos, D.I., Eckart, L.M., Mertens, C.A.K., Busemann, H., Maden, C., Schutt, J., Satterwhite, C.E., Harvey, R.P. and Pando, K. (2024) Pairing relations within CO3 chondrites recovered at the Dominion Range and Miller Range, Transantarctic mountains: Constraints from chondrule olivines, noble gas, and H, C, N bulk and isotopic compositions. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 59, 1258-1276. https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.14146.
  • Righter, K., Jakubek, R., Fries, M., Schutt, J., Pando, K., Harrington, R. (2022) Assessment of petrologic sub-types, sub-groups, and pairing within CV chondrites in the US Antarctic meteorite collection. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 58, 25-40.
  • Righter, K. and 24 other authors (2015) Mineralogy, petrology, chronology and exposure history of the Chelyabinsk meteorite and parent body. Met Planet. Sci. 50, 1790-1819.
  • Zega, T. J., T. J. McCoy, S. S. Russell, L. P. Keller, Z. Gainsforth, S. A. Singerling, V. R. Manga et al. (2025) Mineralogical evidence for hydrothermal alteration of Bennu samples. Nature Geoscience 18, no. 9, 832-837.
  • McCoy, T.J., Russell, S.S., …..Righter, K. et al. (2025) An ancient evaporite sequence in Bennu samples related to modern brines on Ceres, Europa, and Enceladus. Nature 637, 1072–1077; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08495-6.
  • Connolly, H.C.C., Jr., Lauretta, D.S.,….Righter, K., et al. (2025) An Overview of the Petrography and Petrology of the OSIRIS-REx Sample from Asteroid Bennu. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 60, 979-996; https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.14335.
  • Righter, K., Lunning, N.G., Nakamura-Messenger, K., Snead, C.J., McQuillan, J., Calaway, M., Allums, K., Rodriguez, M., Funk, R.C., Connelly, W., Cowden, T., Dworkin, J.P., Lorentson, C.C., Sandford, S.A., Bierhaus, E.B., Freund, S., Connolly, H.C., Jr., Lauretta, D.S. (2023) Curation planning and facilities for asteroid Bennu samples returned by the OSIRIS-REx mission. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 58, 572-590.
  • Valencia, V., Righter, K., Rosas-Elguera, J., Lopez-Martinez, M., and Grove, M. (2013) The age and composition of the pre-Cenozoic basement of the Jalisco Block: implications for and relation to the Guerrero composite terrane. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 166, 801–824.
  • Righter, K., Valencia, V., Rosas-Elguera, J., and Caffee, M. (2010) Channel incision in the Rio Atenguillo, Jalisco, Mexico: 36Cl constraints on rates and cause, Geomorphology 120, 279–292.
  • Righter, K., Chesley, J.T. and Ruiz, J. (2002) Genesis of primitive arc-type basalt: constraints from Re, Os and Cl on the depth of melting and role of fluids, Geology 30, 619-622.
  • Righter, K. and Carmichael, I.S.E. (1996) Phase equilibria of phlogopite lamprophyres from western Mexico: biotite-liquid equilibria and P-T estimates for biotite-bearing igneous rocks. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 123, 1-21.