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Specialty

Marine Geology, Argon Geochronology, Noble Gas Geochemistry, Hotspot Volcanism and Large Igneous Provinces, Seafloor Mineral Resources

Research Interests

• Mantle Plume Dynamics: Investigating the origin, longevity, and relative motion of long-lived Pacific hotspots using age progressions and geochemical fingerprinting of seamount and island chains. Using the data to develop improved models of plate motion, large igneous province construction and deep Earth to surface chemical exchange. 
• Noble Gas Geochronology and Geochemistry: Development and application of high-precision ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and He-Ne-Ar isotope methods to determine the ages of submarine volcanic rocks and trace mantle source components.
• Improving Marine Sampling Infrastructure: Developing novel drilling, dredging and coring technologies to extract samples of the submarine lithosphere. 
• Seafloor Mineral Resources: Investigating the factors that control the abundance, thickness, composition and distribution of ferromanganese crust and nodules, phosphorite deposits, and rare earth element rich muds. 

Current Research

• Deconvolving the timing and origin of Hess Rise, Mid-Pacific Mountains and the Line Islands, Pacific.
• Tracing Samoan and Rarotongan plume-plateau interaction recorded in the Western Pacific.
• Constraining the timing, dynamics and environmental impacts of the formation of the Ontong Java Nui Large Igneous Province
• Producing Geologic Maps of U.S. Pacific Island Seafloor (Wake, Howland and Baker, Jarvis, Kingman and Palmyra, and Johnston Atoll economic exclusive zones). 

Education

• Ph.D., Geology, Oregon State University, 2017 
• M.S., Geology, Oregon State University, 2012 
• B.S., Geology, City University of New York — Queens College, 2010

Recent Publications (2024 - 2026)

• Jackson, M.G., Harðardóttir, S., Konrad, K., Beethe, S., Du, Y., Pasqualon, N.G., Finlayson, V.A., Byerly, B.L., Martinez, C., Halldórsson, S.A. and Bizimis, M., 2026. Subduction of the Early Cretaceous portions of the Samoan and Cook-Austral "hotspot highway" into the Mariana Trench. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 692, p.120204.
• Balbas, A., Paradis, H., Konrad, K., Finlayson, V.A., Bizimis, M., Anderson, S., Kelley, C., Raineault, N.A. and Orcutt, B.N., 2026. The age and composition of the Voyager Seamounts: Evidence for a long-lived Marquesas mantle source. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 27(1).
• Du, Y., Jackson, M., Jicha, B., Kylander-Clark, A., Byerly, B.L., Bizimis, M., Halldórsson, S.A., Seward, G., Anderson, O.E., Rioux, M., Konrad, K., Harðardóttir, S., Bai, R., Giuliani, A., Wiens, D.A., Wei, S., McCormack, G., and Parianos, J.M., 2025. Discovery of young submarine volcanism in the Cook Islands: New constraints on the location of the Rarotonga hotspot. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.
• Konter, J.G., Finlayson, V.A., Konrad, K., Jackson, M.G., Koppers, A.A.P., Wessel, P., Beethe, S., Bizimis, M., Alverson, A. and Kelley, C., 2025. Pacific hotspots reveal a Louisville–Ontong Java Nui tectonic link. Nature, 641(8062), pp.388-394.
• Torró, L., Ramirez-Briones, J., Sanandres-Flores, M.K., Monnier, L., Villanova-de-Benavent, C., Zanetti, K.A., Konrad, K., Vallance, J., Laurent, O., Salvi, S. and Baby, P., 2025. Lithium mica clasts document magmatic evolution prior to eruption in the Macusani volcanic field in Peru. Scientific Reports, 15(1), p.13023.
• Okwueze, O.†, Konrad, K., Capaldi, T., 2024. New developments in incremental heating detrital ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar lithic (DARL) geochronology using Icelandic river sand. Geochronology, 6(4), 683-696.
• Scott, B.*, Konrad, K., 2024. Seventeen million years of volcanism recorded within the South Hawaiian Seamount Province: Implications for tectonic drivers of intraplate volcanism. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 25(12), e2024GC011806.
• Jackson, M.G., Finlayson, V.A., Steinberger, B., Konrad, K., 2024. When a plateau suppresses a plume: Disappearance of the Samoan plume under the Ontong Java Plateau. AGU Advances, 5(4), e2023AV001079.
• Balbas, A., Konrad, K., Onderdonk, N.W., Castillo, P.R., Behl, R., 2024. Oligocene and Miocene blowtorch volcanism within the California Borderland and its influence on the plate-boundary transition. Geology, 52(8), 600-604.
• Konrad, K., Jackson, M.G., Steinberger, B., Koppers, A.A.P., Balbas, A., Finlayson, V., Konter, J., Price, A., 2024. Toroidal flow around the Tonga slab moved the Samoan plume during the Pliocene. Geology, 52(3), 176-180.
• Konrad, K., Balbas, A., Finlayson, V., Jackson, M., Konter, J., Koppers, A.P., Price, A., Steinberger, B., 2024. Four distinct pulses of volcanism built the Melanesian Border Plateau: Implications for oceanic mid-plate superstructure formation. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 626, 118549.