PROF. LI, WEIRAN
Assistant Professor/Museum Curator
3917 4170
JL312
Weiran (aka Alex) is a volcanologist-petrologist interested in magmatism and volatile cycles on Earth and other planets in the solar system. Weiran’s research combines in situ microanalysis, thermodynamics-kinetics-numerical modelling, and diffusion chronometry and geochronology, to investigate the triggering mechanisms and history of large-to-super eruptions, volcanic-plutonic connections, volatile cycles (C-H-N-S-F-Cl), and mantle geochemistry. Weiran has worked intensively on the chemistry of apatite – an accessory mineral commonly found in terrestrial rocks, meteorites and Moon’s returned samples, and on developing integrated diffusion chronometry-thermobarometry methods to reveal the thermal-chemical evolution of earth and planetary systems.
Weiran received degrees from Peking University in China (BS, BA, MS) and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (PhD). She worked as a postdoc research fellow at Earth Observatory of Singapore and University of Cambridge before joining HKU as a tenure-track assistant professor and chief curator of the Stephen Hui Geological Museum. Weiran collaborates broadly with international scholars in Europe, USA, UK, Australia, Japan, and Mainland China, and is always open to new collaborations.
Weiran is the founder of the VRock Laboratory at HKU. The laboratory has grown quickly (extended to six members within three years) and is recruiting new members (postgraduate students with scholarships, and postdocs) to work on multiple projects funded by RGC and NSFC. More information can be found on Weiran’s personal website.
EASC6011
The Art of Scientific Presentations
EASC2407
Geochemistry
EASC2406
Mineralogy
- Li, W.R., & Costa, F. (2025). Leveraging radioisotope geochronology and diffusion chronometry to trace the thermal evolution of magmatic systems. National Science Review, nwaf141. https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwaf141
- Li, W.R., Shorttle, O., Maclennan, J., Matthews, S., Zhang, Y., Namur, O., Soderman, C.R. & Geist, D. (2025). Taking the temperature of ocean islands: a petrological approach. Journal of Petrology, egaf033. https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egaf033
- Li, W.R., Bernard, O., Utami, S. B., & Phua, M. (2024). Volatile systematics in terrestrial igneous apatite: from microanalysis to decoding magmatic processes. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 179(7), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-024-02147-8
- Li, W., Costa, F, Oppenheimer, C. & Nagashima, K (2023). Volatile and trace element partitioning between apatite and alkaline melts. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 178 (2), 9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-022-01985-8
- Li, W., Costa, F. & Nagashima, K. (2021) Apatite crystals reveal melt volatile budgets and magma storage depths at Merapi volcano, Indonesia. Journal of Petrology egaa100. https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egaa100