September ESE Newsletter

A fantastic month for the department in media and outreach.

Publications

Chan, H-S., Martins, Z., Sephton, M.A. (2012) Amino acid analyses of type 3 chondrites Colony, Ornans, Chainpur, and Bishunpur. Meteoritics & Planetary Science. doi: 10.1111/j.1945-5100.2012.01413.x. Article available online.

Chang L., Roberts, A.P., Williams, W., Fitz Gerald, J.D., Larrasoana, J.C., Jovane, L., Muxworthy, A.R. (2012)  Giant magnetofossils and hyperthermal events. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2012.07.031. Article available online.

Ortega-Hernández, J., Legg, D.A. and Braddy, S.J. (2012) The phylogeny of aglspidid arthropods and the internal relationships within Artiopoda. Cladistics. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-0031.2012.00413.x. Article available online.

Briggs, D.E.G., Siveter, D.J., Siveter, D.J., Sutton, M.D., Garwood, R.J. and Legg, D.A. (2012). Silurian horseshoe crab illuminates the evolution of arthropod limbs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1205875109. Article available online.

Jackson, C.A-L. (2012) Seismic reflection imaging of submarine magmatic vents. Journal of the Geological Society of London. doi: 10.1144/0016-76492011-147. Article available online.

Jackson, C.A-L., Lewis, M.M. (2012) Characterisation and origin of an anhydrite sheath encircling a salt diapir, Egersund Basin, northern North Sea. Journal of the Geological Society of London. doi: 10.1144/0016-76492011-126. Article available online.

Dulaiova, H., Sims, K.W.W., Charette, M.A., Prytulak, J., Blusztajn, J.S.  (2012) A new method for the determination of low-level actinium-227 in geologic samples. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry. doi: 10.1007/s1097-012-2140-0. Article available online.

Court, R.W., Sephton, M.A. (2012) Extrasolar planets and false atmospheris biosignatures: the role of micrometeoroids. Planetary and Space Science. doi:10.1016/j.pss.2012.08.026. Article available online.

Duffy, O.B., Gawthorpe, R..L, Docherty, M., Brocklehurst, S.H. (2012) Mobile Evaporite Controls on the Structural Style and Evolution of Rift Basins. Basin Research. doi: 10.1111/bre.12000. Article available online.

Duller, R.A., Whittaker, A.C., Swinehart, J.B., Armitage, J.J., Sinclair, H.D,, Bair, A., Allen, P.A., (2012), Abrupt landscape change post–6 Ma on the central Great Plains, USA. Geology. doi: 10.1130/G32919.1. Article available online.

Burnham, A.D., Berry, A.J.  (2012). An experimental study of trace element partitioning between zircon and melt as a function of oxygen fugacity. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2012.07.034. Article available online.

Burnham, A.D., Berry, A.J., Wood, B.J., Cibin, G. (2012). The oxidation states of niobium and tantalum in mantle melts. Chemical Geology. doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2012.09.002. Article available online.

Awards

Zita Martins was invited to be a co-chair of the Astrobiology working group of the Marco-Polo R space mission, shortlisted to be ESA’s next M mission of its Cosmic Vision program.

Philip Allen has been appointed to the Royal Society's Newton International Fellowship (Physical Sciences) Board for three years starting in 2013. The Newton International Fellowship scheme is run jointly by The British Academy and the Royal Society and aims to attract the world's best early career postdoctoral researchers to the UK.

Research Activity

David Legg was involved in a celebration of the Palaeontology Masters at the University of Bristol Earth Sciences department which included student talks, field trips and training sessions. David was called up to teach people how to use the phylogenetics program T.N.T. (Tree Searches using New Technology).

Trevor Almeida gave a talk at the European Microscopy Congress 2012 in Manchester on ‘Dynamic exsolution of titanomagnetites and their associated magnetic response examined by complementary environmental TEM and off-axis electron holography’ and presented a poster ‘Hydrothermal growth mechanism and reduction of α-Fe2O3 nanorods examined by in situ and environmental TEM’.

Trevor Almeida is also spending the next 6 months at the Centre for Electron Nanoscopy at the Technical University of Denmark researching the effect of chemical alteration on magnetic recorders in rocks. This research involves investigating dynamic chemicals processes of nano-scale magnetic minerals and their corresponding magnetic properties using combined advanced microscopy techniques of environmental TEM and off-axis electron holography.

New Staff

Oliver Duffy has joined the Basins Research Group and will work on a 3-year PDRA project focused on the geometric and statistical evolution of normal fault populations in polyphase rifts. He will work with Rebecca Bell and Chris Jackson, and the results of his work will feed into the TIME (Tectonic Interactions During Multiphase Extension) project.

Impact, Outreach, Media

Zita Martins worked in one of the Science stations (Space Station) during the Science Uncovered 2012 (Natural History Museum, NHM) to celebrate the European Researcher's Night.

Lidia Lonergan gave an Invited Lecture to the British-Italian Society on "Geology and Scenery: 100 Million years of Italian History".

Richard Court recently gave an interview with Astrobiology Magazine about the work he's been doing with Mark Sephton (see Publications), looking at the production of methane from ablating meteorites.

Thanks to all the Earthclass volunteers!

Earthclass hosted its second outreach event in the department, to introduce school pupils to earth science and engineering research. The day was lots of fun for everyone involved, with practical activies including panning for gold, making metals float, the story in the rocks, climate change and sea levels and why volcanos go bang. Earthclass would like to warmly thank the volunteers from the department for their amazing contributions: Gareth Morris, Kathryn Hadler, Carys Cook, Katie Cole, Naomi Jordan, Mike Streule, Emma Passmore, Florence Bullough and Fanny Garel. The next event will be held in Easter 2013.