Updates from Popocatepetl and 100 years of the De La Beche Society: a memorable January in ESE

Contents

Publications
Conferences, Lectures and Seminars
Awards
Research Grants
Research Activity
Workshops and Courses
Impact and Media
Fieldwork
New Staff
Other Announcements

Publications

Alqahtani, F., Johnson, H.D., Jackson, C.A-L. and Som, R.B. (2015) Nature, origin and evolution of a Late Pleistocene incised valley-fill, Sunda Shelf, Southeast Asia. Sedimentology. DOI: 10.1111/sed.12185. 

Dodd, S.C., Mac Niocaill, C., and Muxworthy, A.R. (2015). Long duration (> 4 Ma) and steady-state volcanic activity in the early Cretaceous Paraná–Etendeka Large Igneous Province: New palaeomagnetic data from Namibia. Earth Planet. Sci Lett. 414, 16-29. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2015.01.009.

Geske, A., Goldstein, R.H., Mavromatis, V., Richter, D.K., Buhl, D., Kluge, T., John, C.M., Immenhauser, A., 2015. The magnesium isotope (δ²⁶Mg) signature of dolomites, Geochmimica et Cosmochimica Acta 149, pp 131-151 doi:10.1016/j.gca.2014.11.003

Reusser, L., Bierman, P.R. and Rood, D.H. (2015). Quantifying human impacts on rates of erosion and sediment transport at a landscape scale. Geology. DOI: 10.1130/G36272.1.

Jacobs, C.T., Goldin, T.J., Collins, G.S., Piggott, M.D., Kramer, S.C., Melosh, H.J., Wilson, C.R.G., Allison, P.A. (2015). An improved quantitative measure of the tendency for volcanic ash plumes to form in water: implications for the deposition of marine ash beds. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 290, pp. 114-124. DOI:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2014.10.015

Jackson, C.A-L. and Lewis, M.M. (2015) Structural style and evolution of a salt-influenced rift basin margin: the impact of variations in salt composition and the role of polyphase extension. Basin Research. DOI: 10.1111/bre.12099.

Jacquemyn, C., Huysmans, H., Hunt, D., Casini, G. and Swennen, R. (2015) Multi-scale 3D distribution of fracture- and igneous intrusion- controlled hydrothermal dolomite from digital outcrop model, Latemar platform, Dolomites, northern Italy. AAPG Bulletin. DOI:10.1306/10231414089

Lewis, M.M., Jackson, C.A-L. and Gawthorpe, R.L. (2015) Early synrift reservoir development on the flanks of extensional forced folds: a seismic-scale outcrop analog from the Hadahid Fault System, Suez Rift, Egypt. AAPG Bulletin. DOI:10.1306/12011414036 

Magee, C., Duffy, O.B., Purnell, K., Bell, R.E., Jackson, C.A-L. and Reeve, M.T. (2014). Fault-controlled fluid flow inferred from hydrothermal vents imaged in 3D seismic reflection data, offshore NW Australia. Basin Research. DOI: 10.1111/bre.12111.

Murray, T., Scharrer, K., Selmes, N., Booth, A.D., James, T.D., Bevan, S.L., Bradley, J., Cook, S., Cordero Llana, L., Drocourt, Y., Dyke, A., Goldsack, A., Hughes, A.L., Luckman, A.J., McGovern, J. (in press). Extensive retreat of Greenland tidewater glaciers 2000-2010, Arctic Antarctic and Alpine Research.

Muxworthy, A.R., Williams, J., and Heslop, D. (2015). Testing the use of viscous remanent magnetisation to date flood events. Frontiers in Earth Science 3. doi: 10.3389/feart.2015.00001.

Patruno, S., Hampson, G.J. and Jackson, C.A-L. (2015) Quantitative characterisation of deltaic and subaqueous clinoforms. Earth-Science Reviews. DOI:10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.01.004.

Conferences, Lectures and Seminars

Adam Booth gave the T. Mylan Stout lecture in the School of Earth & Atmosphere at the University of Nebraska Lincoln.  The talk, given on 28 January, was entitled "Geophysics in the Icebox: Seismic Studies of Polar Glaciers".

On 9 January Rebecca Bell gave an invited talk in the Geologists Association London lecture series entitled “Did the earth move for you?  From great earthquakes to silent slip”.  She was also invited to give a geophysics seminar at UCL on “Next-generation seismic experiments” on 29 January.

James Hammond gave a public lecture to the Western England Geology Association at Bristol University.  The talk was titled “Science without Borders: Unravelling the mysteries of Mt. Paektu Volcano, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea)”

Oliver Duffy presented a talk entitled “Dynamic Topology: A New Approach to Understanding the Evolution of Rift Fault Networks” in the ‘Tectonics and Sedimentation’ session at the Norwegian Geological Society Winterconference meeting in Stavanger.

David Wilson gave a seminar at the National Oceanography Centre Southampton with the title "The role of ocean circulation in glacial cycles and the response of continental weathering: evidence from Nd and Pb isotopes in the Indian Ocean" 

Robert Zimmerman gave two presentations at the AGU annual meeting in San Francisco: “Deterioration of surface roughness and hydraulic transmissivity of a rock fracture due to pressure solution compaction”, by P. Lang. A. Paluszny and R. Zimmerman, and “Small-scale mechanical behavior of evaporite caprocks and implications for CO2 sealing capacity”, by A. Paluszny, P. Lang, S. Abbott, C. John, A. Fraser, and R. Zimmerman.

A strong contingent from the department, including Julie Prytulak, Craig Magee, James Hammond, Martin Mangler and Rob Sievwright, attended the Volcanic and Magmatic Studies Group (VMSG) conference in Norwich on the 5 – 7 January. Craig and Rob both presented posters on “Lithological controls on intrusion-induced ground deformation” and “Magnetite crystallisation as a control of mineral-melt partitioning of divalent cations”, respectively.

The Palaeomagnetism Group went to the Magnetic Interactions 2015 meeting in Leeds. There were talks by Adrian Muxworthy, Jay Shah, Miguel Valdez Grijalva and ESE visitor Anita Di Chiara, plus posters by Thomas Berndt, AikeSupakulopas and MSci student Dominika Balikova.

Awards

Trevor Almeida has was awarded £935 from the Arthur Holmes Centenary Research Grant to attend PICO 2015, the Third Conference on Frontiers of Aberration Corrected Electron Microscopy, held at Kasteel Vaalsbroek in the Netherlands. This world-renowned meeting will address the latest advances in methods and applications for the study of chemical, structural, electronic and magnetic properties of solids by electron microscopy techniques.

Research Grants

Julie Prytulak has been awarded ~25k as principle investigator on a NERC UK Integrated Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) moratorium grant titled “ Investigating conditions of subduction initiation with stable isotopes”.  This work will use samples obtained from her participation in IODP Expedition 352 which drilled and recovered some fantastic rocks from the Bonin Forearc in August-September 2014.

Julie Prytulak is co-investigator on a ~180k NERC standard grant awarded to Chiara Petrone (NHM) titled: “Cataclysmic eruptions in densely populated areas: the ticking eruptive clock at Popocatepetl, Mexico”.  Julie, Chiara, and their PhD student, Martin are already sampling lavas and pumices for this work (see fieldwork).

Research Activity

As part of his Visiting Scientist role, Chris Jackson spent two weeks at the Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG), University of Texas at Austin, working with members of the Applied Geodynamic Laboratory (AGL). Together they completed research papers related to the 3D seismic imaging and physical modelling of salt diapir internal structure, and the regional analysis of salt-bearing passive margin kinematics. New work will focus on the salt tectonics of the Precaspian Basin, Kazakhstan, and numerical modelling of the initiation and growth of salt minibasins.

Workshops and Courses

Anozie Ebigbo, Janice Kenney, and Jason Xiang, who work on the NERC/NDA/EA-funded HydroFrame project, attended a week-long "winter school" on nuclear waste at the University of Manchester from 19-23 January.

Impact and Media

The next installment of Rebecca Bell’s regular Earth Science column in the Observer was published on 25 January, focusing on recent experiments to discover the secrets of shelf sea ecosystems. 

Mike Streule and Lorraine Craig published an article “Trippin' out” in the Geological Societies monthly magazine Geoscientist. The article discusses the importance of fieldwork in academe and industry.

Dylan Rood's 2015 research Quantifying human impacts on rates of erosion and sediment transport at a landscape scale was reported on as a feature story on Imperial's engineering news webpage in article "True impact of settlers on erosion rates in North America revealed". This research was also featured on the New York Times and Discovery News websites.

Jon Tennant  and Jay Shah and gave “Nature Live” talks in the Natural History Museum on 18 January and 20 January respectively.  Nature Live Is a daily series of 30 minute talks for the general public delivered in the style of a talk show. Jay’s talk was entitled “Meteorites: Magnetic Attraction” whilst Jon talked about “Not just dinosaurs”. 

Fieldwork

PhD student Martin Mangler is conducting his first fieldwork on Popocatepetl volcano, Mexico, along with his supervisors Chiara Petrone (NHM) and Julie Prytulak.  After completing sample collection at Popo, Martin and Chiara will travel to Colima volcano to observe the current, ongoing activity. Follow along with their exploits on Martin’s NHM blog.

New Staff

Robert Lowther joined the department on 12 Jan 2015 as the new Rock Collections Administrator. Rob joins us from the University of Leeds, where he was working on his PhD researching the evolution of giant gold placers in the Yukon, Canada. Rob will be based in the UG office (G21), and will deal with all enquiries relating to the Teaching Collections, fieldwork planning and logistics and fieldwork first aid. 

Anozie Ebigbo joined the department on 12 January as a PDRA. He will be working with Adriana Paluszny and Robert Zimmerman on fractured rock hydrology, as part of the NERC/NDA/EA-funded HydroFrame project. Anozie received his PhD from the University of Stuttgart, and most recently was a post-doctoral researcher at RWTH Aachen.

Other Announcements

On 16 January the De La Beche Club celebrated 100 years with a Centenary dinner held at the Rembrandt Hotel. The De la Beche club (DLB), named after the leading 19th Century geologist and founder of the Royal School of Mines Sir Henry De La Beche, organizes talks, informal field trips and an annual symposium.