Fantastic fieldwork for ESE geologists and geophysicists!

Contents

Publications
Conferences, Lectures and Seminars
Awards
Research Activity
Impact and Media
Outreach
Fieldwork
New Staff and Departures

Publications

Allen, P.A^., Eriksson, P.G., Alkmim, F.F., Betts, P.G., Catuneanu, O., Meng, Q., Mazumder, R. & Young, G.M. (2015).  Classification of basins, with special reference to Proterozoic examples. In: Precambrian Basins of India: Stratigraphic and Tectonic Context, edited by R. Mazumder and P.G. Eriksson, Memoir Geological Society London, 43, 5-28, http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/M43.2.

Armitage, J. J., Ferguson, D. J., Goes, S., Hammond, J. O. S., Calais, E., Rychert, C. A., Harmon, N. (2015). Upper mantle temperature and the onset of extension and break-up in Afar, Africa. Earth Planet Sci. Lett. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2015.02.039

Attar, A., and Muggeridge, A. (2015). Impact of Geological Heterogeneity on Performance of Secondary and Tertiary Low Salinity Water Injection. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/172775-MS

Brassey, C. B., Maidment, S. C. R., and Barrett, P. M. (2015). Body mass estimates of an exceptionally complete Stegosaurus (Ornithischia: Thyreophora): comparing volumetric and linear bivariate mass estimation methods. Biology Letters 11: 20140984 

Corti, G., Agostini, A., Keir, D., Van Wijk, J.,  Bastow, I.D,. Ebinger, C., Ranalli, G. (2015). Magma-induced axial subsidence during final-stage rifting: implications for the development of seaward dipping reflectors, Geosphere, doi:10.1130/GES01076.1.

Corti, G., Bastow, I., Keir, D., Pagli, C. and Baker, E. (2015). Rift-related morphology of the afar depression, in Landscapes and Landforms of Ethiopia, edited by P. Billi, World Geomorphological Landscapes, pp. 251–274, Springer Netherlands, doi:10.1007/978-94-017-8026-115. 

Flood, Y.S. and Hampson, G.J. (2015) Quantitative analysis of the dimensions and distribution of channelized fluvial sandbodies within a large-scale outcrop dataset: Upper Cretaceous Blackhawk Formation, Wasatch Plateau, central Utah, USA. Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 85, p. 315-336. DOI:10.2110/jsr.2015.25

Jacobs, C.T., Piggott, M.D. (2015). Firedrake-Fluids v0.1: numerical modelling of shallow water flows using an automated solution framework, Geoscientific Model Development, 8, 533-547, DOI: 10.5194/gmd-8-533-2015

Jordan, N., Allison, P.A., Hill, J., Sutton, M.D. (2015) Not all aragonitic molluscs are missing: taphonomy and significance of a unique shelly lagerstatte from the Jurassic of SW Britain. Lethaia. DOI: 10.1111/let.1212 

Kluge, T., John, C.M., Jourdan, A.-L., Davis, S., Crawshaw, J., (2015). Laboratory calibration of the calcium carbonate clumped isotope thermometer in the 25-250°C temperature range, Geochemica et Cosmochimica Acta (available online), DOI:10.1016/j.gca.2015.02.02

Lei, Q., Latham, J.-P., Xiang, J. and Tsang, C.-F. (2015). Polyaxial stress-induced variable aperture model for persistent 3D fracture networks. Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment. DOI:10.1016/j.gete.2015.03.003 

Niu, B., Al-Menhali, A., Krevor, S.C., (2015) The impact of reservoir conditions on the residual trapping of carbon dioxide in Berea sandstone. Water Resources Research. DOI: 10.1002/2014WR016441 

Wright, M. C., Court, R. W., Kafantaris, F. A., Spathopoulos, F. and Sephton, M. A. (2015). A new rapid method for shale oil and shale gas assessment. Fuel, 153, 231-239. DOI:10.1016/j.fuel.2015.02.089

Conferences, Lectures and Seminars

Jamie Wilkinson gave an invited talk at the Biennial AMIRA Exploration Managers Conference in the Barossa Valley, 17-19 March. Entitled "Europe goes critical: research funding for mineral resource geoscience hits new highs", the talk reviewed the current research funding landscape for minerals-related geoscience research in the UK and EU.

PhD student Saba Manzoor gave an invited talk entitled ‘‘Environmental and Human health risk assessment of amine emissions from post combustion power plants'' at the American Chemical Society 249^th National Meeting and Exposition from 22-26 March 2015 in Denver, US.     

MSci students Nick Farmer and Laura Miller presented their research (supervised by Mike Streule, Craig Magee and John Macdonald) on the metamorphic and geochronological evolution of the Lewisian Gneiss at the Metamorphic studies group meeting at Leeds Universit

Ahmed Attar presented “Impact of Geological Heterogeneity on Performance of Secondary and Tertiary Low Salinity Water Injection” in the SPE Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conference, 8-11 March, Manama, Bahrain

James Hammond gave a public lecture to the Norfolk branch of the Royal Geographical Society titled ’Science without borders’

Awards

Robert Zimmerman received the 2014 Editors' Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for the Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth. 

First year PhD student Martin Mangler won a Nu Instruments poster award for his presentation at the Geochemistry Group Research in Progress meeting (GGRiP). Congratulations from the proud supervisors Julie Prytulak and Chiara Petrone (NHM) the MAGIC group, and the department.

Postgraduate Adam Pacey won the MinSouth Branch heat of the young persons lecture competition. It involved students from Bristol, Oxford, Imperial, Cambourne School of Mines and recent graduates in industry. The challenge was to present a mining related topic in 15 mins with questions from each judge at the end. The winner of the competition, held at the RSM gets £200 and an opportunity to present in the regional heat.

Research Activity

15 members of the MAGIC group attended the Geochemistry Group Research in Progress meeting (GGRiP) at the NOC Southampton. This annual meeting by the Geochemistry focus group of the Geological Society is particularly organized to highlight the work of young scientists. Julie Prytulak co-organized the meeting, Tina van de Flierdt gave a keynote talk, and everybody in the MAGIC group enjoyed mingling with their UK peers.

Craig Magee attended a kick-off meeting in the University of Oslo for a new project that he and Chris Jackson are involved in, which focuses on understanding igneous emplacement mechanisms in sedimentary basins. The project draws together scientists from across Europe and Argentina whom, through integrating field analysis of intrusions the Neuquén Basin (Argentina), seismic reflection imaging and analogue and numerical modelling, are questioning the traditional concepts of fracture-driven magma emplacement.

From 24-27 March Pablo Brito-Parada visited research groups at Peruvian universities as part of the project 'UK-Peru: partners in science and innovation', sponsored by the FCO's Prosperity Fund. Invited by the UK Embassy in Lima, he met with researchers from UTEC, PUCP and UNI to discuss potential areas of collaboration, particularly in mineral processing. He also presented at a meeting with representatives of the mining industry hosted by Hochschild Mining.

Impact and Media

Dick Selley has taken HRH Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, on a geology field trip to study the Lower Greensand in Dorking’s caves. HRH is now up to speed on the geotechnical properties of ‘locked sands’, the formation of cross-bedding, and the significance of glauconite. It is believed that this is the first time that a member of the Royal Family has been on a geology field trip.

Adam Booth authored a chapter of the technical report "Assumed Missing, Reported Buried: The Search for the Lost Spitfires of Burma". The report documents results from a twenty-year campaign of excavations and archaeological and geophysical surveys, to investigate rumours of a cache of Spitfire aircraft buried in the grounds of Yangon International Airport, Myanmar. The truth really is stranger than fiction! 

Ben Niu, Ali Al-Menhali and Sam Krevor had their research on “The impact of reservoir conditions on the residual trapping of carbon dioxide in Berea sandstone” reported in Imperial News.

Outreach

Mike Streule gave a talk on the department and judged the Thames valley round of the Geological Societies’ National Schools Geology challenge at Sir William Borlase School, Marlow. The hosts won the round and progress to the national final.

Susie Maidment conducted a “Nature Live” event at the Natural History Museum titled "Why did stegosaurs have plates and spines?"

Fieldwork

The second-year geophysics undergraduates went on a successful field trip to the edge of the Sahara in Morocco, where they were trained in the use of near-surface geophysics field techniques by Adrian Muxworthy, Ian Bastow and Lizzie Day (and other demonstrators). In addition to working very hard, there was also time for some camel trekking.

MSc Petroleum Geoscience Students enjoyed their first week fieldwork studying carbonate platforms and ramps of the Permain basin and Mississippian Carbonate Mounds in West Texas and New Mexico taught by Cédric John, Peter Fitch, Carl Jacquemyn, John Cosgrove, Jon Watson (and other demonstrators). The trip was a great success and students now travel onwards to Utah to study clastic systems. 

New Staff and Departures

Philip Allen leaves us for retirement at the end of March after nearly 10 years at ESE. He thanks his wonderful colleagues who made his time at imperial highly enjoyable.