March 2017 ESE Newsletter

March in ESE: Geoscientists in the field, fossil finds from Hertfordshire and a NERC Highlight Topic grant secured by LODE group researches

Contents

Publications
Conferences, Lectures and Seminars
Workshops and Courses
Departmental Activities
Research Grants
Impact and Media
Fieldwork
PhD Vivas
New Staff

Publications

Berndt, T., Ramalho, R. S., Valdez-Grijalva, M. A., and Muxworthy, A. R. (2017). Paleomagnetic field reconstruction from mixtures of titanomagnetites. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 465, 70–81.

Duffy, O. B., Fernandez, N., Hudec, M. R., Jackson, C. A-L., Burg, G., Dooley, T. P., Jackson, M. P. A. (2017). Lateral mobility of minibasins during shortening: Insights from the SE Precaspian Basin, Kazakhstan. Journal of Structural Geology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2017.02.002.

Fernandez, N., Duffy, O. B., Hudec, M. R., Jackson, M. P. A., Burg, G., Jackson, C. A-L., Dooley, T. P. (2017). Review of The Origin of Salt-Encased Sediment Packages: Observations from the SE Precaspian Basin (Kazakhstan). Journal of Structural Geology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2017.01.008.

Jackson, C. A-L., Bell, R. E., Rotevatn, A., Tvedt, A. B. M. (2017). Techniques to determine the kinematics of synsedimentary normal faults and implications for fault growth models. Geometry and Growth of Normal Faults (Eds. C. C. Childs, R. E. Holdsworth, C. A.-L. Jackson, T. Manzocchi, J. J. Walsh and G. Yielding). Geological Society of London Special Publications, 439. doi:10.1144/SP439.22.

Magee, C., Bastow, I. D., Hetherington, R., Jackson, C. A-L., van Wyk de Vries, B., Hagos, M., Hoggett, M. (2017). Dynamic evolution of surface uplift induced by incremental sill emplacement. Geology (Open Access, available online doi: 10.1130/G38839.1)

Magee, C., Jackson, C. A-L., Hardman, J. P., Reeve, M. (2017). Decoding sill emplacement and forced fold growth in the Exmouth Sub-basin, offshore NW Australia: implications for hydrocarbon exploration. Interpretation (available online doi: 10.1190/INT-2016-0133.1)

Ryan, L., Magee, C., Jackson, C. A-L. (2017). The kinematics of normal faults in the Ceduna Sub-Basin, offshore Southern Australia; implications for hydrocarbon trapping in a frontier basin. AAPG Bulletin, 101, 321–341.

Siveter, D. J., Briggs, D. E., Siveter, D. J., Sutton, M. D. and Legg, D. (2017). A new crustacean from the Herefordshire (Silurian) Lagerstätte, UK, and its significance in malacostracan evolution. In Proc. R. Soc. B, 284, 1851, p.20170279.

Suleiman, A. A., Magee, C., Jackson, C. A-L., Fraser, A. J. (2017). Sill Emplacement in the Bornu Basin, Onshore NE Nigeria. Journal of the Geological Society of London (available online doi: 10.1144/jgs2016-107).

Suttle, M. D., Genge, M. J., Folco, L. and Russell, S. S. (2017). The Thermal Decomposition of Fine-grained Micrometeorites, Observations from Mid-IR Spectroscopy. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, DOI:10.1016/j.gca.2017.03.002

Whipp, P. S., Jackson, C. A-L., Schlische, R. W., Withjack, M. O., Gawthorpe, R. L. (2017). Spatial distribution and evolution of fault-segment boundary types in rift systems; observations from experimental clay models. Geometry and Growth of Normal Faults (Eds. C. C. Childs, R. E. Holdsworth, C. A.-L. Jackson, T. Manzocchi, J. J. Walsh and G. Yielding). Geological Society of London Special Publications, 439. doi:10.1144/SP439.7.

Conferences, Lectures and Seminars

Antonio Bertei and Samuel Cooper attended the 14th Symposium on Fuel Cell and Battery Modelling and Experimental Validation (ModVal 14) in Karlsruhe, Germany (March 3–4). Antonio gave a talk entitled ‘Quantification of Ni coarsening in infiltrated SOFC anodes by combining 3D tomography, impedance spectroscopy and mechanistic modelling’ and Samuel Cooper presented ‘Simulated impedance of diffusive processes in tomographically derived microstructures’.

Later, on March 9, Chris Jackson gave a talk to the Oxford Geology Group. His talk was entitled ‘Hot Rocks Under Our Feet; Imaging Igneous Geology with Seismic Reflection Data’.

Craig Magee attended an AAPG Geosciences Technology Workshop on the ‘Influence of volcanism and associated magmatic processes on petroleum systems’ in Oamaru, New Zealand between 14–16 March. Craig presented research primarily completed by MSci student Jenny Reeves on ‘Sill emplacement and forced fold growth in sedimentary basins’. Aside from being a great excuse to visit New Zealand, a beautiful and inspiring country, the conference was a huge success and brought together academic and industry geoscientists from around the world to positively discuss hydrocarbon exploration potential in volcanic sedimentary basins.

Julie Prytulak gave a St. Patrick's Day invited departmental seminar at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, titled ‘Stable thallium isotope variations in magmatic rocks’.

Workshops and Courses

PhD students Lewis Jones and Alessandro Chiarenza from the Palaeobiology Research Group attended a Transmitting Science workshop on ‘Ecological Niche Modelling’ (ENM) in Barcelona, Spain from 27–31 March. Lewis and Alessandro presented their PhD projects and discussed the application of ENM in deep time.

Departmental Activities

On March 6, undergraduates in the Field Geomorphology module run by Dylan Rood, presented their final project work in a poster session. The topic was ‘Postglacial landscape response: From ice sheets to modern hazards' and focussed on the hands-on data collection carried out by students during a field trip to South Wales. The event was success, showcasing the high calibre of science conducted by ESE undergraduates. See drone footage of the students at work here.

The department joined in the celebrations for International Women’s Day with fruit and free pens for staff and PhD students on March 8. Some staff and students joined Gary and Ben from the Imperial Ethos centre for a short 'deskercise' session and nutritional talk on how to keep moving and stay healthy with a busy work routine. They gave great fitness and nutritional advice, which the participants can use to improve their diets and wellbeing. There were also plenty of giggles from the back of the room with participants trying to do their desk stretches whilst standing on one leg!

If you would like to learn more about how to improve your own nutrition and fitness levels, or have a concern that you would like to discuss with a fitness expert, please contact Gary McDermont (g.mcdermont@imperial.ac.uk) at the Ethos centre on Exhibition road who will be able to offer tailored advice and guidance.

We hope that everyone that took part in International Women’s Day enjoyed themselves and we look forward to receiving suggestions for next year’s event! Please speak to Helen Stoneham for feedback and ideas.

Research Grants

PhD student Amelia Davies was awarded £990 by the Geological Society from the William George Fearnsides Fund. The award will enable field sampling of coralline algae in an upper Messinian Reef for clumped isotope analysis.

Jamie Wilkinson (PI), Matt Jackson (co-I) and an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Natural History Museum, Bristol, Leicester, the Open University, Cardiff, Oxford, Exeter and the British Geological Survey, secured a NERC, Highlight Topic grant worth £3.75M. The grant was awarded to the project ‘From Arc Magmas to Ores (FAMOS): A Mineral Systems Approach. Ultimately, the aim of the project is to improve predictive capapbilities in ore exploration, specifically porphyry mineralisation. The research will involve analysis of minerals from a wide variety of mineralised and barren settings, using a wealth of modern analytical tools that enable determination of an extensive suite of trace elements and isotope tracers. A key outcome will be a range of trace element proxies that will enable the mining industry to establish the potential fertility of a magmatic arc on local to regional scales.

Impact and Media

Mark Sutton co-authored a paper published in the Proceeding of the Royal Society B, describing a 430-million-year-old lobster like fossil from the Hertfordshire Lagerstätte. The new species is called Cascolus ravitis, named in honour of Sir David Attenborough, Cascolus being the Old English source of the name Attenborough. The discovery was featured on the BBC website and Imperial College website.

Fieldwork

Ian Bastow and PhD student Chris Ogden travelled to Cyprus to install five broadband seismometers with the aim of better understanding the formation and evolution of the Troodos Ophiolite.

With help from Alistair Boyce, Victoria Lane and Deborah Day of SEIS-UK, and the Cyprus Geological Survey, the instruments were successfully deployed across the island. After the second year undergraduate geophysics fieldtrip, Chris, Alistair, and undergraduate Rita Kounoudis re-visited the stations to check data quality. Analysis of seismograms for a Mw4.5 earthquake near Paphos, SW Cyprus indicates that the instruments are functioning well.

The second-year geophysics undergraduates went on a successful fieldtrip to the Troodos mountains in Cyprus, where they trained in the use of near-surface geophysics field techniques by Adrian Muxworthy, Ian Bastow, Lizzie Day and PhD students Sope Badejo, Alistair Boyce, Chris Ogden, Isobel Mackay and Hayley Meek.

MSc petroleum geoscience students carried out fieldwork in the southern Pyrenees with Lidia Lonergan, Gary Hampson, Carl Jacquemyn, Sian Evans, Ernesto Miranda and Bhavik Lodhia. They focussed on the evolution of foreland basin systems, their structure, depositional fill and implications for exploration and production.

2nd year Geology and Earth Science students spent 10 days exploring the spectacular structural and sedimentary geology of the Spanish Pyrenees with Alex Whittaker, Dylan Rood, Becky Bell, Philippa Mason and a great team of GTAs.  The students examined large scale thrusts and syn-tectonic basin sediments for a week in the vicinity of Tremp, and then looked at the world-famous deep-water deposits of the Ainsa Basin.

The first year geology and geophysics students travelled to Dorset between 21–23 March to study the geology of the Jurassic coast. The course was led by Mark Sutton, assisted by Matt Genge, Janice Kenney, Susan Little, Rob Lowther, Philip Mannion, Julie Prytulak and PhD students Alessandro Chiarenza, Christopher Dean, Lewis Jones and Jonathan Rio. The students developed a range of geological skills and had their first experience of geological mapping.

PhD Vivas

Chandra Taposeea successfully defended her PhD on March 7, with only minor revisions required. Chandra is supervised by Jenny Collier and John Armitage and here examiners were Rebecca Bell and Tim Minshull from the University of Southampton.

New Staff

The Department welcomes Dr Enass Abo Hamed as a Royal Academy Enterprise Fellow, working with Professor Nigel Brandon.