ESE August Newsletter

Sunset captured by Imperial PhD students conducting fieldwork in Ethiopia

An overview of the recent publications, events and exciting work that's been happening in the Department of Earth Science and Engineering.

Contents

Publications
Conferences, Talks, Lectures, Seminars
Research Activity
Awards
Outreach and Impact
Fieldwork
PhD Vivas

Publications

Beelen, D., Jackson, C.A-L., Patruno, S., Hodgson, D.M., & Alexandre, J.T (in press). The effects of differential compaction on clinothem geometries and shelf-edge trajectories. Geology. EarthArXiv preprint: https://doi.org/10.31223/osf.io/8a93m.

Boyce, A. Bastow, I.D., Golos, E.M., Rondenay, S., Burdick, S., van der Hilst, R.D., Variable modification of continental lithosphere during the Proterozoic Grenville orogeny: Evidence from teleseismic P-wave tomography, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 525, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2019.115763.

Coleman, A.J., Duffy, O.B., & Jackson, C.A-L. (2019) Growth folds above propagating normal faults. Earth-Science Reviews, 196, 102885.

Duffy, O.B., Fernandez, N., Peel, F.J., Hudec, M.R., Dooley, T.P., & Jackson, C.A-L. (in press) Obstructed Minibasins on a Salt?Detached Slope: an example from above the Sigsbee Canopy, Northern Gulf of Mexico. Basin Research. EarthArXiv preprint: https://eartharxiv.org/mhb5e/.

Evans, S.L, & Jackson, C.A-L. (in press) Base-Salt Relief Controls Salt-Related Deformation in the Outer Kwanza Basin, offshore Angola. Basin Research. EarthArXiv preprint: https://eartharxiv.org/vzfwa/.

Jackson, C.A-L., Duffy, O.B., Fernandez, N., Dooley, T.D., Hudec, M.R., Jackson, M.P.A., Burg, G. (in press). The Stratigraphic Record of Minibasin Subsidence, Precaspian Basin, Kazakhstan. Basin Research. EarthArXiv preprint: https://eartharxiv.org/b4vhp/

Moore, R. E. T., Rehkämper, M., Maret, W., Larner, F. (2019). Assessment of coupled Zn concentration and natural stable isotope analysis of urine as a novel probe of Zn status, Metallomics, DOI: 10.1039/C9MT00160C

Ogden, C.S., Bastow, I.D., Gilligan, A. & Rondenay, S., A Reappraisal of the H-κ Stacking Technique: Implications for Global Crustal Structure, Geophysical Journal International, ggz364, https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggz364.

Sitorus, F., Cilliers, J. J., & Brito-Parada, P. R. (2019). An integrated constrained fuzzy stochastic analytic hierarchy process method with application to the choice problem. Expert Systems with Applications, 138, 112822.DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2019.112822

Sun, Q., Jackson, C.A-L., Magee, C., & Mitchell, S.J. (2019) Extrusion dynamics of deep-water volcanoes revealed by 3D seismic data. Solid Earth, 10, 1269–1282.

Conferences, Talks, Lectures, Seminars

On 12^th June John-Paul Latham, Ado Farsi and Bin Chen attended the European Geothermal Congress in Den Haag, where three posters by Jiansheng Xiang, Bin Chen and J-P Latham were presented together with one talk by J-P Latham pitched to an industry audience entitled “Virtual Radial Jet Drilling – VRJD”. These contributions were discussed at a side event featuring the EU H2020 project ‘SURE’, on radial jet drilling for productivity enhancement in geothermal energy exploitation.

John-Paul Latham, and Bin Chen also gave a talk and two poster presentations between 24^th and  26^th June at the 2019 Symposium of the American Rock Mechanics Association in New York City – a notable annual rock mechanics conference. JP’s talk was entitled "Numerical modelling of the influence of in-situ stress, rock strength and hole-profile geometry on the stability of Radial Water Jet Drill (RJD) boreholes", with co-authors Ado Farsi, Jiansheng Xiang, Edward Clark (MSci student) and Richard Bakker from Delft Technical University. Bin Chen’s poster was entitled "Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Microscale Failure Mechanism of a Porous Sandstone during Brazilian Tensile Test Conditions", with co-authors J-P Latham and Jiansheng Xiang. The second poster presentation was Jiansheng Xiang’s work entitled “Numerical simulation of rock erosion performance of a high-speed water jet using an immersed body method” co-authored by Chris Pain and J-P Latham.

The Eighth International Conference on Discrete Element Methods, DEM8, in Twente, Holland, was attended on 22-26^th July by  J-P Latham, Jiansheng Xiang and Ado Farsi. J-P Latham presented a Keynote talk on “Particulate System Simulation using DEM” with co-authors Jiansheng Xiang and Ado Farsi. Jiansheng Xiang presented his paper entitled “Simulation of high resolution turbulent flow through accurate packed bed topology using an immersed body FEMDEM/CFD coupled method”, with co-authors Ado Farsi, Pan Yang and J-P Latham. Ado Farsi presented his paper entitled “The Solidity finite-discrete element code for simulating complex-shaped rigid and deformable bodies: methodology for a validation study of multi-body systems” with co-authors Tan Yun Zhou (MSci student) Jiansheng Xiang and J-P Latham.

Robert Zimmerman gave a talk entitled "Recent Developments in the Hydro-Mechanics of Anisotropic and Fractured Rocks" at the 2019 International Postgraduate Summer School in Northeastern University, Shenyang, China, on 8^th July 2019.

Chris Jackson attended the Science Foo Camp (also known as ‘SciFoo’) in Palo Alto, California (19^th – 21^st July). The event is an unconference (i.e. there is no fixed agenda) focused on emerging technology, and is designed to encourage collaboration between scientists who would not typically work together. Invitees come from many different areas of science rather than one subject, with the conference program organized ‘organically’ during the conference itself, based on shared professional interests and enthusiasms.

Fernando Sitorus presented the talk "An integrated constrained fuzzy stochastic AHP method for overcoming the choice problem in group decision making under uncertainty" at the 30^th European Conference on Operational Research in Dublin, Ireland on 25^th June.

Diego Mesa represented Imperial at the 9^th LERU Doctoral Summer School, hosted by the University of Edinburgh. The summer school, organised every year by the League of European Research Universities (LERU), took place in July and the focus was on “Collaboration in Research”. Participants developed a guidebook for early career researchers on effective collaboration. You can read Diego’s blog on the event here and also download the Research Collaborations Guide if interested!

Pablo Brito-Parada gave the keynote lecture: “Understanding froth flotation across scales”, at the Foundations of Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy (FOMPEM) conference in Antogafasta, Chile, on 4^th July.

More work from the Advanced Mineral Processing Research Group also featured at the FOMPEM conference: Dennis Vega, a former ESE PhD student, presented the talk “Optimisation of parabolic walled mini-hydrocyclones using CFD simulations and 3D printing technology”, with Jan Cilliers and Pablo Brito-Parada as co-authors.

While in Chile, Pablo Brito-Parada also gave invited talks at the University of Concepcion, University of Chile and Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

Research Activity

Between 29^th June - 4^th July and 8^th July - 25^th July, Juliana Segura-Salazar, Diego Mesa and Paulina Quintanilla, from the Advanced Mineral Processing Research Group, carried out hot commissioning and testwork of a mobile, modular pilot plant in Olovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. This was done in collaboration with colleagues from BRGM and MINECO/Geomet as part of the IMPaCT project. The project, led at Imperial by Pablo Brito-Parada, is funded by the European Commission to develop containerised modular plants for selective, low-impact mining of small high-grade deposits.

Awards

J-P Latham was awarded an Impact Acceleration Account EPSRC/ICL grant entitled “Robustness-Simulator: ROBUSim - A coastal engineer’s tool for simulation of armour layers and unit resilience to breakages”. Ado Farsi is the PDRA on this project which began in July 2019.

Emma Passmore and Peter Fitch have completed the MEd in University Learning and Teaching with the Education Development Unit, both achieving a distinction.

Emma’s thesis looked into the impact of fieldwork on professional identity formation amongst undergraduates, and helped to inform the departmental Fieldwork Code of Conduct. Pete’s thesis explored taught postgraduate students’ perceptions of learning and their use of digital tools, such as WhatsApp, in supporting their learning outside formal classroom hours.

Outreach and Impact

On 30^th July, Hao Wang, Diego Mesa and Pablo Brito-Parada hosted two lab visits for students attending the Sutton Trust Summer School. They introduced the students to the fundamental and applied research carried out by the Advanced Mineral Processing Research Group. 

Chris Jackson undertook filming on the volcanic island of La Palma, Canary Islands as part of a National Geographic TV show called ‘X-Ray Earth’ (20^th – 22^nd July). This segment of the show focuses on the stability of the volcano flanks, and the potential size of a tsunami that could be generated by a combined subaerial-submarine landslide. The show should be aired later this year.

Supported by a Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) grant to support his ongoing work in Ethiopia and Kenya, Ian Bastow’s seismology group recently waved farewell to three shipments of goods to Ethiopia and Kenya.These included new earthquake monitoring equipment and computers for the Universities of Nairobi (Kenya) and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). Additionally, the ESE department donated a large collection of second hand books and used petrographic microscopes for use in the University of Nairobi’s Geology Department, Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, and several high-schools in the remote Turkana region of northern Kenya. A big thanks to Rob Lowther, Chris Ogden, and Tom Merry for their hard work sorting and packaging the microscopes and books!  Anyone wanting to donate books or the likes to Ethiopian or Kenyan schools should get in touch with Ian!

Fieldwork

Imperial College PhD students Chris Ogden and Tom Merry recently conducted a 3-week field trip to Ethiopia. This involved working with two local students to service the 14 seismometers of the TRAILS network (deployed in January 2019), as well as installing 5 new instruments in the Lake Abaya region of the Ethiopian Rift Valley for hazard monitoring. The data downloaded from the TRAILS instruments is very clean and we hope to use it to identify the location and timing of local earthquakes in the near future.

PhD Vivas

Peipei Wang successfully passed her viva on 17 July. She was supervised by Pablo Brito-Parada and Jan Cilliers, and her examiners were Matt Genge and Mingming Tong (NUI Galway).