Overview of recent publications, events and exciting work that has been happening in the Department of Earth Science and Engineering.

Content

Publications
Conference Talks and Interview
Awards
Impact and Media
Fieldwork
Sinopec PhD Scholarships
New Staff

Publications

J.E. Avalos-Patiño, S. Dargaville, S.J. Neethling, M.D. Piggott. (2021). Impact of inhomogeneous unsteady participating media in a coupled convection–radiation system using finite element based methods. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 176, 121452.

Laurent, V., Scaillet, S., Jolivet, L., Augier, R., Roche, V. (2021). 40Ar behaviour and exhumation dynamics in a subduction channel from multi-scale 40Ar/39Ar systematics in phengite. Geochemica et Cosmochemica Acta.

Moore, K.R., Moradi, S., Doyle, K., Sydd, O., Amaral, V., Bodin, J., Brito-Parada, P.R., Dudley, F., Fitzpatrick, R., Foster, P., Goettmann, F., Roberts, D., Roethe, R., Sairinen, R., Sambrook, T., Segura-Salazar, J., & Thomas, G. (2021). Sustainability of switch on-switch off (SOSO) mining: Human resource development tailored to technological solutions. Resources Policy, 73, 102167.

Sullivan K. V., Moore, R.E.T., Capper, M.S., Schilling, K., Goddard, K., Ion, C., Layton-Matthews, D., Leybourne, M. I., Coles, B., Kreissig, K., Antsygina, O., Coombs, R. C., Larner, F., Rehkämper, M. (2021). Zinc stable isotope analysis reveals Zn dyshomeostasis in benign tumours, breast cancer, and adjacent histologically normal tissue. Metallomics, 13, 6.

Conference Talks and Interview

Joe Wallwork and Lucas Mackie attended the IX International Conference on Computational Methods in Marine Engineering (MARINE 2021) from 2 - 4 June. They presented recent work in the Tidal Energy Resource Assessment and Optimisation session. Joe’s talk was titled “Goal-Oriented Metric-Based Mesh Adaptive Tidal Farm Modelling”. Lucas’ talk was titled “Assessing the Hydrodynamic Impact of Idealised Tidal Power Lagoons at Sites along the UK West Coast”.

On 21 June, Marijan Beg gave a talk entitled “Stability and manipulation of Bloch points in helimagnetic nanostructures” at the 5th Solitons and Skyrmion Magnetism Conference (Sol-SkyMag 2021).

Victoria Fernandes, a postdoctoral researcher, hosted a Q&A session to mark International Women in Engineering Day. The session which held on 23 June was organised by Dr Adriana Paluszny and Victoria Murphy to help engage young women and inspire them to pursue a career in STEM.

The Rock Mechanics Research Group delivered two papers at the (online) 55th US Rock Mechanics Symposium in June; the lead author and presenter are shown in italics:

• Effect of Viscosity and Injection Rate on the Tensile and Shear Deformation Experienced by Interacting Hydraulic and Natural Fractures, James Burtonshaw, Robin Thomas, Adriana Paluszny, and Robert Zimmerman.
• Application of the Displacement Discontinuity Model to a Finite-Pulse Wave Impinging on a Fracture, Robert Bird, Adriana Paluszny, and Robert Zimmerman.

Elin Rydeblad and Rebekah Moore of the MAGIC research group attended the 2021 Virtual Goldschmidt. Elin gave a talk entitled "Correlated Te, Zn, and Cd Isotopes in Chondritic Meteorites." in session 2c - Understanding Early Accretion, Planetary Evolution and Core-Mantle Interaction: Integrating elemental, isotopic, experimental and modelling studies. Rebekah gave a talk entitled "Insights into the mechanisms of cadmium accumulation by Theobroma Cacao using stable isotope analysis" in session 11f - Biota and geochemical cycles: mechanisms of transformation, uptake, and translocation of metal and metalloid species in the critical zone, for which she was also a convener.

Victoria Fernandes will be chairing a session at the AGU Fall Meeting this year, together with Dr Gaia Stucky de Quay (University of Texas at Austin, and an alumni of Department of Earth Science and Engineering) and Beatrix Heller (University of Paris-Saclay). The session is titled “EP029. Quantifying the drivers of landscape evolution across spatial and temporal scales”.

Awards

Visiting Professor Dr Xudong Jing has been elected a Fellow of the Energy Institute (FEI). The Fellowship Board noted Professor Jing’s extensive experience in upstream and gas technology and in particular his role in developing new technology for increasing oil recovery and reducing emissions.
The EI fellowship is awarded to those whose contribution to the energy institute is positive, distinctive, significant and/or sustained. The EI works to facilitate debate, champion evidence, and share fresh ideas, giving voice to issues of concern and where necessary challenging the industry they work with. Congratulations Professor Dr Xudong Jing!

Luis Salinas Farrán was awarded the Stanley Elmore Fellowship 2021 from the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining. This Fellowship is tenable at a UK university for research into all branches of extractive metallurgy and mineral processing. The funds will be used to quantify the effects of mass transport on the leaching of agglomerated ores.

Impact and Media

The Impact Factor of the International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, of which Professor Robert Zimmerman is the Editor-in-Chief, increased this year to 7.135, placing it at number 1 in its two categories of Geological Engineering and Mining and Mineral Processing.

Dick Selley was interviewed at Denbies vineyard for a French film on the impact of climate change on UK viticulture.

Fieldwork

In June, PhD students Sarah Robinson and Harriet Dawson completed an in-person fieldwork at Dorset as part of Sarah's PhD. The research fieldwork involved collecting samples from the Jurassic Blue Lias at Lyme Regis, Jurassic/ Lower Cretaceous Portland and Purbeck beds at Durdle Door. This will be part of the 3rd chapter of Sarah's PhD, in which carbonate clumped isotope analysis will be applied to these samples to understand the geochemical signatures preserved in outcrop samples. The trip was partially funded by The Geological Society of London. Enjoy some pictures in the slide show below.

Sinopec PhD Scholarships

Maths and Engineering Graduates who hold Chinese citizenship are invited to apply for the Resource Geophysics Academy Scholarship.

• Study for a PhD at Imperial
• Focus on innovative and cutting-edge research in geophysical theory and application
• Scholarship includes overseas student fees and bursaries for living in London
• Employment by Sinopec for scholarship recipients when they complete their PhD studies from Imperial College London.

To find out more, email Programme Manager, Hui Jia, at Resource Geophysics Academy.

New Staff

On 10 May, Dr Sadjad Naderi started as Research Associate with Dr John-Paul Latham

On 21 May, Dr Chao Song started as a Research Associate with Professor Yanghua Wang

On 1 June, Hui Jia started as a Programme Manager of Resource Geophysics Academy