A Time of Transition

A TIME OF TRANSITION Two events are currently dominating the life of the Department: Former Head of Department Professor Mary Fowler has been elected as Master of Darwin College Cambridge and will take up her post on 1st October; Professor Jason Phipps Morgan has joined the Department from Cornell University and will take over from Dave Waltham as Head of Department on 1st October. Further changes in academic staff are due in 2013.

CONTENTS Page

3. Conferences

11. Events

23. Fieldwork

35. People

48. Research

1 Mary Fowler has been elected Master of Darwin College, Cambridge, We welcome Professor Jason Phipps Morgan who joins us from Cor- and takes up office on 1st October 2012. Founded in 1964, Darwin nell University to take over as Head of Department on 1st October. College is distinctive in being wholly concerned with postgraduate stud- Previously he had been Professor and Head of Department of Marine ies and research. We shall greatly miss her presence here at Royal Geodynamics, GEOMAR Research Centre, Kiel, and before that he Holloway, though she will be with us through 2013 for 20% of her time. had worked at Scripps Institute of Oceanography and MIT. His re- Mary joined Royal Holloway in 1992 as a lecturer, having previously search has included work on hotspot volcanism and the formation of been at Saskatchewan (1982–1992) and before that a Royal Society hotspot swells, and the role of sub-oceanic asthenosphere in mantle postdoc at ETH Zürich. Together with her husband, Euan Nisbet, she convection. Current research mostly focuses on melting, the strength has made a huge contribution to the life and work of the Department over of continental lithosphere, the origin of kimberlites, and the effects of twenty years. She acted as Head of Department from August 2002 until serpentinization on subducting slabs. He holds a Royal Society grant July 2008, overseeing our most recent Research Assessment Exercise to study the chemo-physical effects of bend–fault serpentinization. (RAE) in 2008 which brought us the distinction of being amongst the top The following comes from the web site of his previous employment five Earth Science Departments in the country. She was awarded a Chair at Cornell University: in 2003 She was elected to the College Council (2009–2011, became “I consider myself an Earth scientist, extremely curious about how the Deputy Dean (Research) 2009–2011 and Dean of Science 2011–2012. Earth `works` and how it has evolved to its present state. Upon moving She is perhaps best known internationally as the author of to GEOMAR-University of Kiel in Germany in 1999, I became involved the highly acclaimed textbook “The Solid Earth”, first pub- in the study of subduction zone dynamics, initially focusing on the ef- lished in 1990 with a second edition in 2005. It is recognised fects of the partial hydration and water release from down-going slabs. the world over as the definitive work on global geophysics that I also learned about the evidence from continental rifting and kimberl- is essential reading for all researchers working in this subject. ites that (in my opinion!) strongly favours the plume-fed asthenosphere She was awarded the Geological Society’s Prestwich Medal in 1996. paradigm for mantle convection. As a side project, I became interested and was elected to the Geological Society Council for the period from in the causes of mass-extinctions, in particular worrying about the `too- 2007 to 2010. She was vice President of the Royal Astronomical Soci- many-coincidences` problem that these periods appear to be associ- ety from 2000 to 2002. She served on various on committees of NERC, ated (if we believe what`s published in the mainstream literature) with the Royal Society and Leverhulme and on RAE and REF Panels. BOTH extremely rare continental flood basalts and continental rifting, and even rarer `impact signals` commonly presumed to come from This is a return to Darwin College for Mary since this is large extraterrestrial bolide impacts. I am continuing my career-long in- where she undertook a NERC-funded PhD on “Seismic Stud- terest in mantle convection, by pursuing simple lab and computational ies of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge” from 1972 to 1976.. We all wish experiments that help teach mantle dynamics while simultaneously ex- her every success in this prestigeous and demanding new post. ploring the physics of asthenosphere entrainment by subducting slabs.”

2 CONTENTS Page 4. GeoMyanmar 2012 – Ian Watkinson

6. Lithosphere Workshop: 55th Irish Geological Research Meeting (IGRM), Cork, February 2012 – Martin Menzies

7. In the Footsteps of Archibald Geikie – Derek Blundell

8. 2nd International Cave Monitoring Workshop, Innsbruck, and EGU, April 2012 – Dave Mattey

10. Andrew Scott’s Retirement Conference, 14 September 2012

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3 View east from the central plains towards the Shan Scarp GeoMyanmar 2012 The Sagaing Fault at Sagaing. Sag pond in the Sein, a military general and previous prime min- background. Michal Krobicki (second left); Mike Ian Watkinson Crow (centre left) speaking to Kyaing Sein; ister. Democratic reform under his presidency Myanmar (formerly Burma) is beginning to Naing Maw Than (holding map); and Andrew progressed rapidly, and included ceasefires Mitchell (forward right). emerge from 50 years of near isolation, human with Shan and Karen rebels, freeing of politi- rights abuses and poverty. Oppressed since a cal prisoners, and subsequently the first exter- 1962 military coup, Myanmar was once counted nally monitored elections. High profile political amongst the world’s 10 poorest countries, and meetings between Thein Sein and the newly has been politically unstable since British and freed Aung San Suu Kyi, Hillary Clinton and Japanese occupation. Following bloody dem- most recently David Cameron have brought onstrations in 1988, the National League for De- Myanmar back to international attention. mocracy (NLD) fronted by Aung San Suu Kyi, GeoMyanmar 2012, the first international con- won elections in1990. The military State Law ference on geology in Myanmar, was another in- and Order Restoration Council later declared the dication that Myanmar is becoming open to for- election null and void and arrested NLD leaders. eign collaboration and investment. Held at the Buddhist monks and civilians were killed during Sedona Hotel, Yangon from 1-2 March, the event military suppression of protests in 2007, and in brought together geologists from east and SE 2008 the paranoid government initially refused Asia, Australasia and Europe. The conference international aid following Cyclone Nargis, lead- was aimed at promoting geosciences in Myan- ing to the country’s worst humanitarian disaster. Mogok metamorphics at the foot of the Shan mar, developing strategies to apply geoscienc- Scarp. Age of dyke conveniently marked as Elections in 2010 allowed the formation of a es to management, planning and hazard miti- 20.7 Ma. Such markings absent elsewhere. quasi-civilian government in 2011, led by Thein gation, and guiding sustainable development. 4 Talks were given on tectonics, geohazards, economic geology and stratigraphy, with a strong regional bias. There was a special focus on economic geology, with many delegates represent- ing foreign mining and hydrocarbon industries interested in exploring the country. A keynote talk was given by a lawyer, Than Maung, to explain the peculiarities of the Myanmar legal system for the benefit of potential investors. Disas- ter management became an emotive topic and a heated debate between factions including a representative of the United Nations emergency A rainy day at Mandalay. response team caused considerable discussion. The conference was followed by a 3-day field trip, studying the Sagaing Fault at Manda- lay, the Mogok Metamorphic belt at Kyaukse, and carbonates and clastics of the Shan plateau. Finally, we observed deformation at the northern end of Inle Lake, a pull-apart basin on the Kyaukkyan Fault – a structure that symbolically links the Sagaing Fault in My- anmar with the Mae Ping Fault in Thailand.

Wine tasting at Aythaya Vineyard close to Inle Lake. Paul Cranney and Bob Stokes in the front.

Maroon – the colour of Myanmar. A novice monk at Yangon. 5 Lithosphere Workshop the Tongariro National Park in New Zealand. Survival in the bush is easy as John has an 55th Irish Geological Research Meeting enviable ability to catch fish for a BBQ dinner! (IGRM), Cork, Ireland 17–19 February 2012 Martin Menzies Colleagues and past and present students of Prof John Gamble were invited to Cork for a symposium which preceded the 55th IGRM meeting, The Lithosphere Workshop marked the retirement of John Gamble and his return in March to Wellington New Zealand where he will take up an Emeritus position at Victoria Univer- sity where he was on the academic staff from 1980 to 2002. The symposium covered aspects of crustal formation throughout geological time left to right - Andy Wheeler (UCC HoD), Jon using the zircon archive (Chris Hawkesworth, Davidson (Durham), Paul Gillier (UCC), Ian Wright St Andrews), Caledonian orogeny and the na- (NOCS), John Gamble (UCC), Chris Hawkesworth ture of the lower crust (Daly, UCD), European (St Andrews), Martin Menzies (RHUL), tephras and time (Menzies, RHUL), genesis of Paul Lyle (Univ Ulster) and Ian Meighan Caribbean oceanic arcs (Davidson Durham), (Queen’s Univ Belfast) geophysics of the cratonic lithosphere (Jones Dublin Institute) and monitoring Arctic hydrate dissolution (Wright, NOCS). The symposium is a credit to John who remains an internationally recognised volcanologist with decades of service to our science, especially his work on volcanism in New Zealand and Antarctica. John has been a regular visitor to Royal Holloway both when he was in New Zealand (1980–2002) Shwedagon Pagoda at Yangon on the occasion of the first Shwedagon Pagoda festival since the and at Cork (2002–2012) and he has acted as event was banned in 1988. examiner of many PhDs. My association with John was through joint work in the Antarctic and Australia with memorable field excursions into the Lachlan fold belt, New South Wales and

6 In the Footsteps of based on personal observations in the field and inevitably controversy arose, which became the Archibald Geikie driving force for advancing the subject. It ac- HOGG/Haslemere Museum Conference counted for the debating chamber style of the meeting room in the Geological Society, which 13 April 2012 remained until the 1960s. Geikie was famously Derek Blundell embroiled in “The Highlands Controversy” in This account has drawn heavily on the Ab- which he took a uniformitarian view of the law stracts Book “in the Footsteps of Archibald of superposition, opposed to that of Murchison Geikie”, edited by J.N.Diggens and T.J. Moody, who accepted there could be disruptions. published by the Haslemere Educational Mu- The two principal talks at the conference on seum to whom I express my grateful thanks. Glencoul Thrust – photo Rob Butler this debate were “A Controversial Walk: Kinlo- chewe to Loch Broom in the 19th Century” by Morgan, Butler and Needham and “Geikie and the Highlands Controversy” by John Dewey. Morgan, Butler and Needham recounted how they and some colleagues had recreated a walk taken by Geikie 141 years previously in The conference in session order to review his observations. At the heart of the controversy was Geikie’s failure to rec- Photo reproduced courtesy of Hasle- ognise the Moine and related thrust faults and mere Educational Museum the presence of older rocks overlying younger Silurian rocks. John Dewey also noted the work of several of Geikie’s younger contemporar- ies, especially Charles Lapworth, Ben Peach and John Horne, who established the nature of the “dislocation”, eventually accepted by The Geological Society History of Geology 20, was Director of the Scottish Office for 14 Geikie, who coined the term “thrust” to define it. Group combined with the Haslemere Museum years before becoming Director General of the Archibald Geikie was also an accom- to hold a conference about the life and work Geological Survey of Great Brittain and Ireland. plished artist, working mainly in watercol- of Sir Archibald Geikie, whose comprehensive In those days, field geology and mapping were ours, many of which illustrate his field obser- archive collections are housed in the museum. the key to advancing the subject and the Geo- vations. The Haslemere Museum contains Archibald Geikie was one of a select number logical Survey, undertaking the primary map- over 750 watercolours an drawings by Geik- of great pioneering geologists of the 19th and ping of the whole country, was central to that. ie, a number of which were displayed at early 20th century. Born in Scotland in 1835, Geikie’s main work was in the Scottish High- the conference. Two are reproduced below: he joined the Geological Survey at the age of lands. The interpretation of the geology was 7 2nd International Cave Monitoring Workshop and EGU Innsbruck, April 2012 Dave Mattey Successful palaeoclimate reconstruction based on proxy archives rests not only on understanding how regional climate and local weather patterns are related to the climate Boulder of Dolerite protecting tuft & showing ero- proxy, but equally importantly the local proc- The Old Man of Hoy sion of beach. West of Largo. esses that influence the capture of the climate Reproduced courtesy of Haslemere Reproduced courtesy of Haslemere signal in the archive. Speleothem deposits Educational Museum Educational Museum in caves yield a wealth of proxy data that can John Dewey pointed out that the les- be related to changes in atmospheric circula- Amongst the 60 or so who attended the con- sons learned from the Highlands Con- tion, precipitation and vegetation. Monitoring ference were Dan Le Heron and John Mather troversy are just as relevant today: : of cave environments provides the key to understanding relationships between weather from Royal Holloway. Indeed, John gave a talk “Those who wield power rarely use it well” about “British Hydrology 1870 to 1914 and the and the processes that affect calcite precipi- “Sycophancy may advance a career but at influence of Archibald Geikie”, thus illustrating tation inside caves – these include for exam- what moral cost?” ple knowledge of the generation of CO in the range of Geikie’s interests. Appointed in 2 1892 to the Royal Commission on Metropoli- “Mistrust those who plan their career and the soil zone and its movement in and out of tan Water Supply, he became involved in as- move from science to admnistration in the pur- caves, the relationship between rainfall and sessing the water supply for a rapidly growing suit of knighthoods and peerages” the composition and movement of groundwater, or the impact of seasonal changes on the London available from the Chalk aquifer. Water “Trust and encourage the enthusiastic young engineers reckoned there were two distinct sup- precipitation of carbonate as speleothem. Set- and “outsiders”; give them their head and do ting up and maintaining reliable cave monitor- plies: a deep groundwater source which could not control and use them” be exploited without affecting spring discharges ing programmes provides quite a challenge in and shallow water which fed the springs and “Beware the danger of quick traverses. Only wet caves, which are often remote and difficult rivers. Those with an alternative view believed detailed mapping can give a solution to field to access even for experienced speleologists the two were interconnected. Geikie agreed relationships.” Back in 2009 we held a workshop on cave with the engineers and their view prevailed in Geikie retired to Haslemere and became monitoring techniques in Gibraltar to discuss the Commission report. However, following a chairman of Haslemere Museum, He left al- the technology that was available and share drought the following year, the commission re- most his entire collection to the museum on his experiences in best practices among the small port was shown by events to have been invalid! death in 1924: a true heritage of a great man. group of researchers in this field. Three years 8 by insects, animals and occasionally humans but three years on from the first workshop saw significant advances in the ability to carry out automatic logging and sampling of key param- eters using ingenious custom-built instruments. Cave monitoring is now being actively carried out in many cave systems around the world and clearly shows that every cave has its own personality that takes several annual cycles to properly characterize and evaluate. Once this is done features of the chemical proxy record preserved in speleothem can then be assigned to specific local processes which greatly improves confidence in climate records reconstructed from proxy records.

Workshop participants at the Spannagel mountain hut (2531m) ready to go underground in Europe’s highest show cave. Photo by Christoph Spotl. on and many more groups are now involved informal discussion forum for exchange of ex- in cave monitoring, and who have acquired periences covering all practical aspects of cave considerable expertise, so in April we held monitoring. Four main themes were discussed: the 2nd International Cave Monitoring Work- strategies for monitoring of the hydrology and A number of the Workshop participants went shop, bringing together scientists and PhD meteorology of cave systems, instrumentation another km or so into the cave that passes beneath students from 14 countries to a guesthouse and data logging, sampling and analysis proto- the Spannagel Glacier. By now we had descended on the outskirts of Innsbruck to discuss new cols, and in-situ studies of carbonate precipita- 200 m including a 40 m ladder pitch and it was a ideas in methodology and instrumentation. tion and other cave processes. It is clear that long haul back out again. It is only when you stop you realise the air temperature is only 2°C. Organised by Christoph Spötl and Marc Luet- some problems still remain rather a challenge, scher from the Innsbruck Quaternary Research such as finding a reliable way to measure precise Photo by Darryl Tremaine. Group and myself, the workshop provided an relative humidity and unwanted interferences 9 A day trip to Spannagel Cave, an 11 km- long high-alpine marble cave hosting Europe´s highest show cave, marked the end of the workshop before moving on to the EGU Gen- eral Assembly in Vienna, where oral and poster sessions dedicated to the scientific results obtained from modern cave monitoring programmes were convened by Christoph Spötl (Innsbruck), James Baldini (Durham) and myself. Ruth Kirk and Ciara Thrush presented posters on their MSci project work in the Speleothem session and were amongst Ciara Thrush (left) and Ruth Kirk (right) presented their MSci projects on speleothem records from Fiji a strong turnout from RHUL at the meeting. and France as posters at EGU. photos by Dave Mattey Andrew Scott’s retirement conference 14 September 2012 Andrew was introduced to geology when a schoolboy by Ted Rose and supervised as a student at Bedford College by Bill Chaloner, both of whom remain lifelong friends and colleagues. Appointed to a lectureship in the Ge- ology Department at Chelsea College in 1978, Andrew rapidly established his academic career, teaching and researching in palaeobotany. Early on he established a research collaboration with Jean Galtier and Brigitte Meyer-Ber- thaud at the University of Montpellier, which has endured. Margaret Collinson joined forces with him whilst at Chelsea. All met up again when the Department moved to The new Department at Royal Holloway, since when Andrew’s career has broadend and burgeoned. He has taken an early “retirement” to concentrate on his research Speakers and Chairpersons. L to R: Ted Rose, Paulo Pereira, Claire Belcher, William Bond, Barry and this conference in his honour provided the Lomax, Derek Siveter, Deborah Martin, Laura McParland, Chris Roos, Margaret Collinson, opportunity to mark his many achievements. Jean Galtier, Andrew Scott, Nick Rowe, Brigitte Meyer-Berthaud, Richard Bateman, Bill Chaloner, Mark Hardiman, Bob Spicer 10 CONTENTS Page 12. Happy 55th Anniversary to Tyumen State Oil and Gas University – Chris Elders

13. Darwin’s “lost” fossils found – Howard Falcon-Lang

14. Lyell Symposium – photomontage by Huw Richards

15. Reform Club Dinner with Iain Stewart – Amelia Marks and Holly Rea

16. AAPG Barrel Award European Finals 2012 – Brian O’Sullivan

17. Chaloneroxylon – Howard Falcon-Lang

19. Round the Island Race – Dave Mattey

20. Images of Graduation Day

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11 Happy 55th Birthday to yes, there was plenty vodka available to accompany the toasts, which certainly helped Tyumen State Oil and Gas the spontaneity of the singing (and dancing). University While it might be hoped that Royal Hollo- Chris Elders way could take a leaf or two out of TSOGU’s book, all is not perhaps as it might seem. It If your University is celebrating a notable was undoubtedly a great pleasure to be invited anniversary this year, which of the following to speak at the Plenary Session of the confer- would you do? ence – which covered all topics from geology • Organise an “International” conference to refining and pipelines. By doing so, it ena- The Rector receiving comradely greetings from on the Oil and Gas in the West Siberia Basin bled the “International” tag to be attached (not counting the Professor from Belorussia). And his opposite number from a Kazak • Hire the biggest theatre in town for a as Natalia Zykova (our Training Centre Admin- university gala celebration involving speeches from all istrator) pointed out, she joined the University in manner of leading regional politicians and 2003, when it was celebrating its 40th Anniver- Rectors from other universities at home and sary. A year or so later it was announced that a abroad, with awards to recognise long stand- mistake had been made in the calculation and ing service from many members of staff, inter- that the 50th Anniversary would be celebrated spersed with displays of dancing, singing and the following year. I am already looking forward acrobatics performed by your own students to receiving my invitation to the 60th Anniver- • Host a dinner for selected distin- sary celebrations in two or three years time! guished guests with innumerable toasts, gifts for the rector and spontaneous per- formances of traditional folk songs by members of the Senior Management Team. Thus it was that Tyumen State Oil and Gas Students performing a traditional University celebrated its 55th Anniversary Russian dance on 19 and 20 October 2011 – a very typically Russian style of celebration and very different I should imagine from the more formal dinner that will soon be held to celebrate Royal Holloway’s 125th Anniversary. And

12 Darwin’s “lost” fossils found How these things got overlooked for so long is a bit of a mystery itself. Perhaps it was because Howard Falcon-Lang Darwin was not widely known in 1846 so the A “treasure trove” of fossils including some collection might not have been given “the prop- collected by Charles Darwin, has been redis- er curatorial care.” The fossils became ‘lost’ covered. The fossils, which have been ‘lost’ because Hooker failed to number them in the for 165 years, were found by chance in an old formal “specimen register” before setting out cabinet in the British Geological Survey. They on an expedition to the Himalayas. In 1851, the have now been photographed and are avail- “unregistered” fossils were moved to the Mu- able to the public through a new online museum of Practical Geology in Piccadilly, before seum exhibit released on 17 January 2012. being transferred to the Geological Museum, South Kensington in 1935, and finally onto the While searching through an old cabinet, British Geological Survey HQ near Nottingham I spotted some drawers marked ‘unregis- fifty years later. With each move the signifi- tered fossil plants’. I can’t resist a mystery, so cance of the fossils gradually became forgotten. I pulled one open. What I found inside made my jaw drop! Inside the drawer were hundreds of beautiful glass slides made by polish- ing fossil plants into thin translucent sheets. This process allows them to be studied under the microscope. Almost the first slide I picked up was labelled “C. Darwin Esq.” It took me a while just to convince myself that it was Dar- win’s signature on the slide. It turned out to be a piece of fossil wood collected by Darwin during his famous Voyage of the Beagle in 1834! (i.e., the expedition during which he developed the first inkling of his theory of evolution). Joseph Hooker, a botanist and Darwin’s best friend, was responsible for assembling the ‘lost’ collection while he briefly worked for the Brit- ish Geological Survey in 1846. Other speci- This beautiful cross-section through a “cone” Darwin collected this specimen in 1834 on the mens include fossils that Hooker had found of a 300 million year old club moss tree was col- Voyage of the Beagle. It is a piece of a 40 million during an intrepid circum-Antarctic voyage in lected from the British Midlands by Joseph Hooker, year old fossil tree from Chiloe Island, Chile. Darwin’s best friend. He made the discovery in 1846 1840. Still others came from the cabinet of the Darwin thought Chiloe was while surveying the British Coalfields for the British “a miserable hole” Revd John Henslow (Darwin’s mentor at Cam- Geological Survey bridge), whose daughter later married Hooker. 13 Lyell Day Symposium and Dinner – photomonatge by Huw Richards

Lecture by Pete Burgess Lecture by Alan Smith Reception before the dinner

The Picture Gallery – let dinner commence Dining in style

14 Head of Department’s speech by The Society Executive Comittee responsible for The Dining Hall Dance with Gold Heart Dave Waltham the success of the event Assembly

Reform Club Dinner with Iain Stewart Amelia Marks and Holly Reay On Wednesday 16th November 2011 we were lucky enough to attend an evening hosted by the Science and Technology group of the Reform Club in Lon- don as guests of Christine Purdy, with dinner and a presentation by Iain Stewart. Iain Stewart gave an excellent presentation speaking on the topic of “Geology and Cli- mate Change”. This began with an overview of climate change through Earth’s history before moving on to present day climate change. The evidence for current climate change being due to anthropogenic causes was consequently examined, showing how current climate change is far more rapid than anything previously seen in Earth’s history. After an impressive dinner, an interestingly diverse question session began. This covered topics from botany to religion, all of which were confidently addressed by Iain Stewart. Our thanks go to Christine Purdy for sponsoring us to attend this event. We were both very grateful for the opportunity to attend the evening. 15 AAPG Barrel Award But we didn’t know that then. It was still be- European Finals 2012 fore 9 in the morning, and the results weren’t Brian O’Sullivan till that evening. So with a massive weight off our shoulders, we explored Prague and had a It’s 7.55 am on Saturday 17 March, in the Al- few quiet beers on a beautiful sunny day. We’d bion Hotel, Prague. Royal Holloway – present- had some really positive compliments about our ing at 8 am (our Russian Team from Tyumen presentation, and were feeling good. We’d also were also competing). Chris’ reassuring words watched IFP’s presentation, and had spotted a of “I don’t think you’ll have too many in the audi- few holes. That said, we didn’t quite understand ence at that hour” seem at odds with the stream some of the technical stuff they were coming out of people heading into our presentation room, with! They got a severe technical grilling from the but we’re feeling confident. We’d run through judges, which we weren’t sure was good or bad. the presentation about eight times since land- Chris Elders with the RHUL Barrel team: L to R – Adam Cheng, James Cockerham, Brian ing in Prague, and our 7.00 am run through Results time. We sit with the Tyumen team, O’Sullivan, Luis Gomez Martinez who look as tense as we feel. “We will an- was very good (unlike the 10.00 pm one the and Rupert Davies night before. Don’t do it after two beers.). So nounce the third placed team first … LaSalle we joke and smile over our coffee. A nice man tion was unchallengeable; Luis got approving Beauvais”. Tension rippling across the room, from ExxonMobil stops by our huddle for a chat. nods from the judges when he introduced our 19 teams who had put an enormous amount He offers words of encouragement, and lami- lowest ranked prospect, almost with a shrug, “it of work in had two more chances for a med- nated strat charts. I have no idea what we said has no seal”. Rupert’s velvety tones and con- al. “Second place… Royal Holloway”. Well, to him. All I was thinking was “Don’t get your fidence made people believe us, which was we must have been telling each other lies conjugate margins mixed up, remember why important, as Adam’s COMSOL stress model all day with variants on “Ah that was a great there is no syn-rift and try not to blind the judg- was, ahem, ‘adjusted’ for presentation pur- experience/I don’t think we’ve got it/a place es with Chris’ nuclear powered laser pointer.” poses. He was questioned on this, and pro- would be nice” as five blokes let out disappointed sighs. One Professor looked very very We’re called in. Eight industry judges across ceeded to dazzle them with sigmas and meg- happy though, and our disappointment at not the front row, and pretty much a full house behind. apascals. There were more tricky questions, winning lasted about three seconds. We were Kind of like a geological Supreme Court, with but I think any one of the five of us could have grinning on stage with our floppy cheque mo- less walnut panelling. There’s no beating about answered them. We were tripping over each ments later, and we didn’t stop grinning all night. the bush, Rupert kicks off and introduces Stack- other to answer, and backed each other up. pro Exploration, and we give it our best shot. We heard from a judge later on that the top IFP took first, which put it into perspective. We’d also seen Tyumen’s presenta- Thirty five minutes later, we walk out. Chris, eight teams were separated by a few percent- tion, and it was excellent. They’d even spot- who wasn’t allowed to attend the presenta- age points. It was little tweaks and suggestions ted a potentially real prospect that scores tion, must have had his ear pressed to the from Chris and others, practising the presenta- of geologists over the years have missed, door, as he’s grinning from ear to ear, as are tion over and over, and knowing our dataset in- and yet they didn’t place. Small margins. we. We’d nailed it. James’ seismic interpreta- side out that made a difference. Small margins. 16 We were bussed off to dinner shortly afterward, which was more like a medieval feast. You were in trouble if you didn’t like roast pork, but Rupert seemed to enjoy his fried cheese too. Ekaterina and Elena from Tyumen introduced us to “their boys”, and it was brilliant to meet people from all over Europe. What a fantastic experience, and here’s to Royal Holloway getting first next year!

Vladimir Mankuta, Ekaterina Borodova, James Cockerham with Ekaterina Borodina and Elena Daveltova and Danil Gendel (four of the five Elena Daveltova from Tyumen. In the background Tyumen team members) with Natalia Zykova, to the right you can spot Chris Elders talking to nervously waiting to make their Vladimir Mankuta, another member of the Tyumen presentation team.

Chaloneroxylon Howard Falcon-Lang The diagnosis of the new genus is as follows: I have had the opportunity to name a new Chaloneroxylon Falcon-Lang, Wheeler, Etymology: Genus named in honour of Pro- genus of fossil wood after Emeritus Profes- Baas, Herendeen gen. nov. fessor William Gilbert Chaloner FRS for his sor Bill Chaloner. Chaloneroxylon is the wood Family: Magnoliaceae many contributions to palaeobotany, especially of a 90 million year old magnolia-like tree that Cretaceous angiosperm evolution and fossil lived in Georgia, USA. Appropriately, given Generic diagnosis: Wood diffuse porous, ves- charcoal. Bill’s longtime interest in ancient wildfires, sels predominantly solitary; perforation plates the fossil is exquisitely preserved as charcoal exclusively scalariform with > 40 bars; in- Reference: Falcon-Lang, H.J., Wheeler, (see photos below). Following his ‘retirement’ tervessel pitting and vessel – ray pitting scalar- E.A., Baas, P., Herendeen, P., 2012. A di- as Head of Life Sciences at Royal Holloway, iform; vessel – ray parenchyma pits occasion- verse charcoalified assemblage of Cretaceous Bill joined the Earth Sciences Department ally unilaterally compound; rays 1 – 5-seriate (Santonian) angiosperm woods from Upatoi in an honorary capacity in 1995, just in time and > 1 mm high, heterocellular; scanty parat- Creek, Georgia, U.S.A. Part 1. Morphotypes to inspire Howard, who was a young gradu- racheal axial parenchyma; fibres with distinctly with scalariform perforation plates. Review of ate student, into a career in palaeobotany. bordered pits. Palaeobotany and Palynology 184, 49–73. 17 1. Mostly solitary vessels with a few radial multiples of 2, TS, scale: 250 μm. 2. Mostly solitary vessels, circular, some with tyloses (arrows), TS, scale: 250 μm. 3. Oblique scalariform perforation plate with ~50 bars, RLS, scale: 50 μm. 4. Scalariform intervessel pitting TLS, scale: 25 μm. 5. Scalariform perforation plate, TS, scale: 25 μm. 6. Probable vessel – axial parenchyma pits (arrow), oval to elon- gate with somewhat reduced borders in centre, RLS, scale: 50 μm. 7. Scalariform vessel – ray pits; upright ray cells, RLS, scale: 25 μm. 8. Vessel with tyloses; paratracheal axial parenchyma strand (arrow), RLS, scale: 50 μm. 9. Ray composed of mostly procumbent cells with a few rows of upright and square cells (bottom), TLS, scale: 250 μm. 10. Axial parenchyma (ap), with circular pits, TLS, 25 μm. Fibre with oblique or ?helical ridges (arrows). 11. Axial parenchyma (left) and fibres, pitted, possibly bordered (bp?), TLS, 25 μm. 12. Scalariform intervessel pitting, TLS, scale: 50 μm. 13. Ray 3 – 4-seriate, axial parenchyma strand of > 5 cells (arrow), oblique TLS, scale: 100 μm. 14. Rays 1 – 5-seriate, > 1 mm high, TLS, scale: 250 μm.

18 Dave Waltham helming as we tacked down the Thrashing round the Needles lighthouse in some Overtaking a famous yacht, this is Gypsy Moth, Needles Channel, just before big waves the first boat sailed single handed round the world by Francis Chichester in 1966. the rough stuff began. With a lucky mascot and a strong crew Round the Island Race we pressed hard and came 4th in our di- vision, 118th overall on corrected time. Dave Mattey The Round the Island Race was a rather wild affair this year with 20–25 knot winds and big seas but it goes down as one of the best and most exciting days sailing I can remember! Dave Waltham is becoming something of a lucky mascot since we managed a respectable result again – seems to happen when he comes along! The course is 50 nautical miles around the Isle of Wight and with 1700 yachts racing this makes it the largest yachting event in the world. All the big names race at the top of the fleet, in everything from super yachts, record break- This is what makes the event so special, boats of ing trimarans and vintage schooners. Fol- all types racing for the finish line off Cowes. lowing behind are 1500+ smaller racers and Crossing Sandown Bay in quieter conditions cruisers. Spectacular is an understatement!

19 Images of Graduation Day, 2012 Award of Prizes

20 21 Our Russian MSc graduands came all the way here from Tyumen

22 CONTENTS Page

24. Fieldwork at Dome C, Antarctica – Amelia Marks

26. Third Year Field Trip to Cyprus, December 2011 – Inga Sevasjanova

29. Almeria 2012 – David Gold

30. Pembroke Field Trip, March 2012 – Howard Falcon-Lang

31. Field season in Sarawak, 2012 – Tim Breitfeld

33. Methane and mosquitoes – a tale of Arctic air sampling – James France and Rebecca Fisher

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23 Fieldwork at Dome C, Scott’s Hut and McMurdo Base Adelie penguins at Mario Zuchhelli Spending Christmas and New Year at an Ant- Antarctica arctic base was certainly an interesting expe- Amelia Marks rience, involving several multi-course French and Italian feasts, including snails and lobster! From 26th November until the 20th of Janu- ary I was carrying out fieldwork at Dome C Ant- My thanks go to COMNAP and the Italian Antarc- arctica; the French and Italian research base, tic research programme for funding the fieldwork. situated at 3233 m above sea level on the Ant- It was a fantastic experience. arctic plateau. Daytime temperatures seldom rose above -25°C, and that’s summer! While in winter temperatures can reach as low as -80°C! Travel to Dome C involved a very early morning flight from Christchurch, New Zealand to the large American Antarctic coastal base, Twin Otter leaving Mario Zuchhelli McMurdo. McMurdo is home to the original Scott’s hut, which Scott used as a base for carry out experiments to measure the bidi- his Antarctic explorations. The inside is pre- rectional reflectance of snow surfaces. The served in the original state in which Scott left it. measurements taken will then subsequently be used for satellite calibration, to improve From McMurdo we travelled on to the Italian satellite reflectance measurments. Despite coastal base Mario Zucchelli (where a few pen- equipment and weather problems many suc- guins were spotted!), and finally on to Dome C. cessful measurements were taken of snow Working with the Italian Antarctic research surfaces using new equipment, which was Equipment used to measure bidirectional reflectance of snow programme, the aim of the fieldwork was to trialled the previous year at Mario Zucchelli. 24 Christmas Day at Dome C Dome C summer campaign 2011–2012

25 Third Year field trip to Cyprus, December 2011 Inga Sevasjanova In mid-December, while England was strug- gling with a cold winter and pre-Christmas havoc, Dr Dave Alderton took 30 third year undergraduate students and two helpers (Gerd Winterleitner and Inga Sevasjanova) to Cyprus. We left from Royal Holloway on 14th Decem- ber at 5.30 AM and travelled to Gatwick Air- port, then to Paphos, and finally to Limassol, which we reached in late afternoon. It was a smooth journey for most of the travellers, ex- Outcrop of dykes and pillow lavas at Sketching layered gabbros cut by dykes at Aiya cept for one of the helpers, who has learned Klirou Bridge. Korona, NE of Apliki the hard way not to let her laptop slide from the security scan belt in the airport ever again. Our “field base” was a comfortable holiday re- sort, Atlantica Oasis. Initially, it was planned to have 2–3 people in each room, in agreed groups. However, on arrival, it turned out that there were only twin rooms available and the groups of three people had to be split. This resulted in an unbalanced male:female ratio, but one of the students kindly agreed to help out by sharing a small room with two of his friends. To do this, he had to carry his mattress from his bed from one room to the other every morning and evening. The trip was eight days long, including six in the field. We started fieldwork in the Troodos Mountains, where we observed spectacular Dyke of gabbro pegmatite at Aiya Korona. Studying mantle rocks and making sketches of ophiolites and learned (i) to identify a range of deformation textures in the mafic and ultra-mafic rocks (e.g. pillow lavas, Troodos Mountains layered gabbros, pyroxenites, and dunites) and minerals (e.g. pyroxenes, olivines, spinels, 26 zeolites, etc.); (ii) to identify chilled margins and to determine relative ages of intrusions and dykes; (iii) to study ancient and recent mineralization; and (iv) to improve our skills in making sketches. In the middle of the trip, we headed to the Margi village, where the students refreshed their mapping skills and learned to identify picrite and umber. Towards the end of the trip we stayed closer to Limassol and visited the Arakapas Fault Belt, which is interpreted as an ancient transform fault. Here we observed a spectacular serpentinite shear zone, various sedimentary melanges, volcaniclastic and metasedimentary rocks. The students re- Dave discussing commodities with the View from the Troodos Summit freshed their sedimentary logging skills. On the students at the chromite mine in the last field day, we visited outcrops of Miocene Troodos Mountains. carbonates and evaporates. Dave tested our mineral identification using a sample strontium sulphate, celestine, found in the Maroni Mine. Although busy with field observations, we found some time to admire the local scenery with sparse vegetation made of olive, clemen- tine, orange and lemon trees. On the way to Ayia Varvara we passed by a thousand year-old olive tree. The trip was devoid of any wildlife encoun- ters, but if there was a competition for the largest number of cats per populated area, Cyprus would undoubtedly have won first prize. At Mar- gi, we also ran into a flock of brown goats and some students made friends with a local dog. The weather could not have been better: dry, warm and sunny at the seaside and a little bit of snow on the ground in the Troodos Mountains. View over the old asbestos mine in the Our leader with the Amiandos asbestos mine in Amiandos the background.

27 Evenings were occupied by tidying up assessed sketches, calculations, maps, logs or tables (or by marking them). Everybody worked very hard and put a lot of effort into the assessed exercises, but there was also some time left to enjoy swimming in the hotel’s pool, karaoke, and even celebrating a birthday. On the last night, we all went out for a meal and a drink in the Irish pub close to the hotel. Dave and the helpers were thanked with cheerful ap- plause, delicious presents, and a YMCA karaoke song. It was a very nice gesture. On the return trip, Dave received an extra present, a further addition to his collection of Cyprus T- View over the Governor’s Beach. Shirts. This year he became a “Dense Dave”. For some of the students, this could possibly be their last geological field trip and it is particularly pleasant that they will be able to remember this fantastic experience of a beautiful place with spectacular geology.

Gerd studying a tectonic melange composed of serpentinite phaccoids in a sheared sepentinized matrix, which represents a major shear zone – the Arakapas Fault Belt.

Dave with the students, studying rocks at the Governor’s Beach.

28 The first day was spent visiting modern sedimentary depositional environments; a river channel, alluvial fan and a windswept beach more akin to Southend than to southern Spain to reinforce the notion of “the present is the key to the past”. This was an exercise that later proved fruitful when examining ancient depositional environments with students being able to place what they saw on the first day with what they saw in outcrop. Almeria 2012 The rest of the first week was spent visiting the Neogene sedimentary basins of Nijar, David Gold Sorbas and Tabernas along with the surround- In the small hours of a cold February Tues- ing spectacular landscapes of dacite domes, within the context of the Carboneras strike- day morning a band of approximately 60 sec- collapsed calderas and ridge-top reefs and slip fault zone seen a few days previously to ond year students of varying Earth Science the store in downtown Carboneras that sold produce some excellent reports and maps. degree pathways all keen to learn the art of cheap electric heaters in order to provide Although the students were worked hard, geological mapping, 7 teaching assistants and some welcome warmth to our apartments. they all gained valuable experience with how 3 lecturers departed a wintry and snow covered The second week saw the weather take a turn to produce a geological map which will stand Egham for the altogether sunnier and warmer for the better and the students well-equipped at them in good stead for their extensive mapping climes of southern Spain… or so we thought. recognising all the lithologies within their map- project in the summer. With their new found What greeted us upon arrival was freezing night ping area at 100 paces. After the initial sense skills, hopefully they will view this project as time temperatures, the biting wind that had con- of foreboding had waned at the task, and with less daunting than they may have previously tributed to the rest of Europe’s coldest Febru- the map the correct way up and in hand, the thought and know that they have the ability ary in 26 years and the realisation that most of students seemed to enjoy their new-found free- to produce a piece of work equally as good our 20kg baggage allowance had been used dom to get out and explore the mapping area. as the work they produced in Spain – who up with shorts and flip-flops to be ill-judged. They were all soon able to recognise features knows, some may even be looking forward to it! and lithologies in the field and place them

29 Pembroke Field Trip, March 2012 Howard Falcon-Lang “They’ve never had it so good”, declared Ha- rold MacMillan in 1957. He could have been referring to our students on this year’s Pembro- keshire fieldtrip, who enjoyed the hottest March weather since MacMillan uttered those epoch- shaping words. Of course, the warm weather – and the improbable fashion experiments it inevitably promoted – was far from the minds of our committed undergraduates. They were more concerned about the tantalising story of the Palaeozoic evolution of the British Isles – a story just waiting to be quarried from the naked rock through their mental hard labour. Two orogenies in a single week is what we had promised our students – and they were not disappointed. As we traversed from St. David’s to Tenby, the Iapetus Ocean opened and closed before us. Caledonian crumpling preceded Var- iscan violence as Pangaea accreted before our very eyes. Through the diverse media of sketches, logs, maps and measurements, our students tenaciously grappled with these pal- aeogeographic puzzles. Despite being handi- capped by the dark glasses of their prejudices and the occasional nocturnal ingestion of certain hydroxyl-group compounds, they did tre- mendously well and we can be very proud of them indeed. The sun shines on the righteous

30 vegetated mountain ranges were examined. A large E–W striking fault zone, the Lupar Line splits the mainly continental southern part from the deep marine deposits of the Belaga Forma- tion in Central Sarawak. The Belaga Formation

Thomson Galin, my counterpart, on the Kayan Sandstone, 25 m outcrop “Buffer Wall”; Batang Rajang interbedded with thin tuff layers

Field season in Sarawak, The project I’m working on will study the prov- 2012 enance and age of Late Mesozoic to Cenozoic sandstone formations, which are interpreted as Tim Breitfeld shallow marine to fluviatile deposits. The stratig- Boat for study at Bako National Park peninsula; This summer, from May to July 2012 I was raphy will also be revised. Three major sand- view towards West, Tanjung Santubong in the background away in Sarawak, Malaysia for my main field stone formations: Kayan Sandstone, Silantek season. Sarawak is located in Borneo just Formation and Plateau Sandstone are currently north of the Equator. I was assisted in the field known, but need to be revised. The sedimen- by Thomson Galin from the Survey of Malay- tary rocks are infamous for being almost barren sia. As you might expect the climate was very of any fossils, which makes age determination warm and humid. So this was a good way to and interpretation of deposition rather difficult. escape the typical rainy English summer. Con- Therefore sampling of sedimentary rocks for trary to other parts of SE Asia, the weather zircon dating and heavy minerals analysis was was very kind in our field area. Rain normally a priority. Igneous rocks were sampled for ra- started in the evening when fieldwork was al- diometric dating to analyse possible sources ready finished or in the night. So for most of and age relations between the igneous rocks the time we stayed dry… except for river sec- and the sedimentary rocks. What is mapped tions and exhausting mountain climbing. Be- as “basement schists” was sampled to check sides delicious food, Sarawak offers spec- the previously inferred ages of the basement tacular rock exposures throughout the whole for tectonic reconstructions. Beautiful beach Slump folds in Padawan turbidite sequence country, which makes sampling an easy task. outcrops, new and old road cuts and highly 31 Here I am, having just finished climbing Post-sedimentary fault, Kayan Sandstone; Matang Our car crashed in the roadside ditch at Batu to the top of the Marup Ridge, Lintang, while we tried to climb the Klingkang Lupar Valley fault zone Range, about 25 degrees slope or Rajang Group is interpreted as a turbidite sequence which extends for 200 km in N–S direction. Most problems we encountered during our fieldwork were difficulties with our car and with the street conditions, which resulted in a few crashes… that were mostly caused by my counterpart. Joking apart, the fieldwork Padawan Formation unconformably above was very productive and we managed to fin- Kayan Sandstone ish everything in time. My counterpart will start an MSc project on the provenance and the age of the Belaga Formation this Sep- tember at Royal Holloway. Unfortunately for all the people that are dealing with space in Tim Breitfeld introduces his PhD project on the rock store, his sampling was advised by page 54. me and turned out just as extensive as mine.

32 Methane and Mosquitoes – flying campaign with elevated methane lev- els seen in a large air mass off the coast of A tale of Arctic air sampling Norway and more elevated concentrations of methane seen above sunlit wetlands above So- James France and Rebecca Fisher dankylä in Finland. The flying over Sodankylä First James: During July, the Greenhouse was also timed to fit in with the ground-based Gas research group had their summer field campaign, with Rebecca taking samples at campaign with Dave Lowry, Euan Nisbet, Re- wetland and forest sites to determine meth- becca Fisher, Mathias Lanoiselle and myself ane source signatures once back at RHUL all going to collect air samples in Scandinavia. The flight did make the CEH team and Re- The fieldwork was part of a large collabora- becca at Sodankylä jump somewhat as we tive campaign studying Arctic methane release passed over at 250ft (I think the original plan as part of the MAMM project, a large consor- had 2000ft in the itinerary) and ahead of sched- tium project funded as part of NERC’s Arctic The flight team stop in Spitsbergen for lunch ule! I can only imagine what Finnish words were programme with participants from UEA, Cam- (and some fuel) spoken throughout Lapland as we tore over bridge University, CEH at Edinburgh, Manches- the small villages at ridiculously low altitudes. ter University, NERC’s Facility for Airbourne the top of several ground sampling sites in Fin- Atmospheric Measurement (FAAM) and the land. Whilst over Scandanavia, Dave Lowry Rebecca takes up the story of the ground Finnish Meteorological Institute with around 30 did his best to keep up and drove 1000 miles campaign in Finland: scientists in total involved in the field campaign. over a weekend collecting air from ground lev- The base for the fieldtrip was the Arctic Re- el under the path of the aircraft. Euan Nisbet Arctic methane emissions change with year search Centre at Sodankylä in Lapland. So- sampled air in Northern Norway and Rebecca to year variations in meteorology and with dankylä (67.4°N, 26.6°E) is 130 km north of the was in Northern Finland in the middle of one longer term changes to the climate. We want Arctic Circle and Santa Claus’s official hometown, of the big Arctic methane sources – wetland. to quantify current fluxes to the atmosphere Rovaniemi. Despite that the temperature on ar- and identify the sources. We’ve seen from One flight went up to Spitsbergen in the hope rival was a pleasant 22°C, warmer than Egham. previous work that wetlands are the largest of finding evidence of methane being emitted At Sodankylä the Finnish Meteorological Insti- source of methane to the Arctic in the sum- from the coastal shelf near to the islands... we’ll tute (FMI) make measurements of methane flux mer, but emissions are poorly quantified. let you know what the air samples tell us. At one in the wetland by eddy covariance as well as point we were flying at 50ft over the open water The field campaign featured two parts: one methane concentration on a 50 metre tower in which can only be described as mildly terrifying. a flying campaign with air samples and meas- a nearby forest, and FTIR spectroscopic meas- My nerves were somewhat calmed for the next urements being made from the FAAM aircraft urements of methane in the whole atmospheric day when I discovered at breakfast that our pilot on several sorties from Kiruna in Sweden; the column. Our aim was to collect air for methane was previously pilot for the Prime Minister and other involving ground sampling. Measurement carbon isotope measurements – to identify the Royal Family during his time in the military, and so flights took us over the wetlands in Northern isotopic composition of the wetland methane I decided that he was probably quite competent. Scandinavia, all the way up to 78° North for source, and of the mixed methane source from a a brief half-hour stop in Spitsbergen and over We did find some “interesting” air during the wider area as measured on the mast and aircraft.. 33 James and Mathias flying very low over the forest Field Assistants John and Amelia fill air bags in at Sodankylä the wetland at Sodankylä

Methane concentrations build up in the short It must have surprised a few reindeer as well polar night as methane accumulates in the shal- as those of us carrying out fieldwork below. low nocturnal boundary layer. So the best time Once the aircraft was on its way back to the UK to measure high methane concentrations in am- James joined me at Sodankylä for more day and Rebecca at the eddy covariance flux tower bient air is around 3 am in the morning. Working night air and chamber sampling interspersed in the Sodankylä wetland at that time isn’t too bad in the summer Arctic with reindeer spotting and a barbecue/sauna – it doesn’t get very dark as the sun just hovers party organised by our very good hosts from FMI. below the horizon for a couple of hours. Unfortu- nately the best visual proxy for high atmospher- Now we’re back in the lab with hundreds of ic methane concentration in a Finnish wetland air samples to analyse, but at least all the sam- in July seems to be mosquito activity. Mosqui- ples are back at RHUL. The Finnish post office toes (like methane) are at their most abundant seemed relatively unsurprised to see two Brits when the sun falls below the horizon, the wind turn up with an entire car full of cardboard boxes drops and an atmospheric scientist appears. full of air samples. So far results show highest methane concentrations in the bags collected Bags of air were collected over a ten day pe- between 1 and 3 am so it looks like it was worth riod at Sodankylä and from two other wetland staying up all those nights. Dave, James and sites in Northern Finland (Lompolojänkkä and Rebecca Brownlow are heading back to So- Kaamanen). The aircraft campaign coincided dankylä in early September to see if there’s any with the middle of this period. The FAAM air- An inquisitive reindeer wonders why we’re taking seasonal variation in the isotopic source signa- away the air at Lompolojänkkä craft was spotted flying extremely low overhead ture. Let’s hope the mosquitoes are less hungry. while I was collecting air from the forest mast. 34 CONTENTS Page 36. PhD successes

36. Jon Wright Memorial Prize

37. Congratulations

40. Celebrations

40. Welcome and Farewell

44. Sad News

Home Conferences Events Fieldwork Research

35 PhD successes Claire Lucas successfully defended her PhD Mattias Sanchez successfully defended his Jon Wright Memorial Prize thesis on 15th August 2011, entitled “The Oxi- PhD thesis on 23rd March 2012 on “’Tecton- dation of Organic Acids on Cloud Droplets” ics of the Biga peninsula and implications on CU-AU porphyry and epithermal AU deposits, On 12th September 2011, Anna BIrd completed her PhD project on “Age resolu- North-western Anatolia, Turkey”. He has now tion of peak metamorphism with the Caledo- taken up a post-doctoral position at University nides of northern Scotland and Shetlands.” of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada, working at the Mineral Deposit Research Unit (MDRU) Matt Woollard successfully passed his PhD viva with no corrections! His thesis was on On 26th June 2012 Victoria Hudspith suc- the “Evolution of rift and passive margin fault cessfully defended her PhD thesis entitled systems in the northwest Otway Basin, South “The palaeoecological and industrial signifi- Australia”. He is now working for Raymetrics cance of inertinite (charcoal) in Late Permi- S.A., in Athens, Greece as “Manager of Op- an coals from the Kuznetsk Basin, Russia”. erations” although as it is quite a small com- Vicky is now embarking on a 6-month post pany everyone does a bit of everything. The doc position at UIUC (university of Illinois company designs and manufactures LIDAR at Urbana-Champaign) to work with Claire Beth, Dave and Lewis with the Belcher (former RHUL) and Feng Sheng Hu. systems for atmospheric analysis, such as for “Borrowdale Trophy”. monitoring air pollution sources, e.g. from fac- On 20th October 2011, Head of Department tories. They are currently working on several Dave Waltham presented the Jon Wright Me- geology-related products, such as a new 3D morial Prize jointly to Lewis Bassett-Butt dust tracking system for deployment around and Beth Wilks for their outstanding achieve- mines, a system for early wildfire (smoke) de- ments in fieldwork during their second year. tection, and a tool for volcanic ash detection. He says that all is going well, aside from the crippling financial crisis in Greece, obviously! On 14th December 2011 Duncan Witts successfully defended his PhD thesis on “Stratig- raphy and sediment provenance in: the Barito Basin, SE Kalimantan, Indonesia”. Duncan is now working for the satellite mapping spe- cialists Fugro-NPA Ltd, at Edenbridge in Kent.

36 validation of training courses for masters and Marta Perez-Gussinye on her well de- Congratulations to . . . doctoral degrees – hopefully these will con- served promotion to a Senior Lectureship. Gary Nichols, on his appointment as Chair tinue, but with his role somewhat changed. Marta Perez-Gussinye, Peter Bur- of the Board of Directors of CASP, a research Wolfgang Müller and Matthew organisation with charitable status associated gess and Dave Waltham on a substantial with the University of Cambridge. CASP has Thirlwall on the award of a major grant from award from Statoil Petroleum AS for a research a permanent staff of 20 and carries out field- the Leverhulme Trust for a 3-year project start- project on “Understanding margin formation – based research into sedimentary basins in ing in March 2012 on “Spatially-resolved Ca basement architecture, subsidence, heat flow Greenland, the Canadian and Russian Arctic, isotope systematics in vertebrates by LA-MC- and sedimentation patterns at stretching factors Siberia, the Black Sea, North Africa and parts ICPMS”. The project has geochemical, archae- corresponding to areas beyond the continental of the Middle East. The research is funded by ological, and medical applications. Wolfgang platform where different tectonic models pre- 20 oil companies, 6 of whom support CASP and Matthew will develop high spatial-reso- dict different margin evolutions.” The award will on a long-term basis. Gary takes over from lution Ca isotope ratio measurements using support their work on a new kinematic model for Dr Peter Friend, under whom the organisation laser-ablation MC-ICPMS, and apply these to faulting, crustal and lithospheric thinning based has grown substantially in the last 10 years. teeth in order to evaluate the relative controls on the conceptual model published in Ranero of physiology versus diet on Ca isotopes re- and Perez-Gussinye, Nature, 2010. They will Gary has been elected to serve on the Council lated to physiological changes in vertebrates also look at the consequences for sedimentation of the Geological Society for the next three years. (including humans) such as birth, weaning and patterns predicted by this model. The project will He has also received an award from the Petro- growth) in both modern and archaeological/fos- relate to West Iberia–Newfoundland margins. leum Technology Development Fund of Nigeria sil samples. They will be supported by a PDRA. to support a new PhD student to work on “Het- Dan Le Heron, on his promotion to a Senior erogeneity in Fluvial Sandstone Reservoirs”. Agust Gudmundsson, who has been Lectureship. Following on from his Geological funded by a consortium of three petroleum com- Society award ot the “William Smith Fund 2011” He has recently been appointed by Nautilus panies, Repsol, E.on-Ruhrgas, and RWE, for earlier in the year, this is well deserved recognition Ltd., Reading, to oversee their portfolio of about a research project on “The Effect of Magmatic of his achievements in research and teaching. 250 geoscience training courses for the petro- Sill Emplacement on the Petroleum Systems in Dan has an award from the National Geo- leum industry that they provide to around 5,500 the Voring Margin”. This is a three-year project graphic Society’s Global Exploration Fund– company professionals worldwide each year, to which will support two RHUL PhD students. Zoe Northern Europe for a project entitled: “Did mi- develop new courses and generally manage the Barnett has already started and the other posi- crobially-mediated ironstone precipitation result academic aspects of the petroleum geoscience tion is being advertised. The project involves a in a Neoproterozoic snowball Earth? A south- training. He will be joining them in 2013, after collaboration between Royal Holloway, Sintef ern hemisphere perspective”. Dan explains: 23 years with our Department. He expects to (Norway), and Tectonor (Norway). It includes have a certain amount of time to continue with fieldwork on sills and dykes in Iceland, the Fae- “Despite much being made of the early Cryo- research, which he plans to do associated with roe Islands and elsewhere, in addition to analyt- genian (“Sturtian”) glaciation in terms of its glo- the Department at Royal Holloway, particularly ical and numerical modelling of their emplace- bal significance as a ~700 Ma snowball Earth, with his research students. In recent months he ment, thermal effects, interaction with faults, the sedimentary record of this event has largely has been working on collaborative programmes and their potential as hydrocarbon reservoirs. been neglected in favour of its younger and between Nautilus and Royal Holloway for the 37 more famous (“Marinoan”) counterpart. In sum- is named after Pikaia, an early cephalochor- Citation: Barber and Crow use their extensive mer 2012, we are undertaking twin field sea- date known from the Cambrian Burgess Shale. knowledge of a wide range of geological infor- sons, in northern Namibia and southern Aus- Howard has been invited to participate in the mation to address the complex paleogeogra- tralia, to study the Chuos and Sturt formations Royal Society’s civil service pairing scheme. phy of the SE Asian region with special focus respectively. Northern Namibia is famous as the He is spending a week at Westminister in Oc- on Sumatra and its three constituent continen- “type area” for snowball Earth, whereas South tober learning about science policy and will tal blocks: the East Malay, Sibumasu and West Australia is famous as the “type area” for the later shadow Chris Sear, Head of Climate Sci- Sumatra blocks. In this paper the authors ar- Sturtian glaciation. We are investigating (1) the ence at the Department for Energy and Cli- gue for a Mid Permian to Upper Triassic col- relationship between iron-fixing stromatolite mate Change. Dr Sear will then make a recip- lision between the Sibumasu and East Malay colonies and diamictite deposits of probable rocal visit to Royal Holloway in the New Year.” blocks in Sumatra and discuss the possibil- glacial origin, and (2) the origins of palaeo-es- ity of later amalgamation further to the north. carpments (palaeovalleys) cut into pre-glacial Jason Phipps Morgan, who has been They also revise previous estimates for the successions. Our twin field seasons will build awarded a major research grant by the Royal age of the main transcurrent movements be- on reconnaissance in 2009 and 2011, and are Society for an “Exploratory study of the chemo- tween the Sibumasu and West Sumatra blocks, an integral part of Marie Busfield’s PhD studies. physical effects of bend–fault serpentinization.” suggesting these were largely complete by The first field season was undertaken in mid Mid Triassic. These workers also suggest the June-Mid July, and the second in early August- Margaret Collinson and Andrew Scott, West Sumatra Block may be correlated with early September, following on from the 34th In- who have been awarded a substantial grant from the West Burma block to the north and present ternational Geosciences Congress in Brisbane, NERC for a project entitled “Terrestrial methane an interpretation of the Woyla block as an in- Australia, at which I gave a keynote address.” cycling during Paleogene greenhouse climates”. traoceanic arc. These ideas are presented using a series of clear diagrams. The ideas who has been awarded sub- Andrew Scott, who has been awarded Euan Nisbet, presented in this paper are likely to stimulate stantial funding from the EU for a project enti- a two-year Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship, further discussion and lead to a better under- tled “FP7 Integrated non-C0 Greenhouse gas starting on 1st January 2013, to support his 2 standing of the paleogeography of this region. Observation System”. It is a large EU project proposed research on “Did a comet or the first to supply infrastructure for work on methane humans impact fire systems in North America”. This paper received the highest number of citations – based on the Thomson Science and other gases. The role of Euan’s research Tony Barber, whose paper with Mike group includes both doing isotopic analyses Crow on the “Structure of Sumatra and its im- Index for the year 2011 – amongst the en- on samples for a wide variety of other EU plications for the tectonic assembly of South- tire candidate Island Arc papers published groups, and also setting up monitoring in Cy- east Asia and the destruction of Palaeoteth- in 2008–2009. The first author has been ac- prus in partnership with a local SME in Nicosia. ys” published in Island Arc in 2009, has been tive in the research of eastern Asia including Japan, for more than 30 years. This paper Howard Falcon-Lang, who has received selected for the “Island Arc Award for 2012”, presented jointly by the Geological Society of adds to his many contributions and is a wor- the 2012 Pikaia Award of the Geologists As- thy recipient for the 2012 Island Arc Award. sociation of Canada, which is given biannually Japan and Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, to rec- “in recognition of outstanding contributions to ognise the most important (i.e. the most cited) Canadian palaeontology”. The Pikaia Award contribution to Island Arc during 2008–2009. 38 Jamie Pringle (BSc in Geology, RHUL ine Quaternary glacitectonites as an ana- March. Chris Elders reports: “After deliver- 1996), who at the President’s Day in June was logue for deformation structures in Neopro- ing a stunning presentation at 8.00 a.m., they awarded the William Smith Fund of the Geo- terozoic glacial sediments”. This award is were placed second in an extremely strong logical Society for “excellence in contributions particularly apposite as Bill Bishop was Pro- field of teams from 20 universities from across to applied and economic aspects of the sci- fessor and Head of the Geology Department Europe. The winners were IFP from France. ence.” The citation recognised his multidiscipli- at Bedford College who preceeded Alec Smith. The prize for second place is a cheque for nary research at the University of Keele on “the She is the 2012 recipient of the Gill Harwood $2,500 which the team decided they would application of spatial data analysis, visualisa- Memorial Fund of the British Sedimentologi- like to donate to Kayleigh Sugar’s Memorial tion and near-surface geophysical techniques cal Research Group (BSRG). This competi- Fund, a fitting tribute, I am sure you will agree.” to a broad range of geological, engineering, tively awarded fund provides financial sup- Read Brian O’Sullivan’s report on page 17. environmental and archaeological problems.” port for female graduate students (of any age) , who organised the huge- (2nd year PhD), and female sedimentologists (under the age Sam Bennett Oris Rodriguez Reyes ly successful “Keef’s Kaff” held on 24th No- who has received an award from the Linnean of 30), of any nationality, who require funds vember, together with helpers Diane Ser- Society Systematics Research Fund to sup- to assist them in carrying out sedimentologi- pant and Dan Parsonage, thus keeping Keith port her research on “Panama modern wood cal fieldwork or for attendance at international Stephens’ initiative alive, and everyone else anatomy as analogue for Miocene woods meetings. She has also been awarded a grant who contributed a total of £338.45, to be do- from the Panama Canal”. She aims to study from the Geological Society’s research funds. nated to MacMillan Cancer Support. Sam the wood anatomy of suitable analogue local She is using the awards to supplement her and everyone who helped her went even bet- modern tropical forests across a seasonally fieldwork with Dan Le Heron in northern Namibia ter with another “Keef’s Kaff” to raise over dry to ever wet forest gradient to 1) provide and southern Australia to examine the evidence £1,000 for Kayleigh Sugar’s Memorial Fund. a suitable base-line for the taxonomic com- for glaciation in the apparently age-equivalent parison of the Panama fossil plants and 2) link older Cryogenian diamictite assemblages. anatomical characters to climatic variables. Stephanie Walker, 4th year MSci student, Emiliano Peralta-Medina and who has been awarded £750 from the Kirsty Martin Rittner, who jointly won the Doctoral Brown Memorial Fund to support her fieldwork Publication Award, and to Ian Watkinson in the Shetland Islands with Dr Rob Strachan, and James France, who share the Post- the leading expert in Moine Tectonics, in order to doctoral Publication Award. These awards are collect samples for a geochronological study that made in recognition of excellence in writing will form part of her MSci independent project. and publication in Earth Sciences during 2011. The MSc Petroleum Geoscience team of James Cockerham, Tsz Cheng, Rupert Dav- (first year PhD), who Marie Busfield ies, Luis Gomex-Martinez and Brian O’Sullivan, has been awarded the Bill Bishop Award of who competed in the AAPG Barrel Award com- the Quaternary Research Association for the petition in Prague over the weekend of 16–17 project “fieldwork in north Norfolk to exam-

39 Celebrations Welcome to . . . Dr Qiong Li, who joined the Department in March 2012 as a Postdoctoral Researcher to work on Ca-isotope systematics in vertebrates. She had successfully defended her PhD thesis on “Belemnite Palaeo-proxies and Dating of Mesozoic Carbonates” at UCL in June, 2011. Her PhD project included two parts, both related to belemnites. The first tested the validity and quality of belemnite palaeo-environmental proxies through the investigation of bulk stable isotope and trace element compositions and profiles of multi-elements across belemnite to Dan and Nora Congratulations sections. She found that Mg/Ca ratios in bulk Parsonage, whose new baby, Oscar, was analysis neither correlate with δ18O within an born on 27th December 2011, weighing in individual species nor within a belemnite popu- at 3.5kg. Mother and baby are doing well. lation. The second part applied the U-Pb dat- to Dr Tim Dooley and Dr Congratulations ing method to Mesozoic belemnites and other Lorena Moscardelli, who were married at Austin, carbonates. An innovative approach of dating Texas on Saturday 17th December 2011. Fol- carbonates in deep time was developed, us- lowing his PhD at RHUL in 1999, Tim worked as ing both laser-ablation MC-ICP-MS and isotope a Post-doc in charge of the analogue modelling dilution measurements; and ages of Mesozoic Lab for the Fault Dynamics Research Group. carbonate with the highest achievable pre- He moved to the University of Texas at Austin cision (±1%) and accuracy were produced. in 2003 to work as a Research Scientist in the Geodynamics lab of the Bureau of Economic At Royal Holloway she is working with Dr Geology, continuing hs research on the dynam- Wolfgang Müller to develop Ca-isotope sys- ics and kinematics of fault systems. Lorena tematics in vertebrates. First, she will focus has worked in the Bureau of Economic Geol- on developing the high-spatial resolution Ca- ogy as a Research Associate, studying mass isotope analysis using laser ablation (LA) MC- transport complexes of deep water sediments. ICPMS, and then apply this newly-developed method to archaeological and modern mam- Congratulations to Rebecca Fisher malian teeth to finally determine the controls (Mrs Caulfield), whose baby daughter Ame- (including physiological and environmental) lia Elizabeth was born on 12th October at on Ca-isotope in vertebrates and to recon- 8.45pm. Mother and baby are both fine. struct their palaeo-diet and migration history. 40 deformation, seismogenic behaviour of faults and the evolution of continental lithosphere. She has worked on fossil and modern conver- gent margins in Italy, Greece, Guatemala and Costa Rica, particularly on tectonic erosion of the overriding plate by the downgoing slab (see Vannucchi et al., 2008, Nature 451, 699–703). She is much involved in the effort of the Inte- grated Ocean Drilling Program to drill a subduction plate boundary in an area of earthquake nucleation. She is Principal Investigator of the Costa Rica Seismogenesis Project (CRISP) and last year she was co-chief scientist in the first IODP Expedition dedicated to this project. She is due shortly to join the second CRISP expedition off Costa Rica as Japanese representative. Susan Bardet joined the Department earlier this summer. She works as GIS and Re- mote Sensing Technical Assistant in the South East Asia Research Group (SEARG). Her key role is to work with various GIS and Remote Dr Paola Vannucchi is a structural and Sensing SEARG projects, to organise and de- Since then she worked in the field of GIS and marine geologist who has recently been appoint- velop the digital data so that it can be used by Remote Sensing for various companies and the ed to a Senior Lectureship in the Department. all members of the research group. She has Ordnance Survey (Southampton) in their Data Following her PhD in 1997 from the Universities a BSc in Geography from University of Cal- Collection Department. She moved to the Geo- of Bologna and Modena, she spent a year as cutta (India), and an MSc in Geography from data Institute in University of Southampton and a postdoctoral researcher in Aberystwyth and a Banaras Hindu University (India). In 2007 she then on to work as Maps and Data Manager in year as Visiting Scientist at PennState Univer- graduated with a second MSc in Remote Sens- Groundsure which is a leading geo-spatial en- sity, USA, before returning to Italy, mainly with ing and GIS for Environmental Modelling and vironmental property intelligence company.After the University of Florence. In the last year she Management formed by a joint consortium of that she worked in Astrium (UK) for the Europe- was Guest Researcher at IFREE/Jamstec, Ja- that include the University of Southampton, an Space Agency on the GMES (Global Monitor- pan. She has won awards for her research pub- Lund University, University of Twente, and ing for Environment and Security) project, a Eu- lications from the Geological Society and the Warsaw University. She loved this MSc pro- ropean Programme for Earth Observation. Her European Geosciences Union. Her research gramme because she attended classes in all key role was to supply satellite data for various interests include deformation processes in four Universities, and this gave her an opportu- projects including global environmental disas- subduction zones, the role of fluids on tectonic nity to study and live in four different countries. ters such as earthquakes, floods, oil spills, etc. 41 Our MSc Geoscience students from Tyu- men, who spent a week or so in May in the De- partment, meeting fellow MSc students based here, followed by a field trip led by Chris Elders to the north Somerset coast and back across the south coast of England. We were delighted to welcome Ekaterina Borodina, Elena Dav- letova, Danil Gendel, Ruslan Khaliulin, Rus- tam Khaliulin, Valeriia Kuznetcova, Alexander Kuznetsov, Igor Makarov, Vladimir Mankuta, Evgeniya Sharapova and Kseniia Zunde and very much hope to see them again next year when they return for their Degree Ceremony! Farewell to . . . Dr Pete Rowley, who has been awarded a Fellowship for 12 months (starting in October) at Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont to work with Olivier Roche and Tim Druitt, developing flume experiments to investigate particulate sorting behaviour and deposition in fluidised Dr Jie Ding, who joined the SE Asia Research Dr Daqing “Tommy” Tang, who arrived in pyroclastic flows. Pete has explained that it is Group on 23rd July 2012 as a postdoctoral re- May 2012 from the Department of Petroleum a spin-off of work from his PhD, tied together searcher. She will be performing drainage analy- Geology & Engineering at the China University with the techniques they use in Clermont to sis using remote sensing imagery to identify the of Geosciences where he is a Lecturer in Struc- investigate fluidised currents. They take ig- tectonic activities in eastern Indonesia. She will tural Geology in the Department of Petroleum nimbrite material, heat it to about 400°C, and also carry out geomorphological analysis using Engineering. He is spending a year working churn it in the release vessel to get it mixed both remote sensing imagery and offshore multi- with Professor Ken McClay in the Fault Dynam- with air, and the ash-grade particles into sus- beam data to evaluate the role of tectonic uplift ics Research Group running analogue models pension. They are then released into the flume. on sediment supply to offshore basins. She ob- and working with the rest of the team. His re- The high pore-pressure generates the long tained her first degree in Geology from Sun Yat- search interests are in the Tectonic Evolution run-outs as seen in natural pyroclastic flows. sen Universty, China. Her PhD research at the of Sedimentary Basins, focusing on a wide va- He will be looking specifically at how large University of Cambridge focused on the model- riety of orogenic settings including extension, pumice clasts behave in these mixtures, re- ling of sediment supply, delivery and manage- collision, strike-slip and inversion. His research sulting stratigraphy, and scaling the results to ment in the Xihanshui River Basin, South Gan- includes field studies, analogue modelling and field analogues. The work will also look at the su, China, using a GIS-based modelling tool. the interpretation of 2D and 3D seismic data. response to the angle of the run-out surface. 42 Dr Emma Tomlinson Martin Menzies Over the last six years Emma Tomlinson has contributed to many aspects of Earth Scienc- es as both a NERC Research Officer and as a NERC post-doctoral researcher. In Septem- ber 2012 she leaves Royal Holloway to take up a lectureship at Trinity College Dublin. After graduating in 2001 with a first class degree from Bristol, Emma began a PhD on dia- monds with Adrian Jones at UCL. During her PhD she utilised high pressure experiments and LA-ICPMS in constraining diamond growth and Katla, Iceland with Simon Blockley(Geography the possible involvement of carbonatitic and Department) and Thor Thordarsson (Edinburgh) silicate melts/fluids in their formation. Her PhD diamond work was published in four papers in EPSL, GCA and Lithos with three other diamond Field sampling in Thorsmark, Iceland papers being published during her post-doctoral time at RHUL In 2006 Emma was employed which offered several opportunities in research as Research Officer to manage the ICP-AES/ and teaching. Emma co-supervised three PhD MS facility in Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway. students, collaborated closely with European During the next two years Emma got involved in colleagues, carefully archived tephra samples, teaching laboratory and field classes in environ- and undertook fieldwork in Iceland, Germany, mental inorganic analysis and supervising the Greece, Turkey and Italy. Day to day research Florida case study and other regional field trips. focused on the careful selection, preparation, In 2008 the success of the NERC volcanic ash and analysis of volcanic particles/ash in the pur- Consortium brought in five PhDs and a PDRA suit of magma compositional data. Much of her position. Emma was appointed because of her NERC funded research is already in press or in LA-ICPMS skills, her work with small particles/ preparation in GCA and JVGR with two landmark solid inclusions, and her publication record. GCA papers on the Katla eruptions (Iceland) and During the summer of 2008 she worked along- Campi Flegrei eruptions (Italy). As an Honor- Maar lake at Coli Albani, Rome with Mauro Rosi side Wolfgang Müller as the new LA-ICPMS ary Research Fellow at Royal Holloway, Emma (Univ Pisa), and Guido Giordano was installed in the Department. Over the next will continue to be involved in RESET research. (Roma Tre) three years Emma played a pivotal role in the tephra work package of the NERC Consortium, 43 then completed his doctorate at Cambridge Sad News with S R Nockolds on Indian Charnockites. Despite limited facilities, Bob demonstrated Professor Bob Howie his remarkable tenacity and perseverance in 1923–2012 his research completing large numbers of rock and laboriously separated mineral analyses. Derek Blundell and Nick Walsh The origin of charnockites was then a source It is with great sadness that we report the of geological controversy (were they igneous death of Professor Bob Howie on 1Oth March or metamorphic?) and Bob was able to dem- 2012. Professor Howie was one of the archi- onstrate the igneous origin for these rocks. tects and founders of our present Department In 1953 Bob was appointed to a lectureship in when the three Geology Departments from Manchester. It was here that he started his col- Bedford, Chelsea and King’s Colleges amalga- laboration with W A Deer (then Head of Depart- mated and moved to Royal Holloway in 1985. ment in Manchester) and Jack Zussman. This Bob Howie was born on 4th June 1923 in Ol- collaboration (and friendship) lasted the remain- ney, N Bucks and grew up on a nearby farm. der of his life and resulted in the publication in His parents were Scottish and his father had 1962 of the 5-volume “Rock Forming Minerals”. moved south from Ayrshire after the first World The first two editions sold more than 125,000 War. He was educated at Bedford school and copies. This monumental work is the bedrock in 1941 at the age of 18 Bob had cycled over of modern mineralogy and established the na- Bob Howie (lower left) at his 80th birthday party to the nearby Cardington air base to volun- tional and international reputation and acclaim in 2004, with Alec Smith (lower right). Behind them from L to R: Jake Hancock, Dave Alderton, teer. He joined up and was sent to Edinburgh for the authors. Bob made a massive contri- Nick Walsh, Martin Menzies and specialized in meteorology. His years in bution to the work, which is still being revised and Rab Colvine the RAF were eventful – and dangerous – he and updated, together with the student edition. sailed across the Atlantic with U boats lurking, In 1962 Bob was appointed Reader and later the “traditionalist” attitudes of the College hi- flew aerobatics in a Tiger Moth aircraft in Sas- Professor at King’s College, London and he erarchy. On appointment he was asked if, in katchewan and narrowly escaped death when remained here until the merger of the King’s, view of his disability, was there anything spe- a Halifax bomber that was attempting to take Bedford and Chelsea departments to our De- cific he needed. Bob asked only for permis- off brushed the top of the hut he was in and partment at Royal Holloway in 1985. Bob sion to park his car in the very limited King’s car crashed into the sea. He was posted to Gibraltar was appointed Lyell Professor of Geology park as commuting would be difficult. The Col- and then contracted polio. He was bed ridden at King’s College and he brought this post to lege agreed to this but the College Secretary for a year and was left permanently disabled. Royal Holloway with the departmental merger. (who ran everything) asked “how many days a week did he need to park”. Bob said “every Bob was invalided out of the air force and When appointed to King’s he had been went to Trinity College Cambridge where he day” to which the College Secretary exclaimed warned by the then Head of Department (the in horror “you cannot come in every day – why read Natural Sciences, Chemistry, Geology distinguished sedimentologist J H Taylor) about and Mineralogy. He graduated in 1950 and can’t you work at home like everybody else”. 44 Bob told him he could not do chemical analy- Royal Holloway was fraught with difficulty and sis at home – it ruined the dining room carpet. faced considerable opposition. This was es- At King’s the extent and scope of Bob’s con- pecially so at King’s where the College was tribution was recognized. He continued to reluctant to give up anything but unwilling to publish his research output on mineralogical provide real support to a new enlarged Geol- assemblages and also revised the “Rock Form- ogy Department. Although Bob had spent so ing Minerals” with his co-authors (it became much of his time at King’s and was a loyal sup- a 10 volume work). He was principal editor of porter of the College, he recognised the merg- the Mineralogical Abstracts from 1971 to 2003 er was the best option. King’s College had a contributing many thousands of abstracts to the great reputation – but for Geology it was out of journal. He was heavily involved with the Min touch and out of money. At King’s and within Soc and was President from 1978 to 1980. He the University, Bob guided the merger through was awarded a Doctor of Science from Cam- many difficult times and his contribution was appreciated. He also succeeded in maintain- bridge University in 1974, the Murchison Medal ily. Fortunately, I did rightly conclude that it was by the Geological Society in 1976 and the Pub- ing great respect from the senior management at King’s and was appointed a Fellow of King’s an extra large diamond and I was subsequently lic Service Award from the Mineralogical Soci- offered a place. Those were real interviews! ety of America in 1999. In addition he was very College. To his colleagues Bob was a loyal active in University of London politics from the and much respected academic. He brought 2) A trip to Skye was the highlight of the 3rd 1970s until near his retirement, acting as Dean to Royal Holloway a national and international year at King’s and as part of this we undertook a of Science from 1979 to 1983 and as chairman reputation and spent two years with us to estab- fairly arduous 8 mile trek across part of the Cuil- of Academic Council from 1983 to 1986. His lish the Department before he retired in 1987. lins, examining gabbros on the way. Bob obvi- contribution was much respected – his stead- Dave Alderton knew Bob Howie when he was ously did not have the mobility to accompany us fast integrity and ‘what you see and hear is what his undergraduate lecturer, then PhD supervi- but he was waiting at the end of our route in the you get’ approach in his dealings with academ- sor at King’s College and colleague in the ear- Sligachan Inn and had generously and thought- ics was a welcome change in the murky waters ly days at RHUL He has three stories to tell: fully lined up a welcome row of beers for us to quench our thirst. Those were real field trips! of academic politics. Many senior academics “1) My first encounter was when I was inter- (and others) will also have abiding memories of viewed by Bob for entrance to King’s College to 3) Bob often used to bring what appeared his offers of ‘a lift up to Senate House’ A lift read Geology. As part of the interview he pulled to be a walking stick to our lectures. In fact it in Bob’s car was a never to be forgotten ‘Al- out a relatively large crystal from his waistcoat was a sword stick and when aroused he would ton Towers’ type experience, Bob had learned pocket and asked me to identify it. I managed withdraw the blade and brandish it above to fly before he drove a car – and it showed. to remember most of Moh’s scale of hardness our heads. Those were real professors!” Bob also made a substantive contribution and he proceeded to find an example of each of Dave also recalls that Bob had a mineral towards the establishment of the new Depart- the relevant minerals as we went up the scale named after him – howieite – a rare honour. ment at Royal Holloway. The merger of the seeing which scratched which. I started to Discovering one new mineral can be consid- three small Geology Departments from King’s, panic though when the unknown mineral even ered an achievement, but finding three in the Bedford and Chelsea into the department at scratched number 9 on the scale (ruby) fairly eas- same rock is a unique event. So it was in the 45 mid-1960s when Agrell and colleagues found London a lot faster than you anticipated! Bob’s three completely new silicates whilst study- office was from an “Indiana Jones” set piled high Gerald Friedman ing metamorphic rocks from the Franciscan with books, journals, lenses, abstracts (because Derek Blundell of California. But once they had characterized he compiled Mineralogical Abstracts), rocks and I have to report the sad news of the death them they then had to propose some names. of course many, many superb samples of ex- of Professor Gerald Friedman on 26th No- The criteria used to name a new mineral are otic minerals sent to him from around the world. vember, 2011 at the age of 90. He was a stu- varied, but one of the most common is to use On many occasions he was either behind a dent in the Geology Department of Chelsea the name of an illustrious mineralogist. It was pile on the floor surrounded by minerals etc. As College in the late 1940s. He was one of a the time that the mineralogy book by Deer, a professor at Royal Holloway he maintained group of people at Chelsea whose education Howie and Zussman was becoming the stand- the Min Soc library in the Department. Bob is had been halted by the war, many of whom ard treatise on rock forming minerals and they a sad loss, he was a pre-eminent mineralogist went on to lead very distinguished careers. decided to name the three new minerals after with a vast knowledge of minerals and rocks these three authors. There already existed the from around the world. I treasure the books and Initially he worked as a geochemist and pe- mineral hauyne, so under normal circumstanc- minerals, especially the large zoned sapphire, trologist in the Appalachians and the Canadian es the similarity of the names might have ruled he left in my office when he left for Yorkshire.” Shield and then as a research geologist and director of sedimentology research at the Amoco out howieite. Clearly the members of the new Professor Alec Smith, the second of the three Research Laboratory in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He minerals committee of the International Min- founders of the Department in 1985, now retired took up a teaching post at Rensselaer Poly- eralogical Association had a sense of humour! and living in Denmark, “remembers Bob as a technic Institute from 1964 to 1984 and went Martin Menzies remembers that “Professor great friend and a fine scientist who bore his dis- on to join the faculty at the City University of Bob Howie from King’s was the first Lyell Profes- ability, painful as it must have been, without seek- New York, Brooklyn, where he developed his sor at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College ing sympathy or even special consideration.” research interests in carbonate deposits, and in 1985. As a new lecturer at RHBNC I was in As the third of the three founders, Derek regional stratigraphy, with around 500 research awe of meeting one of the best known/greatest BlundellI “suspected that Bob always regard- publications to his name. He retired in 2004, but mineralogists in the world. For many of us (who ed me as a bit of an upstart geophysicist who continued his research on the sedimentology were undergraduates in the 1960–1970s) there knew very little about geology (and he was and stratigraphy of Palaeozoic deposits and on were three mineralogists – Deer (Cambridge), right) but he was always very patient with me evaporite and carbonate deposition worldwide. Howie (King’s) and Zussman (Manchester), whenever I asked him questions that showed He served as an officer for the American As- authors of the world renowned treatise “Rock up my ignorance. However, as one who has sociation of Petroleum Geologists, the Geologi- forming Minerals”. Bob remarked many times done his fair share of data analysis, I have cal Society of America, the National Associa- that my copy of DH&Z was good and worn after the utmost regard for Bob’s pioneering work tion of Geoscience Teachers and as President years of use at Aberdeen and Cambridge, so in making so many geochemical analyses of SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology and when he retired he gave me a signed copy of that were the platform on which the research chief editor of the Journal of Sedimentary Pe- the latest edition. As I recall we were all a bit of Deer, Howie and Zussman was based. trology (now JSR). He won many awards, in- wary of taking a ride to London with Bob be- cluding the SEPM Twenhofel Medal, the Ameri- cause his car was either stationary outside the can Geological Institute’s 2005 Legendary Department or flat out on the A30 and you got to Geoscientist Award, the Geological Society of 46 America’s Mary C. Rabbit Memorial Medal, and the AAPG Sidney Powers Memorial Medal. His other major interest was in the History of Ge- ology and he gave decades of service to the History of the Earth Sciences Society (HESS). Throughout his long and illustrious career he remained a staunch supporter of the Geology Department at Chelsea and subsequently when we joined with Bedford and King’s Geology De- partments and moved to Royal Holloway. I have been grateful to him on many occasions for his help and advice since we first met in 1976

. Kayleigh Sugar 1989–2012 Kayleigh Sugar was tragically killed in the early hours of March 3rd 2012 after being struck by a car whilst crossing the A30 outside the College. Kayleigh was a popular and talent- ed student who was also Lyell Society Presi- dent in 2010–11. She was working towards Tree planting for Kayleigh an MSci degree in Environmental Geoscience and was expected to do extremely well, hav- Dave Waltham ing already been awarded a 1st class degree On Friday 8th May, the Department held a at BSc level in our examinations meetings last short ceremony to plant a cherry tree in the summer. Her popularity can be judged from Queen’s Building Quad in memory of Kayleigh the fact that nearly 60 staff, students and ex- Sugar, our 4th year student who was killed in a students from this department attended her road accident in March. The ceremony was at- funeral which was held on Friday March 16th tended by staff and students as well as a large in Kayleigh’s home town of Pontypridd in number of members of Kayleigh’s family who South Wales. Kayleigh will be deeply missed came from South Wales especially to attend. by all of us who were privileged to know her. A permanent plaque will be placed under the tree later in the Summer.

47 CONTENTS

Page 49. Research publications

49. Regional Geology and Tectonics

50. Old academics don’t retire . . .

51. Methane emissions from dinosaurs – Euan Nisbet

51. New PhD Research Projects

Home Conferences Events Fieldwork People

48 Research Publications Volume 1A Through the year, at least 60 scientific pa- Ch 1. David Roberts and Bert Bally “Re- pers have been published by members of the gional geology and tectonics of sedimentary Department on a wide range of Earth Sci- basins” ence topics. These include a major new trea- Ch 2. Mary Fowler “The Earth: Core, mantle tise on “Regional Geology andTectonics”, ed- and crust” ited by Dave Roberts and Bert Bally, described below, and contributions made by retired Ch 3. Andrew Kerr and Martin Menzies members of staff. Amongst the more enter- “Phanerozoic volcanism” taining is a paper by Ewan Nisbet on meth- Ch 4. David Roberts and Bert Bally “Some ane emissions from Cretaceous dinosaurs. remarks on basins and basin classification and Regional Geology and tectonostratigraphic megasequences” Ch 14. Peter Burgess “A brief review of de- Tectonics velopments in stratigraphic forward modelling” Edited by David Roberts and Ch 16. Daniel Le Heron, Jonathan Craig, Bert Bally Owen Sutcliffe and Robert Whittington “Late Volume 1 Principles of Geologic Analysis Ordovician glaciogenic reservoir heterogeneity: An example from the Murzuq Basin, Libya” Volume 2 Phanerozoic rift systems and sedimentary basins Ch 25. Jonathan Wu, Ken McClay, Paul Whitehouse and Tim Dooley “4D analogue Volume 3 Phanerozoic passive margins, modelling of transtensional pull-apart basins” cratonic basins and global tectonic maps Ch 26. Mary Fowler “Ocean floor tectonics” A major new treatise published by Elsevier Ch 7. Cynthia Ebinger “Evolution of the Cenozoic East African rift system: cratons, Visiting Professor David Roberts and his plumes, and continental breakup” colleague Bert Bally (Rice University) have Volume 1B recently produced the first volume, entitled Ch 2. David Roberts and Bert Bally “From “Principles of Geologic Analysis”, of an out- rifts to passive margins: A continuum of exten- Volume 1C standing new treatise on “Regional Geology sion” Ch 4. William Bosworth, Philippe Huchon and and Tectonics” This is the first of a 3-volume Ch 5. S.M. Khalil and “Structur- Ken McClay “The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden set but, having taken six years to put togeth- Ken McClay al control on syn-rift sedimentation, northwest- basins” er, it has grown to become three parts: vol- ern Red Sea margin, Egypt” umes 1A, 1B and 1C. A significant number of Ch 25. Bert Bally, David Roberts, D. Sawyer the authors come from present or past mem- Ch 6. Dan Bosence “Carbonate dominated and A. Sinkewich “Tectonics and basin maps bers of the Department at Royal Holloway: marine rifts” of the world” 49 Old academics don’t retire ... was rejected. He retired in 2001 and moved to Together with co-author Mike Crow, his paper Devon. However, his involvement in hydroge- on the “Structure of Sumatra and its implica- Derek Blundell ology has continued unabated and he edited tions for the tectonic assembly of Southeast Amongst the recent publications from the De- Geological Society Special Publications 225 on Asia and the destruction of Palaeotethys” was partment, there are three papers written by John “200 Years of British Hydrogeology” in 2004. selected for the “Island Arc Award for 2012”. Mather and Ted Rose, who also edited Geolog- Bill Chaloner FRS joined the Department John Wright was the Geology Curator at ical Society Special Publications 362: ”Military as Emeritus Professor of Palaeobotany in Chelsea College until moving to Royal Holloway Aspects of Hydrogeology” that includes their 1995 when he retired as Head of the School during the merger in 1985. Here he undertook papers. It served to remind me that a number of Biological Sciences. As a world leader in the immense task of putting together the three of former academics who retired some years the use of fossil plants as a proxy for past cli- separate collections from Bedford, Chelsea and ago are not truly retired but have turned their mates, he works closely with Margaret Collin- King’s to make it the magnificent resource that efforts to doing all the research that they never son, Howard Falcon-Lang and Andrew Scott. we have today. As a palaeontologist with par- had time to do when they were full-time staff. Howard has recently named the fossil tree ticular interests in Jurassic ammonites and their As well as being an eminent palaeontologist Chaloneroxylon in his honour – see page 18.. stratigraphic significance, he remains busy in his office in the Bowyer Annexe working on the and an outstanding teacher, Ted Rose was Tony Barber was at Chelsea College for heavily involved as a military geologist, ef- many years before transferring to Royal Hollo- collections he made throughout his career that fectively becoming the Chief Geologist for the way as Reader in Structural Geology during the he had not previously had the time to examine MOD and attaining the rank of Colonel in the merger in 1985. He was instrumental in setting properly. He is a regular contributor to the pub- Territorial Army. Ted retired in 2003 but remains up the University of London Southeast Asia Re- lications page of the Departmental Newsletter. a leading authority on military geology. His lat- search Group in 1982 funded by a consortium Dan Bosence formally retired as Professor of est work is a paper in the April 2012 issue of of oil companies. He led the Research Group Carbonate Sedimento;ogy a few years ago but Geoscientist. John Mather joined the Depart- until he retired in 1994 when Robert Hall took you would never know as he continues to teach ment in 1990 as Lyell Professor, having already over as Director. But Tony’s very active geologi- and supervise research students as well as con- established his reputation as a hydrogeologist cal research in Southeast Asia has continued, tinue his research on carbonate sedimentology. with the British Geological Survey. During the for example, as joint editor of a major book on Oh yes, having retired in 1998, my own re- 1990s he was much involved in the Public En- “the Geology of Thailand”, published by the search is nowadays about finding a plau- quiry into the proposed underground storage Geological Society in 2011. This is the first sible glacially-forced tectonic mecha- of radioactive waste beneath the Sellafield site comprehensive English-language account of nism for late Neogene surface uplift and and established that the groundwater regime the geology of Thailand to appear in 60 years. subsidence around the North Atlantic. there was potentially unsafe. The proposal

50 Methane emissions from New PhD Research Projects the oil industry, but unfortunately more about pipelines and mechanical engineering than dinosaurs In October 2011 we asked all our new re- geology. Having realised that the very techni- search students to introduce themselves Euan Nisbet comments on cally oriented work on the well sites was not and their new research projects, to keep the what I expected of being a geologist, I left the the response to his recent paper rest of us up to date. Here are the results: Wilkinson, D.M., Nisbet, E.G. and Ruxton, G.D., industry. I am happy to get into this project at 2012. Could methane produced by sauropod Five new research students joined the South- Royal Holloway and gain a great opportunity dinosaurs have helped drive Mesozoic climate east Asia Research Group, led by Robert Hall and challenge in sedimentary and palaeogeo- warmth? Current Biology 22 (9). R292–R293 graphic research. Reading about this exciting project based in Indonesia, I was immediate- “I’m astonished our little note went vi- Provenance of the Banda Arc sand- ly enthusiastic in seeing some similarities to ral – very odd – I guess there are lots of what I have done and what could have been- 7-year old boys out there. Dionosaur meth- stones: tectonic models and the next step at a stage of my previous work ane makes 607 entries on google news. Mesozoic paleogeography – The UK Daily Mail actually made up a quote Sebastian Zimmermann from my co-author, and then had lots of blog- I am from Cologne in Germany. I finished my gers attacking their own invented quote. diploma (MSc) in Geology/Palaeontology in US Fox News went even further – they 2009. My final thesis “Local variability of petrog- mixed us up with a splat by the China Youth raphy and properties in Tertiary silica sands” Daily some years ago and said our paper focused on quartz sands in an open pit quarry claimed dinos went extinct because of meth- close to Cologne. During my studies, I also ane pooping. Proves Fox is a commie plant. carried out geological mapping at the border But more realistically, this is a ploy by the between former West and East Germany in or- Welsh rugby team. A dinosaur with bloat der to better understand the sedimentological would take off and float like a zeppelin. and tectonic evolution of the “Germanic Trias- The only modern equivalent is a hoatzin sic”. I enjoyed the research within the stratig- bird which cladistically is a theropod dino- raphy and the historical development within a saur (OK, not a sauropod, but a saurischian). small area close to my parent’s home town. The Banda Arc is a U-curved region in East- Having completed the diploma (MSc), I took As you can imagine, now that the dinosaur is up ern Indonesia. It consists of the outer arc is- a year off in order to pursue my passion for and floating like a zeppelin, and eructating meth- lands and an inner volcanic arc and is building travelling, meeting new people and learning ane, all it needs to do is clash its teeth together a geologically complex area. Some of the main about new cultures. After that (in 2010) I started and you have a proper Welsh dragon emitting fire islands are Sumba, Timor, Tanimbar, and Ser- working as a field engineer for Schlumberger (Chinese dragons just waddle). It can of course am. There is still some important information Oilfield Services in the Surface Welltesting Seg- hindgut ferment also, and propel itself forwards. missing, how the area developed geologically ment. While doing this job I learned a lot about Now that’s a real way to start a rugby match!” and palaeogeographicaly within the last million 51 years. Many models have been discussed in Biak, the Biak Basin and their setting the past and my aim is to find information to in the Sorong Fault Zone, Indonesia – provide evidence for a better understanding. David Gold Using Heavy Mineral analysis and detrital zircon U-Pb dating I will try to better understand I am a new member of the Southeast Asia the character of the basement beneath, and the Research Group who began my PhD project provenance of, the Mesozoic sandstones. New in the summer, 2011 under the supervision of. results will improve the understanding of the Ian Watkinson and Robert Hall. I had recently geological evolution of the area. As the Banda completed my undergraduate degree in Pal- Arc does have a hydrocarbon potential, these aeobiology and Sedimentology at the Univer- data will also be valuable for the oil industry. sity of Portsmouth, where I focused my dis- sertation on carbonates and their diagenesis. I have just returned from an introductory field This provided a useful background before un- Enjoying some lunch with the locals trip to Timor. Initial samples for future labora- dertaking my PhD project at Royal Holloway. tory processing were collected. An observa- My project is based around the small island tion about the area is providing many ideas Having completed the first stage of my field- of Biak belonging to the Indonesian province about how to continue and maybe which is- work, I am looking forward to returning to the of West Papua on which I have just complet- lands could be next for getting further sam- island for a more in-depth investigation in ed the first stage of my fieldwork. The island ples. However, the complex geology of Timor some challenging environments and to con- is situated just to the south of where the So- also shows that it will be an exciting chal- tinue to grow as a professional geoscientist. lenge and motivation to get into the project rong Fault Zone is interpreted to run between in detail. I am looking forward to working and Sulawesi in the west and Papua New Guinea studying here in this great new environment. in the east. Activity along this Fault Zone is thought to be responsible for the opening of a sedimentary basin just to the southwest of Biak. My project will aim to correlate what is seen in outcrop on land with the results of seismic and multibeam surveys undertaken in the offshore basin. This will be done in order to understand the basin’s formation and tectonic evolution in relation to the nearby Sorong Fault and to investigate whether a viable petroleum system is in place. The island is dominated by carbonates which could make for good, although complex, labyrinthine petroleum reservoirs.

52 Extension and exhumation in North and East Sulawesi – Eldert Advocaat I am also one of the new members of the SE Asia Research Group. I completed my MSc Geology at Utrecht University, Netherlands, in which I conducted two projects which both link to subduction rollback, extension and exhumation. The first project focused more on sedimentary and structural geology in a Cretaceous–Paleo- gene supra-detachment basin in Central Anato- lia, Turkey. The lower part of the stratigraphy recorded the extensional history of the basin and the exhumation of the adjacent metamorphic I am eating a Durian while Alfend is laughing. blocks, whilst the upper part of the stratigraphy Besides being puzzled by orogenic geologi- showed the compressional deformation which Royal Holloway, “Extension and exhumation cal processes, I am equally interested in music, affected the area during the Eocene–Oligocene. in North and East Sulawesi”, together with In- with a very wide musical taste, starting from tra- donesian counterpart and fellow research stu- ditional Eastern Mediterranean music, continu- For the second project I was involved with dent Alfend Rudyawan. It will be a nice con- ing via 15th century pre-Reformation English the palaeomagnetic laboratory “Fort Hoofd- tinuation of my interest in field-based studies choral music and 19th century Romantic music dijk”, focused on the two-stage rotation history of (late stage) orogenic processes. Together (Mahler!) to end up at Jazz and Techno. I have of Sardinia, for which I sampled 500 cores from we will investigate the role of extension in Su- sung in choirs since the age of 7 and I am deter- Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous limestones. lawesi, a region that has long been interpret- mined to continue singing in choirs in England. A wealth of data has been published about the ed as the result of convergence and collision. second stage of rotation which is interpreted to However, SRTM and multibeam imagery, 2D be the result of slab rollback. However, only a seismic sections and palaeomagnetic data in- The tectonostratigraphy of the very limited amount of data is available about dicate that extension linked to slab rollback Banggai-Sula Spur, Sulawesi – the first stage of rotation and many tectonic re- might play an important role. A challenging Alfend Rudyawan constructions have simply ignored it. Our aim field campaign will be launched for next year, was to restrain the timing and cause of this to map and date structures, determine the age This is the second time that I have joined first stage of rotation, and determine whether and rates of young exhumation, and identify the SEARG. I graduated with a masters degree Sardinia was an independant microplate or nature of faulting and age of fault movements. from Royal Holloway in 2009 and my thesis was part of a bigger plate (and if so, which?). The In advance, the preparation will consist of a related to the tectonostratigraphy of the Bang- results obtained are very promising, but need critical review of the existing (and sometimes gai-Sula Spur, based on seismic and multi- further sampling to become more robust. very old, partly Dutch and German) geologi- beam interpretation. It is an area east of Su- lawesi where a little bit of everything in geology I will conduct my new research project ai cal literature, maps and imagery, together with newly obtained multibeam and 2D seismic data. is there to be observed and some of the well- 53 The stratigraphy, sedimentology and North and East Arm of Sulawesi and When old and young meet: old volcaniclastics provenance of Mesozoic–Cenozoic Banggai-Sula intruded by younger igneous rocks and sedimentary rocks, Sarawak, Malay- known major structures in Indonesia persist. covered by thick mollasse sediment in the sia – Tim Breitfeld background After a year’s break, I signed up for my PhD I completed a Diploma in Geology/Palaeontol- ogy, at Freiberg, Germany in 2010. During my programme along with my colleague Eldert the area, linking it with regional-scale evolution. Advokaat to investigate the role of the exten- study I carried out geological fieldwork in Austria, sion and exhumation in North and East Su- Later on we will incorporate some of the seis- at the coast of the Baltic Sea, in the Erzgebirge, lawesi where some of the complexities in the mic, multibeam and other geophysical data in the Harz Mountains and at the border between geology of Indonesia exist. We have already and utilities to wrap around our fieldwork data. Germany and Austria, focusing on sedimentolo- completed our reconnaissance fieldwork and Hopefully the result will give a major impact gy, structural geology and geochemistry of igne- we have found some unexpected facts that to understand the geology of the area a lit- ous/metamorphic rocks. Most recently I worked raise a number of ideas to follow in the future. tle more comprehensively. For now, we are in in the Earth Sciences Department at Royal the middle of preparing the samples that we Holloway as a lab assistant for the SEARG. To validate some of the major structures and to have already collected and are planning for Sarawak is one of the least well-known and confirm their age and the nature of movements next year’s fieldwork programme, along with studied parts of the Sundaland region. Though with regards to basin formation in northern Su- reading a lot of references (and I think I need the region was mapped intensely by coloni- lawesi and the Gorontalo Basin will be one of to learn the Dutch language). It is going to be al surveys, oil companies and the Malaysian the important aspects of our PhD programme. so much fun and challenging, wish us luck! The role of sedimentation and depositional con- Geological Survey in the 1950’s to 1970’s figuration, together with precise dating from the there has been relatively little work published. young igneous rocks, will also be key points to There are no tectonic models to explain the pursue our aim and thus unveil the geology of colliding of blocks or give a satisfying provenance for the blocks or a timeframe for the

54 Standing in front of Gunung Santubong, Cross-bedding in medium grained Plateau sand- Redbed Member of the Upper Silantek Telok Pasir stone at Telok Asam, Bako Formation, Bukit Begunan collisions. Currently the region is typically miss- cliffs and some river sections were examined. ing from tectonic reconstructions of SE Asia. Around 70 samples were collected for further The stratigraphy of southern Sarawak, es- analysis. Heavy mineral analysis, zircon dating, pecially during the late Cretaceous–Cenozoic, palynological and micropalaeontological dating is poorly dated and there is little known about of the sedimentary rocks and radiometric dating the sources for the sediment. The relationship of igneous rocks that contributed to the sedi- between the terrestrial/marginal marine sediments and intruded them will help to define the ments south of the Lupar Line, an E–W striking depositional history of southern Sarawak and fault zone approximately 30 km wide, and the improve tectonic models of the region and the deep water deposits of the Belaga Formation understanding of the role of the Lupar Line. in the north is unknown. Further the role of the Currently the samples have arrived at Roy- Lupar fault zone as a tectonic boundary be- al Hollowaay and are being processed.. tween the two different regions is unclear. This A parallel study by the Minerals and Ge- project will investigate the age of the terrestrial oscience Department of Sarawak on the sediments south of the Lupar Line using zircon deep water deposits of the Belaga Forma- Gunung Serapi with “Kayan Range” west of and the provenance by using heavy minerals tion will provide important information about Kuching, the capital of Sarawak analysis. Field observations were made dur- the stratigraphy north of the Lupar Line. ing a two-week expedition to Sarawak, in collaboration with the Minerals and Geoscience see account of 2012 fieldwork on Department of Sarawak. Road cuts, sandstone page 31

55 The following projects indicate the powerful and very versatile technique such as cation impurities. The use of ≤100 μm re- range of research topics pursued with- LA-ICPMS. I really find that the project is amaz- solved chemical signals in deep ice will con- in the Earth Sciences Department. ing. Collaborating with Alfred Wegener Institute tribute to more accurate dating of ice cores. . for Polar and Marine Sciences in Bremerhaven and the Centre for Ice and Climate at the Niels High resolution analysis of Green- Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, the The potential of dyke and sill land ice cores using UV-LA-ICPMS project aims to achieve several goals such as: emplacement to form petroleum Damiano Della Lunga Analysing with unprecedented resolution ice reservoirs core domains that have recorded rapid climate I started my PhD in geochemistry in October change events, focusing on the D–O (Dans- Zoe Barnett 2011 under the supervision of Dr. Wolfgang gaard–Oeschger) events, with particular atten- I graduated in 2011 from Royal Holloway with Müller. I graduated from the University of Flor- tion to Greenland Stadial GS22 (86 kyr ago) an MSci degree in Geoscience. It all began ence (Italy) in October 2010. As an undergrad- for which NGRIP samples have been granted. when I became enthusiastic about the study uate, my area of interest focused on isotope of volcanoes, and after reading studies and geochemistry and radiometric dating, which I Optimization of UV-LA-ICPMS methodology, particularly with reference to depth-profling and watching documentaries on the subject I was further deepened doing my bachelor thesis on inspired to pursue a degree in geology. Geolo- Ar-Ar laserprobe dating analysis of Miocene assessing contamination of the sample’s surface. Establish the best strategy for calibrations gy fills me with great enthusiasm, especially as volcaniclastic layers in Falterona Sandstone the knowledge I have gained from studying the in the Sieve valley (province of Florence). of ICPMS net counts per second data into concentration data. Preparation of ice standards. subject means I am closer to fulfilling my dream For my master thesis I analysed thin sections of becoming a volcanologist, but my particular from the area of the so-called “Tunguska event”, Effects of grain boundary processes during interest in this field of study is the physical proc- in central Siberia, in order to identify signs of recrystallization of deep ice. This process is esses and systems that occur within volcanoes. shock metamorphism. Using optical microscope, especially pronounced for the very deep parts of ice cores where strong visible stratigraphic As a 4th year undergraduate I carried out an scanning electron microscope and micro-raman independent project entitled “The mechanics of spectroscopy I succeeded in finding a good suite layering progressively disappears and very large ice crystals (1–10 cm diameter) start to the 1783 Laki eruption, South Iceland”. This was of shock metamorphism indicators. This result a numerical modelling based project on Laki is important because it opens new perspec- appear. Because deep ice is most interesting palaeoclimatologically, it is key to under- during which I had to hypothesise and produce tives on the topic since it is the first evidence of results using model representations of stress shock ever found in the area, despite one hun- standing in detail the mechanism of recrystallization and its effect on climate proxies. fields. This project will hopefully be published dred years of studies carried out to clarify one in the near future. As I very much enjoyed this of the most famous recent geological mysteries. Improving identification of annual layers for project and all of its elements, I decided upon I was very happy to apply for the UV-LA- more accurate dating of glacial ice cores. The postgraduate studies. The PhD project that I will ICPMS project on Greenland ice cores, be- most recent Greenland chronology GICC05 be undertaking is related to volcanotectonics cause it couples laboratory analysis at high-res- uses a variety of proxies like visual stratig- whereby I will be generating computer models olution and paleoclimatological reconstruction. raphy (VS), electrical conductivity meas- showing how dyke and sill emplacement may Furthermore, I really wanted to work with a urements (ECM) and chemical anion and have the potential to form petroleum reservoirs. 56 Lasers and Neutrons to study atmos- a particle accelerator or a nuclear reactor to In May 2010 I graduated magna cum laude pheric aerosol chemistry generate the neutrons! The actual experiments presenting a masters thesis on tunable diode involve reflecting neutrons at the air/liquid inter- laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS), a Stephanie Jones face in order to study a thin layer at the surface. technique for measuring the concentration of I joined the Earth Sciences Department as Again, chemical reactions can be performed on methane in a gaseous mixture from landfills. a new PhD student in September 2011 and this thin layer (mimicking the layer formed on During my University studies in Italy I got both my supervisor is Dr. Martin King. My PhD is aerosol droplets) and the effects studied us- a theoretical and practical grounding in order somewhat different from others in that I will ing neutrons. I have recently been to a reactor to be able to deepen and process different spend the first two years of my research based neutron source, at the Institut Laue-Langevin in topics regarding natural and anthropological at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, just Grenoble, France to conduct my first neutron environments, but also to contribute to their south of Oxford, where I have a second su- reflectometry experiments. This was very ex- preservation and sustainable development pervisor, Dr. Andy Ward. The final year of my citing and worthwhile as I got to work on a neu- through dedicated research. I have taken spe- PhD will then be based at Royal Holloway. tron beam line and obtained some useful data cific courses on environmental pollution, geol- which will hopefully go towards a publication. The overall subject area of my PhD is atmos- ogy of substrata, hydrogeology and about pol- pheric chemistry. I will be investigating how lution damage on ecosystems. I specialized oxidation chemistry influences the cloud for- in subjects such Environmental Risk Analy- mation potential of aerosols. This is important Methane emissions in SE England: sis, Meteorology and Atmospheric Modelling. because the largest uncertainty in assessing deciphering regional sources and I held a year-long Research Grant, awarded the influence of aerosol on the global climate validating inventories by the Department of Chemical Engineer- is how aerosols contribute to cloud forma- Giulia Zazzeri ing, Industrial Chemistry and Materials’ Sci- tion and cloud radiative properties. Specifi- ence of Pisa University, from June 2010 to cally, I will study the oxidation of thin organic I began my PhD project in September 2011 un- June 2011, with the subject “Development of films on aerosol droplets using two techniques, der the supervision of David Lowry, Rebecca Methods to Measure Methane Flux from Natu- optical tweezing and neutron reflectometry. Fisher and Euan Nisbet. This project involves ral and Urban Area”, collaborating with a Re- many measurements of methane concentra- Optical tweezing is a laser based technique search Centre which is active in the sectors tion and carbon isotope content in the London of environmental and process engineering. which enables the study of single aerosol region, at local sources and at coastal back- droplets. Chemical reactions can be carried ground sites. Currently I am working through 15 My survey was particularly directed to the devel- out on the aerosol droplet and studied in real years of continuous methane measurements opment of reliable and cost-effective methods time using spectroscopy. Being based at the for the Royal Holloway site to understand the for measurements of gaseous emissions from Rutherford Appleton Laboratory means that causes of diurnal and seasonal variations. landfills. I was involved also in the meteorologi- I have access to the laser laboratories and a cal characterization of the area. In particular, I wide variety of optical equipment that will al- In November 2007 I gained my BA Diploma processed data to reconstruct the most frequent low me to conduct tweezing experiments. in Environmental Science, which included a or critical meteorological conditions affecting research project on monitoring quality of Tus- I am also using neutron reflectometry. This atmospheric pollution, and then locating those can rivers, to evaluate the ecological char- areas affected by the highest concentrations. calls for some slightly bigger kit, in the form of acteristics and functionality of watercourses. 57 Air pollutants with health and Kevin Clemitshaw and Dave Lowry. We are climate impacts planning to combine in-situ and field measurements for GHG such as CO2 as well as sam- Ivan Hernandez ple collection and laboratory work with desk-top I have a Bachelors degree in Biochemical Engi- analysis to interpret data recorded on different neering from the Celeya Institute of Technology time-scales. Work will also involve collabora- and a Masters in Environmental Biotechnology tion with the Forest Research examining ur- from the Research Centre for Advanced Studies in ban and rural differences in CO2. The overall the National Polytechnical Institute in México City. objectives are to understand the origins and long-term trends of the pollutants and GHGs, Being a Biochemical Engineer, I am inter- and predict changes in response to emis- ested in processes related to chemistry, bi- sion control measures. We want to analyze The large benthic foraminifera Operculina cumingii ology and biochemistry but always keep in data in terms of statistical summaries, tem- photo courtesy of Dr. Willem Renema mind the engineering component. Therefore poral trends, emissions, and air-mass origins. thermal events and the Eocene/Oligocene (EO) in my masters, I worked on greenhouse gas boundary, which marks the beginning of Earth’s Finally, an important aspect is the oppor- (GHG) production in Waste Stabilization Ponds most recent descent into ice-house conditions. tunity to address health- and climate-related (WSPs) in wastewater treatment systems By studying changes in ocean temperature air quality issues associated with landfill sites (WTSs). WSPs are commonly used in devel- over these key time intervals we will gain insight with the waste management industry, and with oping countries to treat municipal wastewa- into the effects of future anthropogenic-induced vehicle emissions with local authorities. I am ter. Often WTSs are composed of an aerobic warming, as well as providing constraints with excited about the challenges and opportuni- pond, a maturation pond and an intermediate which to test climate models. Foraminifera are a ties this next stage in my academic career will facultative pond. Our research was the first to well utilised source of geochemical proxy infor- bring, and am hopeful that my research will evaluate emissions of GHGs from these ponds. mation. However, studies have so far focused lead to improvements in the health of com- In México, the scientific community is very on planktic species which are short-lived and munities where I will conduct my research. concerned with global warming and in accord provide no direct seasonal proxy reconstruc- with the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, a nations. Because seasonality is thought to be a tional and reliable GHG inventory is necessary. The use of large benthic foraminifera key component of climate change, I chose to We were able to identify that in waste stabili- study large benthic foraminifera (LBF) – which zation ponds there are three defined regions in palaeoceanic reconstructions and may live for several years – therefore poten- and each one contributes an important quan- the implications of such reconstruc- tially providing a continuous record of tem- tity of GHG. Indeed, we found that in matura- tions for global climate variation. perature and pH information at a (sub)weekly tion ponds (which should not produce GHG) resolution when analysed by laser-ablation 2/ David Evans production can reach up to 1.3 g CH4/m day. inductively-coupled-plasma mass-spectrom- In October 2011 I began my PhD project with etry (LA-ICPMS). Although these organisms I am very interested in impacts on health and Wolfgang Müller, following from my MRes in form part of the marine benthos, they have a climate of air pollutants and GHG, the subjrct the Department. My research focuses on the similar peak abundance range to most plank- of my PhD research under the supervision of Eocene, including the early Paleogene hyper- tic species considered to be surface dwelling. 58 resent the best accessible analogue in the geo- tion Ltd. on enhancing oil production from a su- logical record to current global climate change, per-mature onshore oilfield located in the UK. there are several important differences that raise Improved production was achieved through even greater concerns regarding near future reservoir characterisation and 3D modelling. increases in ocean acidification and tempera- My PhD research relates to central Medi- ture. Foremost amongst these is the fact that terranean shallow-water carbonate systems pH lowering of the surface oceans by massive of the Cenozoic (Miocene). Analysis will be CO uptake was less damaging to Eocene reefs 2 based on onshore field data from Malta and because seawater chemistry was significantly offshore seismic and well data. The study ex- different. Specifically, the ratio of dissolved plores the Maltese Upper Coralline Limestone magnesium to calcium was much lower (cal- and assesses heterozoan and photozoan as- cium concentrations were much higher), which semblages and whether assemblage changes Nummulites, an Eocene LBF, sectioned ready for consequently meant that calcifying organisms analysis by laser ablation were a response to nutrient fluxes or climatic were still able to produce tests or shells. This is (ablation pathway shown in blue). variations. Features assessed will include; not the case at the present day, with the impli- facies and facies models, isotope geochemis- cation that reefs and calcifying ocean plankton Over the next three years I will extend this try, environmental proxies, and platform physi- may suffer in a way that has not previously been project in several ways: ography. The big question I hope to answer is experienced within the Cenozoic. By compar- what drives the transitions from heterozoan to • I am currently working towards produc- ing culturing experiments with results obtained photozoan carbonate assemblages. Once fac- ing a high resolution Eocene record using this from the fossil record we will attempt to bet- tors controlling carbonate systems have been technique ter constrain exactly how we can expect such appraised, forward numerical models will be • We will begin laboratory culturing of LBF marine communities to respond in the future. run to replicate aspects of this carbonate sys- in order to calibrate the sensitivity of the trace tem and, perhaps, better understand control- element chemistry of these organisms to ambi- ling factors. This research will also increase the ent seawater temperature, composition and Miocene shallow water carbonate understanding of target Cenozoic reservoirs acidification systems of the central Mediterranean and their seals in various platform settings. • We will compare our results to planktic Daniel Sultana foraminifera and molluscs by analysing coeval In 2010 I completed an MSc course at the samples of each Geodynamical Modelling of Rifting University of Aberdeen (UK) in Integrated Pe- As well as climate reconstruction, I am inter- troleum Geosciences. The course focused on Miguel Andrés-Martínez ested in understanding the effect of seawater geoscience skills needed for hydrocarbon ex- I was born in 1987 in Córdoba, a small city chemistry on the health of marine ecosystems ploration and production and focused on geol- located at the southern part of Spain. I first got in a high CO2 world. Although the early Eocene ogy, reservoir sedimentology and production involved with Geology there, when I was at hypethermals such as the Paleocene–Eocene geology. I carried out an end of year research high school, and I immediately became inter- Thermal Maximum (PETM) are thought to rep- project as an intern with SOSINA Oil Explora- ested in Seismology. I also became very keen

59 on Physics and Maths,so much so that when I visor). Finally, I will be modelling the interplay est and therefore my MSc thesis (with Dr Paola had to decide about what to study for my under- between tectonism and sedimentation in active Vannucchi as supervisor) on the interpretation graduate courses I could not decide between rift systems with the collaboration of a further of seismic lines acquired along the Tuscan–Lat- Geology and Physics. I finally started a Geol- co-supervisor, Prof. Peter Burgess. In Decem- ial margin by (IGM-CNR). The aim of my thesis ogy degree in 2005 at the University of Gra- ber I visited Geomar, where I met Prof. Ruepke was to provide a framework for the offshore/on- nada (another small city at the southern part and Prof. Phipps Morgan and discussed how to shore link for the opening of the Tyrrhenian Sea. of Spain). I took all the Geophysics courses model certain concepts. I am now in the phase After these stimulating experiences, I finally that were available and I also began to be in- of building the model and we will be compar- completed the MSc degree from the University terested in programming. When I finished my ing our results later to observations in several of Florence in December 2010. After one year undergraduate degree I felt that I did not have rift systems. I am very excited about working of collaboration with the CNR-ISMAR in Bolo- enough Physics background for a career in in collaboration with this research group and gna and the University of Florence for the ME- Geophysics and the Geology Masters course at to be able to do research in such an interest- DOC project, the right occasion came with the Granada would not be able to provide me with ing field as Modelling of the Earth’s dynamics. proposal of my PhD project. This is a seismic the knowledge I needed. Fortunately, I had the and forward modelling study. Gorontalo Bay is a chance to study for an MSc degree in Geology semi-enclosed sea located in eastern Indonesia at the University of California, Santa Barbara The tectono-stratigraphic evolution surrounded by the microcontinent, arc and ophi- through an exchange programme. In Santa of western Gorontalo Bay, Indonesia olite fragments of north and east Sulawesi. To Barbara Professors Chen Ji and Ralph Archu- Giovanni Pezzati the south and north are core complexes of Neo- leta introduced me to Seismology and helped gene to recent age (van Leeuwen et al., 2007; me a lot to get the necessary background. I I was born in 1984 in Florence and I started my Spencer, 2010, 2011) indicating rapid and sig- also learnt programming in MatLab and For- PhD project in January 2012 under the super- nificant exhumation on land synchronous with tran. While I was studying in Santa Barbara I vision of Prof Peter Burgess, Dr Marta Perez- subsidence in Gorontalo Bay. 2D regional seis- realized that I l did not only like Seismology but Gussinye and Prof Robert Hall. I began to be in- also other fields of the Earth Sciences strong- terested in seismics and marine geology whilst ly related with Physics, such as modelling. taking my MSc degree course in Geology in Flor- I began my PhD project in December 2011 with ence and during April 2010 I had the wonderful Marta Pérez-Gussinye as my supervisor. The opportunity to join the MEDOC Oceanographic PhD work is based on developing finite element Cruise. The purpose of this project, directed by codes to understand questions related to fault Dr.Cesar Ranero (CISIC), was to acquire new dynamics and rift system evolution. The origi- seismic data in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to improve nal codes were written by a group of research- our knowledge regarding the rifting and the ers including Prof. Ruepke, from Geomar Re- tectonic evolution of this sea. During an entire search Centre (Kiel, Germany) who is also one month on board the R/V Sarmiento De Gamboa of my co-supervisors. I will also work with finite I had the opportunity to work with marine geolo- element codes written by Dr. Hasenclever and gists and geophysicists. I found this interaction Prof. Phipps Morgan (who is also a co-super- so stimulating that I decided to focus my inter- Gorontalo Bay 3D multibeam map 60 mic lines, acquired across the bay show a thick ology. My results suggest one possibility for I am now learning the basic theory of rock de- Neogene succession which includes some spec- that process. I enjoyed studying and I came formation and fluid transport for numerical mod- tacular clinoform geometries. These clinoform to like geology, especially structural geology, elling by joining the lectures of the Petroleum strata contain much useful information about through fieldwork and technical discussion Geoscience MSc Course. I look forward to my the subsidence history of the area, but there is with my supervisor and the laboratory staff. research after this learning period and am really no information available from the basin about After finishing the master’s course in 2007, happy to be here to study with experienced peo- their age which must be inferred from geologi- I started working as a petroleum geologist in ple (staff and students) in a great environment. cal studies on land. The analysis of the stratal JOGMEC (Japanese governmental organi- geometries to characterize the basin is a pow- zation for underground resources), because erful instrument to get useful information about I considered that it would be one of the best Distribution and variability of green- the still unclear tectonic history of the region. ways to contribute to society through geology. house gases, ozone and nitrous ox- The aim of my PhD project is to apply qualitative My main task was to conduct risk assessment ide in the UK and quantitative seismic interpretation methods for both exploration and development projects Shirley Cade to analyze the 2D seismic lines and use these through geological analyses, for example interpretations to test models for the tectonic basin analysis, log interpretation, construc- I returned to the Department after com- evolution of the Gorontalo Bay area. With the tion of geological models, etc. I also joined pleting the Environmental Diagnosis and help of my supervisors I will apply multiple sce- the Geological Survey in fieldwork to gain Management MSc in August 2010. I am a nario basin modelling and stratigraphic forward new data for exploration projects and worked mature student, with two school age chil- modelling techniques to understand the accom- on an offshore rig as a well-site geologist. dren and a husband who travels often, so will be doing some of my work at home.. modation versus supply origins of clinoform Currently, by using the training system of JOG- stacking patterns and determine how these re- MEC and the support of supervisors Professors In January 2012 I started my PhD studies, late to basin subsidence and tectonic evolution. Agust Gudmundsson and Chris Elders, I have supervised by Kevin Clemitshaw, Dave Lowry started a PhD project here on “Permeability and Dr Sirwan Yamulki from Forest Research. Development and Fluid Transport in Fractured The subject, broadly, is the greenhouse gases, Permeability Development and Fluid Reservoirs”. It is generally difficult to estimate ozone and nitrous oxide, their distribution and Transport in Fractured Reservoirs fracture patterns in oil reservoirs. The fractures variability in the UK. These gases are also both pollutants with adverse effects on human health Tetsuzo Fukunari have a significant effect on the fluid flow in a reservoir. Although some geophysical techniques and crop yield. Ozone (O3) is generated in the I am from the Chiba-prefecture, the south- with high-quality 3D seismic data can be used to lower atmosphere as a secondary pollutant from eastern part of Japan. I started my geological visualize subsurface faults and fractures, most nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2), which are prod- career with kinematic analyses of metamorphic data do not have sufficient definition and cannot ucts of combustion and particularly from traffic. rocks at the Nagoya University under the su- detect most outcrop-scale factures. I would like This ozone generation from nitrogen oxides re- pervision of Prof Simon Wallis. The exhuma- to tackle this problem using structural geology quires light and warmth and therefore occurs tion process of high-pressure metamorphic field data and analytical and numerical mode- during the daytime and mainly in the summer rocks formed in the deeper part of subduc- ling. My goal is to reduce the uncertainty of res- but its creation can occur over a wide range of tion zones is one of the main questions in ge- ervoir simulation models on fractured reservoirs. distances and timescales. Ozone itself can be 61 transported on a local, regional or hemispherical Nitrous oxide (N2O), also known as laughing I am using software such as ArcGIS and Mat- scale, as can its precursors making it difficult to gas and used on a small scale as an anaes- lab to analyse existing datasets from air moni- control. Other factors such as weather and the thetic, is a by-product of some minor industrial toring networks across the UK. In addition, I presence of volatile organic compounds, which processes such as nylon production but the will be looking at these gases in more detail in facilitate the reaction, also affect its creation. main source is bacteria in soils and oceans a forest setting at Forest Research, with Alice

In the UK, we often receive air from the west which emit N2O when breaking down nitrates. Holt (Hampshire) and reviewing the computer with an elevated background ozone level, cre- The use and overuse of nitrogen-based fer- model, DNDC (Denitrification Decomposition), ated in the USA, and at other times, we receive tilisers, together with animal waste handling used to predict crop growth and emissions of polluted air from the east containing ozone pre- has resulted in an increase in N2O production nitrous oxide (amongst other factors) in a forest cursors generated in the industrial parts of NW in recent decades, which needs to be man- context. Forests are important as they have the

Europe. A better understanding of all the vari- aged. N2O can also be a precursor of ozone. net effect of removing carbon dioxide from the ables can help explain why the UK frequently atmosphere when measured over a whole year. exceeds internationally accepted guidelines.