SCHOOL OF EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES NEWSLETTER Number 13 February 2018 Welcome to the 13th edition of the School and Zn in four fields of moldavite tektites plus Newsletter. As usual, there is plenty of good a range of sedimentary target rocks around the news that bodes well for the future of SEES. Ries crater in Germany from which moldavites Richard A. Batchelor (Editor) are presumed to have been derived. Paul and ______________________________________ colleagues discovered that both metals were The first full year as the independent School of lost as volatiles but that loss was accompanied Earth and Environmental Sciences (SEES) has by extreme isotope fractionation only in Cu. been, as you would no doubt imagine, a satisfying and gratifying one. For the first time Rodovska, Z., Magna, T., Zak, K., Kato, C., Savage, P.S., since I arrived at St Andrews nearly 22 years Moynier, F., Skala, R., and Jezek, J., 2017. Implications for behaviour of volatile elements during impacts – Zinc ago, we have had the pleasure of being able to and copper systematics in sediments from the Ries make decisions and define strategies as a single, impact structure and central European self-determining entity, focussing entirely on tektites. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 1- 15. what matters most in our educational curriculum http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/ and in undertaking our research. Geology now 10.1111/maps.12922/epdf has a solid core of staff and the environmental science side of the School has been strengthened Paul and colleagues also contributed a chapter enormously with the hiring of Dr Michael to Non-Traditional Stable Isotopes, reviewing Byrne, one of the finest early career climate the Zn and Cu biogeochemical cycles and modellers out there; Michael will start as a surveying the isotopic compositions of Lecturer in October and his profile and research reservoirs and fractionation processes on Earth will be highlighted in our next issue. Alas, as and extraterrestrial systems. with most natural processes, there needs to be a Moynier, F., Vance, D., Fujii, T., and Savage, P.S., mass balance. Many of you will have known 2017. The isotope Geochemistry of Zinc and Angus Calder. After a 30-year career, Angus Copper. Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, v. has decided to leave the University and we 82, pp. 543-600. thank him for his service to the School. Our http://rimg.geoscienceworld.org/content/82/1/543 espirit des corps is as strong as ever and our excitement about the future of Earth sciences at Earlier this summer, Darren Mark and St Andrews remains unabated. colleagues published a paper on Ar/Ar age Best wishes to all, dating of the ~25km (originally 40-50km) Tony Prave (Head of School) Rochechouart impact crater in southern ______________________________________ France. With stunning precision (full 2σ ~0.1% STAFF NEWS of the age) at 206.92 ± 0.20/0.32 Ma, Rochechouart significantly precedes the Eva Stüeken Triassic-Jurassic extinction, dated previously In last year’s first MSA Reviews volume, Non- by U-Pb on zircon at 201.33 ± 0.27 Traditional Stable Isotopes, Eva contributed a Ma. Previous age uncertainty permitted chapter defining and forecasting the Se isotope hypotheses of synchronicity; now it is clear that system as it relates to geoscience. Suboxic Rochechouart impact had nothing to do with shales, ferromanganese oxides, terrestrial and the Triassic-Jurassic biotic turnover. Central lacustrine archives, and volcanigenic deposits Atlantic Magmatic Province extrusion alone are among likely targets for future study. matches the boundary age. Cohen, B.E., Mark, D.F., Lee, M.R., and Simpson, S.L., Stüeken, E.E., 2017. Selenium Isotopes as a 40 39 Biogeochemical Proxy in Deep Time. Reviews in 2017. A new high-precision Ar/ Ar age for the Mineralogy and Geochemistry, v. 82, pp. 657 - Rochechouart impact structure: At least 5 Ma older than 682. http://rimg.geoscienceworld.org/content/82/1/657 the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, v. 52, pp. 1600- 1611. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/maps.1 Paul Savage 2880/full In a new paper in Meteoritics and Planetary Science, Paul and colleagues measure Sami Mikhail was (in August) voted the new concentration and isotopic composition of Cu Early Career Councillor (starting January 2018) by the Council of the European Association of officers in the isotope and geobiology labs, Geochemistry. This is prestigious in that it is looking after the metal and gas isotope European-wide and recognises Sami as one of instruments respectively. Bob and Tommaso the rising academic stars across Europe. Also, are outstanding scientists (both keen on solar in November, he landed a Royal Society Award system and planetary formation and for a project New constraints on the volcanic meteoritics) and instrument wizards (fixing history of Earth’s sibling planet, Venus. chillers, gas tanks, and gas lines in their first week!). Eleanor Mare, our newest postdoctoral scholar, recently submitted her PhD at the Australian National Universities Research School of Earth Sciences. Her background is a BSc (Hons) at Monash University with a double major in geoscience, and a minor in mathematics. Her PhD specialised in experimental petrology (Cation coordination changes in silicate melt with pressure). Eleanor will be with us for 3 years collaborating with Bob and Tommaso Sami Mikhail and some colleagues at Cambridge and Edinburgh. Eleanor will be New Lectureship working on high-pressure and high-temperature After a day of presentations and interviews, nitrogen geochemistry. Eleanor is no stranger to held last Autumn, from 5 shortlisted candidates St Andrews, having spent 2-months at St for a new Lecturer post, the successful Andrews collaborating with the NMR team candidate was Dr Michael Byrne who is in Chemistry. Eleanor loved her time at St currently at Trinity College, Dublin. He will be Andrews so much she’s come back for more! In taking up his post here next October. His October she gave a Departmental seminar on speciality is mathematical modelling of how an element’s co-ordination number can atmospheric circulation and thermal regimes on change with increasing pressure, which has Earth. implications for distribution coefficients between element X and mineral Y. Richard Batchelor had a paper accepted by the Earth & Env Sci Trans Roy Soc Edinb. after its long period in gestation. The paper entitled Do Neoproterozoic (Moine) calc-silicate rocks represent metamorphosed tuffs? A geochemical re-appraisal was the product of research carried out while he held a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship. The controversial aspect of this work hinges on the fact that he argued that thin white beds found in the Moine rocks of Scotland are in fact tuffs metamorphosed to amphibolite facies. Eleanor Tim Raub is due hearty congratulations for obtaining funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund for his lead on work aimed at Understanding Drought Cycles Across South- Central Africa. New Staff Dr Bob Steele and Dr Tommaso Di Rocco joined the school in November as research A calc-silicate bed in Moine schists, Arisaig Professor Nigel Trewin New Professor Induction It is with sadness that we report the death last At the December graduation ceremony, autumn of Nigel Trewin of Aberdeen Professor Tony Prave was formally inducted to University who had acted as external examiner the Chair. Here is seen in his finery. for Geology at St. Andrews between 2009 and Congratulations, Tony. 2012. A round of applause to Jonathan Cloutier and Will McCarthy, and to Simon Jones and Vincent Twomey (the latter two being PhD students) who have just been awarded support- in-kind for their projects using NERC's isotope facilities to study Midcontinent Rift System geochronology and the Impact of Magma Supply Rate on Pluton Architecture, respectively. Many of you will likely not be aware of the effort that Eva Stüeken has put into getting the 253 lab in the Purdie functioning, (it having sat idle for well over a year). Eva, with the help of Tommaso Di Rocco, have got the Elemental Analyser up and running and it is rewarding to see Eva smiling and Tommaso with his head down working! Tony in full regalia Maaret Karjalainen, School Finance Officer, graduated M.Litt in Management at the December graduation ceremony. She achieved this while working full-time for the School. Hearty congratulations. Tommaso and Eva Andrea Burke. Andrea was successful in her collaborative NERC proposal: Earth’s weathering reactor: carbon source or sink over short and long-time scales? and she was also successful in a St Leonard’s Scholarship PhD bid (joint with Maaret Mathematics & Statistics), Modelling CO2 and Climate Change. Claire Cousins had an article published the "i" newspaper, 11 January 2018, on her contribution to the scientific experiments to be Sami Mikhail was successful in a St Leonard’s included on the planned European Space PhD Scholarship bid with Chemistry: Negative Agency's ExoMars rover. Her instrument will Side of Geochemistry. analyse drilled material for evidence of biosignatures, which would give a clue to the existence of former biological activity on Mars. extreme environment can utilize them for She occupied 19 column inches in total! food. New Staff In December 2017, Dr. Mark Claire led a We welcome Adrienne MacArtney who will team of five SEES members, to the be here with us this semester. Adrienne will be Atacama to conduct a survey along a 1200 teaching the Astrobiology module this semester km-transect from the hyper-arid area and comes to us from Glasgow where she has (~21oS) through the increasingly wetter just finished her PhD on Crust - atmosphere “transition zone” (~30oS). Dr. Mark Claire, coupling on early Mars. Dr. Fernando Gázquez (postdoc) and Bethan Gregory (PhD student) sampled Ed Stephens grant award soil profiles in pits (3m deep!) to Hearty congratulations are due to Ed (Senior investigate the distribution of salts in the Research Fellow) for turning his expertise as a soils with depth and their triple oxygen geologist into becoming an internationally isotope compositions.