A-Team Quarterly Update – Second Quarter 2021

The last few months have seen a return to field studies (within the UK so-far) and our group has been at the forefront of restarting field teaching. Adrian and Nicky led the undergraduate 3rd-year mapping field course to Mull in April. In addition we have had a major award from the Mineralogical Society, six more publications out, significant media interest from Tim’s group and an invited attendance at Goldschmidt by Anouk.

Back in the Field! Adrian and Nicky taking the 3rd Year Mapping Fieldcourse to Mull.

Honours

Our paper led by Anouk’s Eudialyte paper has been given the Howie Award from the Mineralogical Society.

Publications

Hutchison W, Finch AA, Borst AM, Marks M, Upton BGJ, Stüeken EE & Boyce A (2021) Mantle sources and magma evolution in Europe’s largest rare earth element belt (Gardar Province, SW Greenland): new insights from sulfur isotopes Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 568, 117034.

Koopmans L, Webster RA, Changleng R, Mathieson LM, Murphy AJ, Finch AA, McCarthy W (2021) New insights into the Younger Giant Dyke Complex and Mafic Lamprophyres of the Gardar Province, South-west Greenland. Bulletin of the Geological Surveys of Denmark and Greenland, 47, 6526.

Holdridge G, Kristiansen SM, Barfod GH, Lichtenberger A, Olsen J, Philippsen B, Raja R, Kinnaird TC & Simpson I (2021). A Roman provincial city and its contamination legacy from artisanal and daily-life activities. PLoS ONE 16: e0251923.

Bateman M, Kinnaird TC, Hill J, Ashurst R, Mohan J, Bateman RBI & Robinson RAJ (2021) Detailing the impact of the Storegga Tsunami at Montrose, Scotland. Boreas.

Turner S, Kinnaird TC, Koparal E, Lekakis S & Sevara C (2021) Landscape archaeology, sustainability and the necessity of change. World Archaeology DOI: 10.1080/00438243.2021.1932565.

Turner S, Kinnaird TC, Varinlioğlu G, Şerifoğlu TE, Koparal E, Demirciler V, Athanasoulis D, Ødegård K, Crow J, Jackson M, Bolòs J, Sánchez-Pardo JC, Carrer F, Turner A & Sanderson D (2021) Agricultural terraces in the Mediterranean: intensive construction during the later Middle Ages revealed by landscape analysis with OSL profiling and dating. Antiquity.

Masters and PhD Studentship Opportunities

We are always interested in hearing from candidates who would like to complete studies of the mineralogy, petrography and petrogenesis of alkaline igneous rocks.

The University also runs taught Masters programmes including Masters in Strategic Earth Resources and the Masters in Geochemistry. Adrian and the research group contribute several aspects to the delivery and content of these programmes and frequently supervise Masters projects.

Presentations

Anouk gave an invited talk at Goldschmidt 2021 in session 7g (Mineral-scale analysis and geochemistry in service of Economic Geology): Borst AM, Finch AA, Horsburgh NJ, Smith M, Geraki K (2021) “Alteration and weathering in peralkaline silicate-hosted REE-HFSE deposits”.

Anouk presented her invited talk at Goldschmidt 2021 in June.

Adrian has been invited to give a keynote to the RawMat 2021 conference in Greece in September 2021. He is intending to talk about the hydrothermal alteration of mineralised zones.

Anouk is presenting at the Belgian geological forum ‘Geological Belgica’ in 2021 on our work in Nejoio: Borst AM, Nielson G, Finch AA, Eugenio A, Bambi A (2021) Alkaline magmatism and critical metals in Angola: Field Observations and Petrography of the Nejoio Nepheline Syenite complex.

Outreach

Tim’s group’s research has continued to attract interest from the wider media. The BBC TV series Landward included a discussion on the Fife Coastal Zone project in episode 3 and his Storegga paper attracted interest from national media including STV, Guardian and an apocalyptic view from the Express.

And Finally….

Congratulations to the graduating Masters students who have been part of the A-team including Robert Webster, Rory Changleng and Lucy Mathieson, the latter of whom looked after the timetabling of our group sessions. Best wishes to all of you!