| Project title |
Biomineralisation and Isotope Proxies for Environmental Chance |
| Summary |
Biomineralisation refers to the processes by which organisms form minerals. As a process, biomineralisation (e.g. aragonitic corals and fish teeth, otoliths and bones) is crucially important for providing substrate materials which underpin most quantitative climate, environmental and ecosystem proxy reconstructions. Isotope signatures preserved in biomineralisation (e.g. δ11B, δ18O, δ44Ca, 87Sr/86Sr, 143Nd/144Nd) may potentially act as high-resolution proxy signals for environmental conditions (e.g. water temperature, salinity, ocean circulation, pH, Eh), diet and trophic level. Consideration must be given, however, to the so-called “vital effects” on biomineralisation which some organisms exhibit such that these environmental signals can be suppressed or eliminated.
Biomineralisation may also provide materials suitable for isotope dating. For instance, 230Th/234U dating of corals has been shown to be an exceptionally useful chronometer in the late Quaternary and provides some of the finest high-resolution archives of marine conditions.
This interdisciplinary project is concerned with investigating key aspects of species specific and ecosystem specific isotope pathways and isotope fractionation. This will initially focus on deep sea coral-echinoid-fish ecosystems from modern Irish waters. The project will also test the utility of novel isotopes in species specific biomineralisation from a palaeo-oceanographic perspective. Analytically, a combination of modern mass spectrometry (CF-IRMS, ICP-MS, SIMS, TIMS) and imaging (e.g. SEM, synchrontron) techniques will be utilized.
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| Funding Agency |
PRTLI 5 |
| Programme |
EARTH AND NATURAL SCIENCES PhD PROGRAMME |
| Type of Project |
Ph.D. |
| Date from |
Sept 2011 |
| Date to |
Aug 2015 |
| Person Months |
48 |
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| Project title |
Understanding Crustal Evolution of the Early Earth: The Singhbhum Craton, India |
| Summary |
Our understanding of the Earth’s early evolution in terms of crustal growth, development
of habitable atmosphere-hydrosphere, development of biosphere and geodynamic processes is built
upon studies of Archean-Proterozoic rock successions preserved as old cratonic nuclei and their cover sequences. The oldest among these geological terranes are Eoarchean (>3.6 billion years before present [Ga])-to-Paleoarchean (3.6-3.2 Ga) terranes. Although there has been considerable research conducted on several of these fragments of the Earth’s ancient crust, one such sequence, the Singhbhum Craton of eastern India, has received relatively little attention. Radiometric age dating of key exposure of volcanic rocks and associated sediments within the Singhbhum Craton will provide new information on the mechanisms and time-scales of development of the Earth’s early crust. |
| Funding Agency |
Trinity College |
| Programme |
FEMS India Scheme |
| Type of Project |
Collaborative (with Dr. J. Mukhopadhyay and Dr. G. Ghosh, Presidency College, Kolkata, India) |
| Date from |
20/11/2010 |
| Date to |
31/12/2011 |
| Person Months |
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| Project title |
The Gander Zone in Ireland |
| Summary |
Comparative terrane study between Newfoundland and Ireland investigating the presence or absence of a distinct peri-Gondwanan block. U-Pb age spectra of inherited ages in (meta) sediments, as well as U-Pb ages of inherited zircons and Sm-Nd isotope signatures (whole rock) from magmatic rocks will be used to characterise selected samples from SE Ireland and Newfoundland. |
| Funding Agency |
Ireland Newfoundland Partnership and the Geological Survey of Ireland |
| Programme |
|
| Type of Project |
Collaborative (with Brian McConnell - GSI and Julian Menuge - UCD) |
| Date from |
2009 |
| Date to |
2011 |
| Person Months |
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| Project title |
Nature and timing of gold mineralisation in a Paleo-protozeroic domain of Tanzania |
| Summary |
The Lupa goldfields of SW Tanzania are the subject of renewed exploration interest. This project will carry out the first systematic modern structural, geochemical and geochronological study of the area. Isotope analytical techniques utilised include Re-Os dating of mineralisation (N-TIMS), U-Pb dating of magmatism and protoliths (ID-TIMS and LA-ICP-MS). |
| Funding Agency |
Helio Resource Corp. |
| Programme |
|
| Type of Project |
Ph.D. (University of Durham) |
| Date from |
2009 |
| Date to |
2012 |
| Person Months |
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| Project title |
The effects of overprinting on rock fabrics and isotopic ages: the Lewisian Complex as a case study |
| Summary |
Integrating structural mapping, micro-textural fabric studies with in-situ accessory phase chemistry and isotope geochronology to investigate the effects of multiple deformation and metamorphic events. |
| Funding Agency |
NERC (UK) and the British Geological Survey University Funding Initiative |
| Programme |
|
| Type of Project |
Ph.D. (University of Liverpool) |
| Date from |
2008 |
| Date to |
2012 |
| Person Months |
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| More Research Projects>>> |
Ryszard Kryza, Quentin G. Crowley, Alexander Larionov, Christian Pin, Teresa Oberc-Dziedzic, Ksenia Mochnacka, In Press, Chemical abrasion applied to SHRIMP zircon geochronology: An example from the Variscan Karkonosze Granite (Sudetes, SW Poland), Gondwana Research, 21, 2012, p757-767
Url
DOI |
Cooper, M.R., Crowley, Q.G., Hollis, S.P., Noble, S.R., Roberts, S., Chew, D., Merriman, R.J., Earls, G., Herrington, R., Age Constraints and Geochemistry of the Ordovician Tyrone Igneous Complex, Northern Ireland, Journal of the Geological Society, 168, 2011, p837-850
Url |
| Goodenough, K.M., Styles, M.T., Thomas, R.J., Schofield, D.I., Crowley, Q.G., Millar, I.L., Multiphase magmatic history of the Oman-UAE ophiolite, Mineralogical Magazine, Goldschmidt, Prague, Czech Republic, August 14-19, 75, (3), 2011, pp935 |
| MacDonald, J., Wheeler, J., Goodenough, K., Harley, S., Crowley, Q., Mariani, E., Combined SIMS U-Pb ages and Ti-in zircon geothermometry fingerprints long deep crustal residence in the Archaean, Mineralogical Magazine, Goldschmidt, Prague, Czech Republic, August 14-19, 75, (3), 2011, pp1377 |
| More Publications>>> |
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Last Updated:16-MAY-2012 |