Department of Earth Sciences

Professor Neil Goulty, MA (Oxon), PhD (Cantab)

It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of Professor Neil Goulty on the 6^th June; a highly regarded and much-admired member of the Department of Earth Sciences for 36 years until his retirement in 2016, to an emeritus but still research active role.

(18 Jun 2018) » More about Professor Neil Goulty, MA (Oxon), PhD (Cantab)

AAPG outstanding oral presentation award

Final year PhD student Sean O’Neill has won the outstanding oral presentation award at the recent AAPG Geoscience Technical Workshop- Pore Pressure and Geomechanics: From Exploration to Abandonment in Perth, Australia. Sean presented his research findings on McKee-13 hydrocarbon well blowout in the Taranaki Basin, New Zealand. His research assesses the causal mechanisms behind the incident and highlights key lessons to be learned. Sean is currently in New Zealand presenting his final PhD research findings on the evolution and distribution pore pressure across the Taranaki Basin at various universities and operating oil companies.

(22 Jun 2018)

Research In Progress Day 2018 -BP Conference Bursaries

Many thanks to all the speakers at the Research In Progress Day 2018, the judging panel commented on the high quality of all the talks.

First prize (£300):
- Natalia Wasielka, Diagenetic controls on reservoir quality in carboniferous tight gas sandstones
Joint second prize (£100 each):
- Miles Wilson, Basin compartmentalisation: interpretation and importance in the long-term migration of hydraulic fracturing fluids
- Pavlos Farangitakis, An analogue modelling approach to plate motion variations in rift-transform margin intersections.

Congratulations to Natalia, Miles and Pavlos.

(14 Jun 2018)

Charlotte Adams Awarded the Geological Society’s Aberconway Medal

Congratulations to Charlotte Adams, who received the Geological Society of London’s Aberconway Medal at a ceremony in London on June 7^th. The Geological Society of London is the chartered UK professional body for Earth Science and the Aberconway Medal is awarded for excellence in applied geoscience. The award recognises Charlotte's ground-breaking work in extracting heat from water-flooded coal mines. The legacy of mines in the UK, their abundance and their distribution is such that most of the major population centres in the UK could have heat supplied from such mines allowing the UK to improve its energy security while simultaneously decarbonising heat.

(13 Jun 2018)

George Cooper Awarded the Geological Society’s Murchison Fund

Congratulations to George Cooper, who received the Geological Society of London’s Murchison Fund at a ceremony in London on June 7^th. The Geological Society of London is the chartered UK professional body for Earth Science and the Murchison Fund is awarded to early career geoscientists who have made excellent contributions to the research of ‘hard' rock geology and its application. George is part of the Volcanology Group and has been recognised for his research into magmatic plumbing systems.

(13 Jun 2018)

Bob Holdsworth Awarded the Geological Society’s Coke Medal

Congratulations to Bob Holdsworth, who received the Geological Society of London’s Coke Medal at a ceremony in London on June 7^th. The Geological Society of London is the chartered UK professional body for Earth Science and the Coke Medal was awarded to Bob in recognition of his overall contribution and significant service to geoscience, through administrative, organisational and promotional activities resulting in benefits to the community.

(7 Jun 2018)

Departmental Research In Progress Day

As part of their annual progress review our second-year research postgraduate students will present their work at the Department’s Research In Progress Day. As well as the student presenters and their supervisors and review teams, all PGR students and Department staff are invited to attend.

The 2018 RIP Day will take place on the afternoon of Wednesday, 6 June, in ES230 (TR3), with the following talks scheduled:

(29 May 2018) » More about Departmental Research In Progress Day

The unique challenges of living at sea for 63 days

Richard Hobbs is the co-chief scientist on this cruise to sample Cretaceous rocks to study climate and tectonics off south-west Australia. Vivien Cumming (the writer and producer) did her PhD here in the department.

The unique challenges of living at sea for 63 days

International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 369

(23 May 2018)

EGU Outstanding Student Poster and PICO Award 2018

Final year PhD student Sarah Clancy has won the highly competitive Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award contest at the EGU General Assembly in Vienna. Sarah presented her recent research on the optimisation of technically recoverable reserves from shale gas production. Her research assessed how to maximise shale gas extraction through optimal horizontal length whilst minimising the potential surface disruption. Sarah will receive her award at the General Assembly in Vienna next year.

(22 May 2018)

National Ocean-Bottom Instrumentation Facility Recommissioned by NERC

The UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) has been reviewing all of its services and facilities. One of these - NERC's Geophysical Equipment Facility: Ocean-Bottom Instrumentation Facility (GEF-OBIF) - has been delivered by the Ocean-Bottom Instrumentation Group within the department for the last 15 years. We are delighted to report that the GEF has just been recommissioned by the NERC, who graded it amongst those of the highest calibre, capability and national need within NERC's portfolio. This is a huge achievement set in the context of a range of other facilities being retired or significantly changed in their mode and extent of delivery.

(22 May 2018) » More about National Ocean-Bottom Instrumentation Facility Recommissioned by NERC

New members of staff

It is a great pleasure to welcome our newest members of staff to the Department -

Dr Fabian Wadsworth has joined us from the Department for Earth and Environmental Sciences at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. Fabian's research is on the physics of magma and the microphysical origin of volcanic processes.

Dr Julie Prytulak has joined us from Imperial College where she was co-leader of the MAGIC Isotope Geochemistry Group. Julie’s research is focussed on the use of mainly heavy stable isotopes to explore a wide range of earth processes in and around the subjects of magmatism, subduction and mantle geochemistry.

(10 Apr 2018)

Peering Beneath the Powder: Using Radar to Understand Avalanches

High-resolution radar images from Switzerland’s experimental test site show that snow temperature is a key factor in classifying avalanche behavior.

(9 Apr 2018) » More about Peering Beneath the Powder: Using Radar to Understand Avalanches