Geography, Geology and the Environment

I studied Geology at University College Cork, Ireland, where I graduated with a BSc in 2003. My PhD (awarded by Trinity College Dublin, 2006) was supported by an Irish Research Council scholarship and concerned with the petrogenesis of layered mafic intrusions. Prior to my appointment as a lecturer in Igneous and Metamorphic petrology at Keele University in 2008, I held a postdoctoral position at University College Dublin, Ireland, funded by an Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology scholarship.

I have been an ordinary committee member of the Volcanic and Magmatic Studies Group (2007-2010) and am currently a committee member of the UK Metamorphic Studies Group (since 2011). I am a member of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland and of the Geological Society of London.

I am a petrologist with broad research interests in the study of mafic and ultramafic rocks. My recent research activity has focused on the petrology and evolution of layered mafic intrusions, ophiolite petrogenesis and serpentinisation. I am particularly interested in the way in which Cr-spinel seams form and concentrate the platinum-group elements (PGEs) in these environments. Other current interests include the emplacement of mafic and felsic magmas as cone sheets, ring dykes and laccoliths in sub-volcanic systems. Below are detailed some of my more recent research grants.

• 2011: NERC New Investigator Award (~£71,035, FEC)
• 2011: Royal Society Research Grant (£5,520)
• 2010: Nuffield Foundation Studentship (£1,300)
• 2009: Royal Society International Travel Grant (£2,800)
• 2009: Senior Travel Bursary, Mineralogical Society (£300)
• 2009: The Mykura Fund, Edinburgh Geological Society (£400)
• 2009: Daniel Pidgeon Fund, Geological Society, London (£675)

I am always happy to hear from prospective graduate students interested in pursuing research in the above fields. Please just email me.

See also the Keele Petrology Group website.

Year 1

• ESC-10033: Geology: Rocks - Up Close
• ESC-10037: Geology: Rocks, Minerals and Fossils
• ESC-10034: Geology: Time and Space

Year 2

• ESC-20001: Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology (Module Leader)
• ESC-20012: Advanced Fieldwork Skills - North Wales mapping course

Year 3

• ESC-30026: Independent Field Project
• ESC-30030: Advanced Petrology and Structural Geology Field Course (Module Leader)
• ESC-30033: Volcanic and Magmatic Processes
• ESC-30028: Economic Geology (Module Leader)

Year 4

• ESC-40004: Geoscience Research Project (Module Leader)
• ESC-40005: Research in Context (Module Leader)
• ESC-40006: Research Report (Module Leader)
• ESC-40026: Economic Geology (Module Leader)

Fieldcourses

• ESC-10034: Pembrokeshire
• ESC-20001: Shap, Cumbria
• ESC-20039: North Wales
• ESC-30030: Mull, Scotland (Field Course Leader)
• ESC-30028/40026: Ecton Mine (Field Course Leader)
• ESC-30033/40012: Volcanism of Southern Italy

• Keele Petrology Group, Keele University 
• Volcanic and Magmatic Studies Group (VMSG)
• The Mineralogical Society
• Dave Waters (Oxford University). Lots of petrological and mineralogical information as well as many useful links )
• Institute for Rock Magnetism, University of Minnesota
• John Winter (Whitman)
• Extensive mineralogical databases (http://webmineral.com/ and http://www.mindat.org/)
• Atlas of minerals in reflected light
• Ecton Mine, Peak District (UK)
• Atlases of Igneous and Metamorphic rocks, minerals and textures: (http://www.geolab.unc.edu/Petunia/IgMetAtlas/mainmenu.html andhttp://sorrel.humboldt.edu/~jdl1/petrography.page.html)
• Some metamorphic petrology lecture notes from a course given by Professor S.A. Nelson, Tulane University
• Virtual fieldtrips to the Skaergaard and Stillwater layered mafic intrusions by Kurt Hollcher (Union College NY)