My research spans many aspects of the study of Earth materials and details of some of the major projects I have been involved in can be found below, in roughly chronological order. Where available I have included links to project web pages, final reports, and other information.
With DPhil student Bram de Winter, I contribute to this ERC Advanced Grant led by Prof Tim Elliott at the University of Bristol. Using a combination of experiments and atomic scale calculations, we work to understand the signature of major element isotope fractionation following magma ocean crystallisation. Further details can be found at the project website.
As part of a NERC funded large grant, I use seismic anisotropy as an aid to constraining models of mantle convection. The overall aim of the project is described on the project website at Cardiff University and particularly involves constraining upward flow in the mantle. My role in the project has also involved work to create various pieces of software for data processing and the simulation of the generation of seismic anisotropy.
In this EPSRC Impact Accelerator Partnership project, led by Claudia Bertoni, we looked at ways to make use of databases, that describe results from exploration wells drilled in the search for hydrocarbons, to search for deep fresh water aquifers that could be used to reduce water stress expected as a consequence of climate change. The project involved the use of a range of machine learning based methods and collaboration with industry partners.
This project focused on working out how and when Earth’s inner core formed. Together with Profs Chris Davies (University of Leeds) and Dario Alfè (UCL), and Drs Monica Pozzo (UCL) and Fred Spencer-Wilson (Leeds), we developed new methods to model the nucleation of solid iron, probe the exsolution of light elements from the liquid outer core, and simulate how these processes impact the thermal evolution of the core. An overview of the project (based on the application) is hosted by the University of Leeds, and we have a preprint of a review article that sums up our current thinking on the core nucleation problem.
We won this small grant, which was targeting international collaboration, just before the covid-19 pandemic shut down travel. An outline of the proposed project (based on the application) is hosed by the University of Leeds, but our main output is captured by a preprint describing a new model of the F-layer at the base of the outer core.
A major part of my current research involves the multiscale simulation of how the minerals which form the mantle transition zone deform to allow the mantle to convect and drive plate tectonics. This project, which is funded by one of the first generation of NERC's new Independent Research Fellowship scheme, involves simulation of deformation from the scale of the motion of isolated imperfections in single crystals, through defect - defect interactions to the deformation of pollycrystalline rocks. A major aim of the project is to combine these models with simulations of mantle convection at the global scale in order to resolve how the complex history dependent rheology of the transition zone controls the planetary scale dynamics. This project involves a number of important collaborations and several different strands of research.
Further information can be found via the RCUK Gateway to Research portal.
As part of a programme on the security of supply of mineral resources funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council, I am involved with an inter-disciplinary consortium of geoscientists, chemists, mineral physicists and industry end-users to develop and deliver a challenging research program addressing key questions of heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) cycling and concentration in magmatic, hydrothermal and low temperature magmatic systems. Further information can be found at http://reexss.geos.ed.ac.uk/ and Gateway to Research.
This European Research Council funded project lead by James Wookey at the University of Bristol involves the study of the dynamics of the lowermost few hundred kilometres of the Earth's mantle and interactions between the mantle and core. Formaly as a research associate (2010 - 2013) and now as an external collaborator, my role on the project is to bridge from the geodynamics of the lowermost mantle to seismology and, in particular, to model the generation of texture and seismic anisotropy.
Further information can be found on the project website at: www1.gly.bris.ac.uk/CoMITAC/
I was involved in this project that was part of a scoping study exploring directions for a new NERC-funded research programme on the ways the Earth's core and mantle influence the surface. Details of the research programme can be found on the NERC website. This project's Gateway to Research entry is also avalable.
During this NERC funded Postdoctoral Research Fellowship I investigated a number of ways that dislocation motion in mantle minerals is key to understanding aspects of geophysics. Output data is avalable records in the Gateway to Research portal reflecting the parts of the project carried out in Cambridge and UCL.