Geology Department Postgraduate Web Pages

Name: Anthea Lacchia

Contact Details

Tel: +353 (0)1 896 2675
Fax: +353 (0)1 6711199
Email: lacchiaa@tcd.ie

Title of Project

Goniatite biostratigraphy of the Clare Basin

Project details

The Ross Sandstone Formation, which is beautifully exposed in the cliffs and foreshore of the Loop Head Peninsula, Co. Clare, is a succession of deep-water turbidites which has proven to be an instructive analogue for oil and gas-bearing sequences elsewhere. My project aims to provide a detailed and coherent biostratigraphic framework for the Ross Sandstone Formation, buiding on pioneering biostratigraphic work accomplished in the 1950s and 1960s. It involves the field collection and subsequent study of goniatite assemblages and related faunas from several horizons and from cores. The project also seeks to better understand the genesis of goniatite-bearing condensed sections. My research is complemented by current sedimentological research at UCD.

Name of supervisors

Dr John Graham, Prof George Sevastopulo, Dr Peter Haughton (UCD)

Postgraduate personal details

Originally from Biella, Italy, I moved to Dublin in 2007 and graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, with a B.A. Mod in Geology in 2011. My undergraduate dissertation on the geology of Kerrera, a small island in Scotland, was based on six weeks of mapping. During my undergraduate years, I developed a strong interest in palaeontology and all its applications. I also undertook a laboratory project investigating the carbon isotopes of Old Red Sandstone fossil fish from Scotland. Following graduation, I started working on my current project in TCD.

Project Start Date

September 2011

Publications

Lacchia, A. R. 2012. Goniatites Explained. Geology Today, 28 (5), 192-196.

Funding

This is a Statoil-funded project.

Field Photo

Phillipsoceras circumplicatile goniatite, West of Dunmore Head, South Coast of Loop Head.