Geology Department Postgraduate Web Pages
Name: Edel O’Sullivan
Contact Details
Tel: +353 (0)1 896 2675
Fax: +353 (0)1 6711199
Email: osullied@tcd.ie
Title of Project
Chemostratigraphy of the Sudbury impact basin fill
Project details
This Masters project is part of a wider research project looking at post impact volcanism of the Sudbury impact crater and its potential as an analogue environment for the establishment of life and the Hadean era. This part of the project focuses on the chemostratigraphy of the basin fill, most notably the occurrence of C in the Onaping formation. The field work will commence during the summer of 2014 for 8 weeks and samples subsequently subjected to major and trace element analysis by XRF and ICP-MS, and the C content analysed. The C content is known to increase stratigraphically, though hypotheses regarding its origin or other stratigraphic trends in the section remain debated and more C isotopic data is needed. Furthermore, graphite inclusions in zircons have been found and can be compared with similar inclusions in Hadean zircons; these inclusions will be studied.
Name of supervisor
Postgraduate personal details
I graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a B.A. in Earth Sciences in 2013. My dissertation topic focused on mass movements in Irish uplands, studying a particular peat slide that occurred on Knockmore Mountain, Clare Island. Though I have a strong interest in a wide range of topics in both geology and geography, I have a particular interest in geochemistry and its applications in environmental sciences, both modern and ancient. During the summer after final exams I spent some time volunteering in Trinity College, and was offered a place in the Kamber research group funded by SFI starting in September 2013.
Project Start Date
September 2013
Funding
Funding is by Science Foundation Ireland