Dr Quentin G. Crowley - Assistant Professor & Ussher Lecturer in Isotope Analysis and the Environment

Name: Dr. Quentin G. Crowley

Research Area

My research programme uses isotope geochemistry and geochronology to study evolution of the solid Earth. I am interested in geochemically and temporally characterising significant events in Earth history. My current research projects span the present day back to the Archean (i.e. pre 2500 Ma). Some of these projects also deal with formation of economic mineral deposits and geosphere-biosphere-hydrosphere-atmosphere interactions.

Contact Details

Department of Geology
Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
Email: crowleyq@tcd.ie
Tel: + 353 1 8962403

Current Research and Research Opportunities

The following are examples of some of my current research projects:

• Crustal evolution of the early Earth: I am currently working on Archean rocks from NE Scotland (Lewisian Gneiss Complex) and India (Singhbhum Craton) to gain a better understanding of the early Earth.

• Magmatic and tectonic development of ophiolites: The Semail Ophiolite (UAE and Oman), Grampian (e.g. Tyrone, Shetland) and Tibetan ophiolites.

• Detrital minerals and provenance studies: I have recently conducted provenance work in Cambrian to Devonian rocks from Ireland and Newfoundland for palaeogeographic reconstructions and terrane studies.

• The nature and timing of mineralisation in relation to magmatic and tectonic processes: I am interested in providing absolute age constraints on economically significant mineralisation events. Current projects include Au mineralisation in Archean rocks from Mauritania and a Palaeoproterozoic Cu-Mo porphyry deposit in Namibia.

I currently supervise the following postgraduate students at TCD:

• Saskia Ryan, Sr Isotopes in the Irish Biosphere.
• Neil Grumbley, Geological Evolution of the Haib Cu-Mo Porphyry Deposit, Southern Namibia.
• Vincent Mouchi, Biomineralisation and Isotope Proxies for Environmental Change.
• Kyle Heron, Geochronology and Gold Mineralisation in the Mesoarchean Tasiat Terrane, Mauritania.

Please contact me if you are a student thinking about postgraduate research at TCD and have an interest in some of the themes covered by my research programme.

Teaching

At undergraduate level I teach Geochemistry and Analytical Techniques (GL 3304), Geology for Engineers (CE 3A8) and Radiogenic Isotope Geochemistry and Mass Spectrometry (GL4418).
At Masters level, I teach an Environmental Science module called Earth Systems Science: Deep Time (ES7005).
I also teach a 10 day field course in the Betics of SE Spain (as part of GL4402) and shorter fieldtrips in Ireland such as the Geology for Engineers one day field trip to Killiney Strand.

Editorial Roles

• 2011- Chief Editor, Journal of the Geological Society
• 2011- Member of the Editorial Board for the Irish Journal of Earth Sciences
• 2010- Associate Editor for the Geological Society of America Bulletin
• 2008-2010 Subject Editor, Journal of the Geological Society.

Committee and Society Service

• 2011- Geological Society Awards Committee.
• 2011- Geological Society Publication Information Committee.
• 2010- National Leader IGCP project 597 Amalgamation and breakup Pangaea: The Type Example of the Supercontinent Cycle.
• 2009- Irish committee member of the European Plate Observing System (EPOS).

College Service

• 2013 TCD representative in Ireland’s “Trade Mission” to Turkey.
• 2012 -Contact point for Erasmus and foreign students studying geology at TCD.
• 2011 TCD SE Corner Development Committee Member.
• 2009- TCD Internal Ph.D. Examiner (6 to date).

Publications and Research output

Peer reviewed papers and book chapters

Bozkurt, E., Winchester, J.A., Satır, M., Crowley, Q.G., Ottley, C.J., The Almacık mafic-ultramafic complex: exhumed Sakarya subcrustal mantle adjacent to the İstanbul Zone, NW Turkey, Geological Magazine, 150, (2), 2013, p254-282. DOI.

Chan, G.H., Crowley, Q.G., Horstwood, M.S.A., Searle, M.P., Aitchison, J., Parrish, R.R., Chan, J.S-L, U-Pb zircon ages for Yarlung Tsangpo suture zone ophiolites, southwestern Tibet and their tectonic implications, Gondwana Research, 2013. DOI.

Cooper, M.R., Crowley, Q.G., Hollis, S.P., Noble, S.R., Henny, P.J. In Press, A U-Pb age for the Late Caledonian Sperrin Mountains minor intrusions suite in the north of Ireland: timing of slab break-off in the Grampian terrane and the significance of deep-seated, crustal lineaments, Journal of the Geological Society, 170, (4), 2013, p603-614. DOI.

Goodenough, K., Crowley, Q.G., Krabbendam, M., Parry, S.F., New U-Pb age constraints for the Laxford Shear Zone, NW Scotland: Evidence for tectono-magmatic processes associated with the formation of a Paleoproterozoic supercontinent, Precambrian Research, (231), 2013, p1-18. DOI.

Goodenough, K.M., Styles, M.T., Schofield, D., Thomas, R.J., Crowley, Q.C., Lilly, R.M., McKervey, J., Stephenson, D., Carney, J.N. 2013. Architecture of the Oman-UAE ophiolite: Evidence for a multi-phase magmatic history. Frontiers in Earth Sciences, 5, pp. 23-42.

MacDonald, J.M., Wheeler, J., Harley, S.L., Mariani, E., Goodenough, K.M., Crowley, Q., Tatham, D., Lattice distortion in a zircon population and its effects on trace element mobility and U-Th-Pb isotope systematics: examples from the Lewisian Gneiss Complex, northwest Scotland, Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 166, 2013, p21-41. DOI.

Lawley, C.J.M., Selby, D., Condon, D.J., Horstwood, M., Millar, I., Crowley, Q., Imber, J., Lithogeochemistry, geochronology and geodynamic setting of the Lupa Terrane, Tanzania: Implications for the extent of the Archean Tanzanian Craton, Precambrian Research, 231, 2013, p174-193. DOI.

Parry, S.F., Noble, S.R., Crowley, Q.G., Wellman, C.H. Reply to Discussion on 'A high-precision U–Pb age constraint on the Rhynie Chert Konservat-Lagerstätte: timescale and other implications', Journal of the Geological Society, 170, (4), 2013, p703-706. DOI.

Ryszard Kryza, Quentin G. Crowley, Alexander Larionov, Christian Pin, Teresa Oberc-Dziedzic, Ksenia Mochnacka, Chemical abrasion applied to SHRIMP zircon geochronology: An example from the Variscan Karkonosze Granite (Sudetes, SW Poland), Gondwana Research, 21, 2012, p757-767. DOI.

Pointon, M.A. , Chew, D.M., Ovtcharova, M., Sevastopulo, G.D. , Crowley, Q.G., New high-precision U-Pb dates from Western European Carboniferous tuffs; implications for timescale calibration, the periodicity of late Carboniferous cycles and stratigraphical correlation, Journal of the Geological Society, 169, (6), 2012, p713-721. DOI.

Cooper, M.R., Crowley, Q.G., Hollis, S.P., Noble, S.R., Roberts, S., Chew, D., Merriman, R.J., Earls, G., Herrington, R. 2011. Age Constraints and Geochemistry of the Ordovician Tyrone Igneous Complex, Northern Ireland, Journal of the Geological Society, 168, p837-850.

Parry, S., Noble, S., Crowley, Q., Wellman, C. 2011. A high-precision U-Pb age constraint on the Rhynie Chert Konservat-Lagerstätte: timescale and other implications. Journal of the Geological Society, 168, 2011, p863-872.

Smyth, H.R., Crowley, Q.G., Hall, R., Kinny, P.D. Hamilton, J., Schmidt, D.N. 2011. A Toba-scale eruption in the Early Miocene: the Semilir eruption, East Java, Indonesia, Lithos, 126, (3-4), p198-211.

Zimmermann, U. Tait, J. Crowley, Q.G., Pashley, V. Straathof, G. 2011. Diamicitites in southern Namibia and their associated rocks - constraints for a global glaciation? International Journal of Earth Sciences,  p511-526.

Chew, D.M., Fallon, N., Kennelly, C., Crowley, Q., Pointon, M. 2010. Basic volcanism contemporaneous with the Sturtian glacial episode in NE Scotland, Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 100, (4), 399-415.

Blight, J.H.S., Crowley, Q.G., Petterson, M.G., Cunningham, D. 2010. Granites of the Southern Mongolia Carboniferous Arc: new geochronological and geochemical constraints, Lithos, 116, (1-2), 35-52 .

Blight, J.H.S., Petterson, M.G., Crowley, Q.G., Cunningham, D. 2010. The Oyut Ulaan Volcanic Group: Stratigraphy, magmatic evolution and timing in the Carboniferous arc of South East Mongolia, Journal of the Geological Society, London, 167, (3), 491-509.

Goodenough, K.M., Park, R.G., Krabbendam, M., Myers, J., Wheeler, J., Loughlin, S., Crowley, Q.G., Kinny, P., Friend C.R.L., Beach, A., Graham, R. 2010. The Laxford Shear Zone: an Archean terrane boundary? Geological Society, London, Special Publication, 335, 101-118.

Goodenough, K.M., Styles M.T., Schofield D., Thomas R.J., Crowley Q.G., Lilly R.M., McKervey, J., Stephenson, D., Carney, J. 2010. Architecture of the Oman - UAE Ophiolite: evidence for a multi-phase magmatic history, Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 3, (4), p439-458.

Kimbell, G.S., Young, B., Millward, D., Crowley, Q.G. 2010.The North Pennine batholith (Weardale Granite) of Northern England: new data on its age and form. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 58:107-128.

McConnell, B. Crowley, Q.G., Riggs, N. 2010. A Laurentian origin for the Ordovician Grangegeeth volcanic arc terrane, Ireland, Journal of the Geological Society, London, 167, (3), 467-473.

McConnell, B., Riggs, N., Crowley, Q.G. 2010. Comment on “Detrital U–Pb zircon dating of lower Ordovician syn-arc-continent collision conglomerates in the Irish Caledonides” by Peter D. Clift, Andrew Carter, Amy E. Draut,

Hoang Van Long, David M. Chew, Hans A. Schouten, Tectonophysics 479 (2009), 165–174 , Tectonophysics, 490, 136-137.

Chan, G.H., Waters, D.J., Searle, M.P., Aitchison, J., Horstwood, M.S.A., Crowley, Q.G., Lo, C.-H., Chan, J. S.-L. 2009. Probing the basement of southern Tibet: evidence from crustal xenoliths entrained in a Miocene ultrapotassic dyke. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 166, 45-52.

McConnell, B., Riggs, N., Crowley, Q.G. 2009. Detrital zircon provenance and Ordovician terrane amalgamation, western Ireland. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 166, 473-484.

Neilson, J.C., Kokelaar, P., Crowley, Q.G. 2009. New ages for Siluro-Devonian magmatism in the SW Scottish Highlands: Timescales for volcanic-plutonic activity. Journal of the Geological Society, 166, 545-561.

Chew, D.M., Flowerdew, M.J., Page, L.M., Crowley, Q.G., Daly, J.S., Cooper, M., Whitehouse, M.J. 2008. The tectonothermal evolution and provenance of the Tyrone Central Inlier, Ireland: Grampian imbrication of an outboard Laurentian microcontinent? Journal of the Geological Society, London. 165, 675-685.

Cooper, M., Crowley, Q.G., Rushton, A. 2008. New age constraints for the Ordovician Tyrone Volcanic Group, Northern Ireland. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 165, 333-340.

Key, R.M., Loughlin, S.C., Horstwood, M.S.A., Gillespie, M., Pitfield, P.E.J., Henney, P.J., Crowley, Q.G., Del Rio, M. 2008. Two Mesoarchaean Terranes in the Reguibat shield of NW Mauritania. Geological Society of London Special Publication, 297, 33-52.

Okay, A.I., Bozkurt, E., Satır, M., Yiğitbaş, E., Crowley, Q.G., Shang, C.K. 2008. Defining the southern margin of Avalonia in the Pontides: geochronological data from the Late Proterozoic and Ordovician granitoids from NW Turkey. Tectonophysics 461, 252-264.

Selby, D., Conliffe, J., Crowley, Q.G., Feely, M. 2008. Geochronology (Re-Os, U-Pb) & fluid inclusion studies of molybdenite mineralisation associated with the Shap, Skiddaw & Weardale Granites, UK. Applied Earth Science (Trans. Inst. Min. Metall. B), 117, 11-28.

Anczkiewicz, R., Mazur, S., Szczepanski, J., Storey. C., Crowley, Q.G., Villa, I.M., Thirlwall, M., Jeffries, T.E. 2007. Lu-Hf geochronology and trace element distribution in garnet: Implications for uplift and exhumation of ultra-high pressure granulites in the Sudetes, SW Poland. Lithos, 95, 363-380.

Zhang, Hong-Fei, Parrish, Randall, Zhang, Li, Xu, Wang-Chun, Yuan, Hong-Lin, Gao, Shan, Crowley, Quentin G. 2007. A-type granite and adakitic magmatism association in Songpan-Garze fold belt, eastern Tibetan Plateau: Implication for lithospheric delamination. Lithos. 97, 323-325.

Zhang, Hong-Fei, Parrish, Randall, Zhang, Li, Xu, Wang-Chun, Yuan, Hong-Lin, Gao, Shan, Crowley, Quentin G. 2007. Reply to the comment by Zhang et al. on: “First finding of A-type and adakitic magmatism association in

Songpan–Garze fold belt, eastern Tibetan Plateau: Implication for lithoshperic delamination”. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2007.10.011.

Schofield, D.I., Horstwood, M.S.A., Pitfield, P.E.J., Crowley, Q.G., Wilkinson, A.F., Sidaty, H.Ch.O. 2006. Timing and kinematics of Eburnean tectonics in the central Reguibat Shield, Mauritania. Journal of the Geological Society, 163, 549-560.

Styles, M.T., Ellison, R.A., Arkley, S.L.B., Crowley, Q., Farrant, A., Goodenough, K M, McKervey, J A, Pharaoh, T C, Phillips, E R, Schofield, D, and Thomas, R J. 2006. The Geology and Geophysics of the United Arab Emirates. Volume 1: Geology. (Keyworth, Nottingham: British Geological Survey.)

Winchester, J.A., Kachlik, V., Patocka, F., Melzer, M., Nawakowski, C., Crowley, Q.G., Floyd, P.A., 2003. Geochemistry of Metasedimentary sequences in the Krkonose-Jizera Terrane, West Sudetes, Bohemian Massif: paleotectonic and stratigraphic implications. Journal of the Czech Geological Society, 48 (1-2), 135-136.

Winchester, J.A., Patocka, F., Kachlik, V., Melzer, M., Nawakowski, C., Crowley, Q.G., Floyd, P.A. 2003. Geochemical discrimination of metasedimentary sequences in the Krkonose-Jizera terrane (West Sudetes, Bohemian Massif): Paleotectonic and stratigraphic constraints. Geologica Carpathica, 54 (5), 267-280.

Crowley, Q.G., Štědrá, V., Winchester, J.A.W., Floyd, P.A., S., Holland, J.G. 2002. The Mariánské-Lázně Complex: development and destruction of an early Palaeozoic seaway. Geological Society Special Publication 201, 177-195.

Crowley, Q.G., Timmermann, H., Noble, S., Holland, J.G. 2002. Palaeozoic Terrane Amalgamation in Central Europe: a REE and Sm-Nd Isotopic Study of the pre-Variscan Basement, NE Bohemian Massif. Geological Society Special Publication 201, 157-176.

Floyd, P.A., Crowley, Q.G., Winchester, J.A.W., Kryza, R., Abdel-Wahed, M. 2002. Pillow lavas in the Sleza Ophiolite and their geochemical relationship to other Sudetic mafic components. Geological Society Special Publication 201, 197-216.

Winchester, J.A., Floyd. P.A., Crowley, Q.G. et al. 2002. Palaeozoic amalgamation of Central Europe: new results from recent geological and geophysical investigations. Tectonophysics, 360, 5-21.

Crowley, Q.G., Floyd, P.A., Winchester, J.A.W, Franke, W., Holland, J.G. 2000. Early Palaeozoic rift-related magmatism in Variscan Europe: fragmentation of the Armorican Terrane Assemblage. Terra Nova. 12 (4), 171-180.

Floyd, P.A., Winchester, J.A., Seston, R., Kryza, R., Crowley, Q.G. 2000. Review of geochemical variation in Lower Palaeozoic metabasites from the NE Bohemian Massif: intracratonic rifting and plume-ridge interaction. In: Orogenic Processes: Quantification and Modelling in the Variscan Belt (W.Franke, V. Haak and D. Tanner, eds.). Geological Society, London, special publication 179, 155-174.

Seston, R., Winchester, J.A., Piasecki, M.A.J., Crowley, Q.G., Floyd, P.A. 2000. A structural model for the Western-Central Sudetes: a deformed stack of Variscan thrust-bounded slices. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 157, 1155-1167.

Crowley, Q.G., Feely, M. 1997. New perspectives on the order and style of granite emplacement in the Galway Batholith, western Ireland. Geological Magazine, 134, 539-548.