Geology Department Postgraduate Web Pages
Name: Bakang Jarious Kaekane
Contact Details
Email: kaekaneb@tcd.ie
Title of Project
Quantifying the melting conditions of Archean mantle peridotites
Postgraduate research summary
The focus of my research aims at constraining the melting temperature and pressure conditions of exsolved Archean cratonic mantle xenoliths from the spinel facies. A methodology encompassing phase equilibria modelling, major and trace element geochemistry will be used to quantify these melting conditions. The outcome of this study will inform us about how the Archean Earth was dynamic to the extent that thick cratons could be generated i.e., whether plate tectonics was the mechanism operating in the Archean to form cratons (shallow melting at ridge) or, mass vertical displacement under a stagnant lid (high pressure plume melting).
Previous Research
I attained my BSc Geology (2012-2016) at the University of Botswana, where my thesis described Cretaceous kimberlites. My MSc Geology (2017-2020) at Botswana's technical University (BIUST) was aimed at understanding the formation and evolution of the Kalahari craton. I was then employed as a mine geologist at Debswana Jwaneng mine in Botswana.
Name of supervisors
Dr. Emma Tomlinson
Project Start Date
March 2023
Funding
ERC
Publications
Kaekane, J.B., Proyer, A., 2022. Clues from Garnet-Spinel-Bearing PeridoGte and Pyroxenite Xenoliths about the FormaGon of the Subcratonic Lithospheric Mantle - a Case Study from the Orapa Kimberlite Cluster. J. Petrol. 63, egac058.