ResearchPast ProjectsSediment provenance from detrital zircon investigations
George Morris (Post-doctoral researcher)
Minerals within rocks often survive the erosion process and are preserved in sediments. For older rocks, or rocks which have experienced a turbulent history, sometimes sediment is all that we have to explore the genesis of the sediment protolith. This post-doctoral project investigates circum-Arctic tectonic evolution by studying such preserved minerals. Using U-Pb dating of detrital zircons via ion-microprobe (Cameca 1270) or LA-ICP MS (Finnigan Element I and a New Wave UP213 Nd-YAG laser), we develop age profiles for sediment(s) at specific locations. By comparing these to age profiles from other locations, we can make circum-Arctic correlations. This research is part of a larger program aimed at understanding circum-Arctic allochthonous terrane distribution and sediment provenance (CASP).
Figure caption: Cathodoluminesence image of Early Carboniferous zircon from the Blanský les massif, Czechoslovakia