Research
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Current Research
Veins, joints and pressure solution surfaces in the Ross Sandstone, Co Clare, Ireland.
The west coast of Ireland was affected by the Variscan orogeny in the late Carboniferous period. The deformation caused by this process can be observed at the Bridges of Ross (an anticline erroded from the base by the sea), just east of Loop Head. Here, the Ross Sandstone is both folded and faulted. Coastal exposures allow many of the features to be seen; and an exceptionally exposed platform less than half a kilometre east of the 'bridges' allows the relationships between veins, joints and pressure solution surfaces relative to regional deformation to be investigated. These structures may not only refine the deformation history of the region, but may also allow a more thorough understanding of such structures in a sandstone.
Files: To be updated.
Masters Research
The style, extent and physical properties of soft sediment deformation surrounding juvenile fault zones.
My Master’s project involved the evolution of fault structures, and porosity and permeability perturbations linked to soft sediment deformation. The thesis aimed to identify the style and spatial extent of deformation in young fault zones (Pliocene to present-day) and its effect on permeability and porosity in soft sediments. Detailed structural mapping was completed in order to analyse a large-scale lineation located in the south east of Spain. Experimental soft sediment deformation using low-pressure tri-axial deformation apparatus provided data to correlate porosity with hydrostatic and differential stress.This project was supervised by Dan Faulkner and Dave Hodgson, based in the Rock Deformation Lab, Liverpool Earth Science Department and the work was presented as a poster at the 2006 TSG meeting in Manchester, U.K.
Files: Literature review - Poster presentation of work - PowerPoint presentation of work - Final manuscript