Postgraduate Research Conference 2016

3rd – 4th May John McIntyre Conference Centre, Pollock Halls

Image © Magnus Hagdorn

CONTENTS

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

RESEARCH INSTITUTES

DISTINGUISHED KEYNOTE SPEAKER – PROFESSOR VIRGINIA MURRAY

PRESENTATION FEEDBACK

POSTER FEEDBACK

PRIZES

REFRESHMENTS AND LUNCH

PROGRAMME

ABSTRACTS

CONFERENCE FEEDBACK

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

WELCOME & INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the School of GeoSciences Postgraduate Research Conference 2016. The aim of this Conference is to provide postgraduate students with an opportunity to formally present their research and to benefit from feedback from staff and peers. For 1st year PhD students and Masters by Research students, presentations will run in three parallel sessions on Tuesday 3rd May in Pentland West, Pentland East and Prestonfield Rooms, Pollock Halls. For PhD students, the presentations will form part of their Confirmation Assessment: feedback from both staff and fellow students will be considered by the Confirmation panel which will meet in the few weeks following this conference. All 2nd year PhD students will give a poster presentation during the extended lunch session. Students and staff are actively encouraged to contribute to discussions, ask questions and provide feedback to presenters. Feedback sheets will be available in rooms for completion at the end of each presentation. Prizes will be awarded for the best oral presentations, to be decided by the chairs. Prizes will also be awarded for the best three poster presentations. We are very pleased that Professor Virginia Murray has agreed to give this year’s Distinguished Keynote Lecture. This will take place at 13.00 – 14.30 on Wednesday 4th May in Pentland West. A wide range of topics will be presented within themes over the day of the Conference, highlighting the breadth of research taking place within the School of GeoSciences. It is hoped that you will enjoy this opportunity to gain an insight into areas of research both within and out with your own research group. Kate Heal Director of Postgraduate Research

RESEARCH INSTITUTES

EARTH & PLANETARY SCIENCE (EPS)

Our ambition is to undertake excellent research which provides the underpinning knowledge that will help address global challenges relating to resources, natural hazards and the environment. To that end our researchers seek better understanding of chemical and physical properties of materials, the origin and history of pore fluids, minerals, rock assemblages, and magmas, and their interactions, at all scales within the Earth. We develop new seismological, electromagnetic, gravitational, magnetic, and industrial seismic methods to interrogate the earth remotely for such information.

GLOBAL CHANGE (GC)

Our overarching aim is to improve the scientific understanding of past, present and future changes in the Earth system through measurements, theory, and computational modelling. Better understanding of the Earth system allows us to inform policy makers and to develop effective mitigation strategies which, if implemented, would minimize the economic and humanitarian implications of changes in climate and the Earth System. Our aim incorporates some of the most compelling scientific challenges of the 21st century. To address these questions we nurture a cross- and inter-disciplinary research and teaching environment, integrating expertise across the Institute, the School of GeoSciences and more broadly throughout the University and beyond.

GEOGRAPHY AND THE LIVED ENVIRONMENT (IGLE)

Our overarching aim is to generate agenda-setting research that improves understanding of the inter-relationships between people, society and the environment. Through our innovative research, we seek to investigate key areas of contemporary and historic societal concern including development, climate change, inequalities, land use change, ecosystem services, health and well-being and urbanisation. The ‘lived environment’ refers to those aspects of the earth system/environment that are experienced by people - not as it is purely conceptualised or theorised, but as it is lived. It is a multidisciplinary concept that brings together environmental science, geography, economics, policy, social science and computer science.

DISTINGUISHED KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Professor Virginia Murray

HOW CAN GEOSCIENCES INFLUENCE DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND RISK MANAGEMENT?

Consultant in Global Disaster Risk Reduction, Public Health England Visiting Professor in Health Protection, MRC-HPA Centre for Environment and Health, Imperial College and King’s College, London Policy Fellowship Alum, Centre for Science and Policy Virginia Murray FFPH, FRCP, FFOM, FRCPath qualified in medicine. In 1980 she joined Guy and St Thomas’s Hospital Poisons Unit and in 1986 was appointed consultant medical toxicologist. In 1989 she started the Chemical Incident Research Programme and was Director of the Chemical Incident Response Service from 1995. From 2003 Virginia worked for the Health Protection Agency’s Centre for Radiation, Chemicals and Environmental hazards (CRCE). She has considerable experience in advising on toxicological and environmental public health aspects of response to acute and chronic chemical and extreme event incidents. Appointed as Visiting Professor in Health Protection, Visiting Professor in Health Protection, MRC-HPA Centre for Environment and Health, Imperial College and King’s College, London (2004), she has also published widely. On 1 January 2011, she was appointed as Head of HPA’s Extreme Events and Health Protection section (since April 1 2013 this was transferred to Public Health England). She is taking forward work on evidence base information and advice on flooding, heat, cold, volcanic ash, and other extreme weather and natural hazards events. In addition, Virginia has been a Coordinating Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation, published in March 2012. She has been the UK Government member on the UN International Strategy for Disaster Scientific and Technical Advisory Group since 2008 and she is also a member of the Hyogo Framework for Action Mid Term Review Advisory Group, representing science, for the UN ISDR since 2010.

PRESENTATION FEEDBACK

For each presentation you attend, please complete the feedback forms available in the presentation room. STUDENTS must complete the feedback forms on YELLOW paper STAFF must complete the feedback forms on GREEN paper Please deposit your feedback forms in the box at the end of each session. The feedback forms FOR PhD STUDENTS will be passed on to the student’s advisor who will summarise feedback in time for the student’s confirmation panel meeting. FOR MScR STUDENTS, the feedback forms will be passed on to the student’s supervisor.

POSTER FEEDBACK

Second year PhD students will be presenting their posters in dedicated sessions on Tuesday 3rd May 1300 to 1445 (Day 1) and Wednesday 4th May 1100 to 1215 (Day 2). For each poster presentation you attend, please complete the feedback forms which will be available in the presentation room. STUDENTS must complete the feedback forms on YELLOW paper STAFF must complete the feedback forms on GREEN paper Please deposit your feedback forms in the box. Feedback forms will be passed on to the supervisor. You are also asked to VOTE for the best poster. BLUE voting slips will be available by the posters. Please write down the student’s name on your voting slip. Please post your voting slip in one of the boxes by 12.15pm on Wednesday 4th May.

PRIZES

Prizes will be awarded for the best oral presentations in each Session. Prizes will also be awarded for the best three poster presentations. Categories for prizes are as follows: Oral Presentations:

The School of GeoSciences 2016 Research Conference, Excellence in Oral Presentation - £50

Poster Presentations:

The School of GeoSciences 2016 Research Conference, Excellence in Poster Presentation - £50 each for the top three posters

REFRESHMENTS & LUNCH

Refreshment stands will be set up in the foyer and at the entrance on the ground floor in Centro Cafe for coffee / tea breaks and lunch.

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME – Tuesday 3rd May 2016

School of GeoSciences Postgraduate Research Conference Talk Schedule

08.30 - 09.00 Registration and Breakfast

08.50 – 08.55 Welcome – Professor A Tudhope, Head of School

1st Year Presentations

EPS - Session 1 (Prestonfield) Chair: Eliza Calder; Stuart Gilfillan

IGLE - Session 2 (Pentland West) Chairs: Emily Brady Sam Staddon

GC - Session 3 (Pentland East) Chair: Edward Mitchard; Simon Mudd

09.00 - 09.15 Florent Brondolo: Experimental and modelling investigation of coupled carbonate rock physics and geochemistry

Jacob Ainscough: Exploring the influence of community involvement in the dynamics of ecosystem services arising from coastal marine protected areas

Zac Baynham-Herd: Resolving the conservationist’s dilemma

09.15 – 09.30 Phil Cilli: Modelling carbonate elastic properties by integrating well log and VSP seismic data

Emily Akkermans: Chronometry and chronometers on British Voyages of Exploration, c.1815-c.1872

Jonathan Cole: An analysis of the natural and anthropogenic influences on tree species diversity in the Malay Archipelago

09.30 – 09.45 Benjamin Clarke: The Origin and Behaviour of Pyroclastic Density Currents in the Main Ethiopian Rift

Sara Brouwer: Foodscapes and globalisation in Mbare: shopping, sharing, cooking and eating in a high-density neighbourhood in Harare, Zimbabwe

Richard Delf: Characterisation Of Subglacial Hydrology Using Ground Penetrating Radar

09.45 – 10.00 James Scott: Investigating Reservoir Connectivity Using Noble Gases

Andrew Chilombo: Economic valuation of ecosystem services for improved land governance and livelihoods: an interdisciplinary analysis of large scale land acquisition in Zambia

Ribanna Dittrich: The Role of Organic Matter in the Oceans around Antarctica

10.00 – 10.15

Megan O’Donnell: Managing Wastewater from Unconventional Gas Production in the EU

Lucas Godfrey: Automated map content selection for multi-modal travel

Sarah Donoghue: PRELUDE: Predictive modelling of Lead concentrations using G-Base datasets for urban environments

10.15 – 10.45 Coffee Break

EPS - Session 4 (Prestonfield) Chair: Katrina Edlmann; Alexis Cartwright-Taylor

IGLE - Session 5a (Pentland West) Chair: Eric Laurier; Janet Fisher

GC - Session 6a (Pentland East) Chair: Kate Heal; Sian Henley

10.45 – 11.00

Dominic Cummings: Improving Seismic Imaging with a Marchenko Equation Method

Rebekah Miller: Investigating the use of digital media and everyday experiences of home for older British migrants living in the Costa del Sol, Spain

Zui Tao: Reconstruction of coarse sediments recycling process in the Great Plains using cosmogenic 21Ne

11.00 – 11.15 Eva Dokter: Relating deterministic and statistical properties of multiply-scattered codas

Ioanna Papadopoulou – Korfiati: Land dispossession and debt crisis in Greece: the case of Lasithi, Crete

Louis Kinnear: Influence of erosion on clay production and CO2 drawdown

11.15 – 11.30 Stephanie Earp: Seismic imaging using scattered waves

George Tobin: Spoiled Landscapes: Mining Landscape Reclamation in West Yorkshire, 1974-1986

Anna Mackie: Observed and modelled radiation fluxes at Niamey, Niger

11.30 – 11.45 Zhaoyu Jin: Frequency-dependent amplitude versus offset modelling for reservoir characterization

Daniel Muñoz: Embodied social exclusion in

the public transport: The case

of Transantiago, in Chile

Monika Mendelova: Reconstructing the timing and significance of glaciations in central Patagonia

11.45 – 12.00 Angus Lomas: Seismic Imaging of Pre-Salt Reservoirs, Offshore Brazil

Geoff Wells: Occam's razor and simplifying ecosystem service analyses

Alexis Moyer: Investigating tidewater glacier and ice melange submarine melt rates in Greenland's fjords

12.15 – 13.00 Lunch

13.00 – 14.45 Poster Session

EPS - Session 7 (Prestonfield) Chairs: Florian Fusseis; Gareth Johnson

IGLE - Session 5b (Pentland West) Chair: Liz Richardson; Neil Stuart

GC - Session 6b (Pentland East) Chairs: Luke Surl; Isla Myers-Smith

14.45 – 15.00 Elsa Panciroli: The origin and early evolution of mammals: study of an exceptionally complete skeleton from the Middle Jurassic of Skye, Scotland

Cathy Smith – Rationales for community-based natural resource management in Belize’s Toledo district

Vasilis Myrgiotis: Simulating N2O emissions from the arable soils of Scotland 3rd Year Talk - (30 minute talk)

15.00 – 15.15 Muhammad Atif Nawaz: Super-Seismic Resolution

Jessica Finan: Spatial econometric modelling of land use systems and ecosystem services

15.15 – 15.30

Andrew Dobrzanski: HREE-Enriched Ore Formation at Norra Kärr: Europe’s Future Rare Earth Resource

Martha Cronin: Spatially explicit landscape-scale valuation of multiple ecosystem services in

Frances Ryan: Rethinking Nutrient Assessment: An agricultural parish scale approach

savannah woodland buffers in Tanzania

3rd Year Talk - (30 minute talk)

15.30 – 15.45 Alyssa Crippen: Real-time wave-based forecasting of fracturing in stressed Earth materials

Emma Saunders: Workers of the World: Organise!

15.45 – 16.00

Roseanne Clement: Earthquake nucleation: small signals from Big Data

Barbara Rubiell: Changing foodscapes and obesity: An understanding of the obesity epidemic through free trade agreements

Andy Griffiths: Amazon to the Andes: Tree distributions, plant-herbivore interactions and a changing climate

16.00 – 17.00 End of Day 1 GeoJam: "The Pyroclastic Flows" – in Centro Cafe Sessions

Students presenting before Coffee break should load their presentations on the laptop during Registration - BEFORE 09.00

Students presenting before Lunch break should load their presentations on the laptop during Coffee break - BEFORE 10.45

Students presenting after Lunch break should load their presentations on the laptop during Lunch - BEFORE 14.45

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME – Wednesday 4th May 2016

08.30 - 09.15 Registration and Breakfast

EPS - Session 8: (Prestonfield) Chair: Mark Naylor; Katrina Edlmann

IGLE - Session 9: (Pentland West) Chair: Zhiqiang Feng; Anthony Newton

GC Session 10: (Pentland East) Chair: Massimo Bollasina

09.15 – 09.30 Eleri Simpson: Squeezing the Sponge: the behaviour of fluid mobile elements during serpentinite dehydration

Rowan Jackson: Resilience, Adaptation and Vulnerability in Norse Greenland

Guillaume Goodwin: The Life and Death of Salt Marshes (part 1): Scouring Waves

09.30 – 09.45 Jonathan Singh: Carbonate Rock Physics in Four Dimensions

Vanessa Burton: How can woodland expansion best offer nature-based solutions for 21st Century Scotland?

Paul Tepes: Land ice changes from high resolution elevation measurements using satellite altimetry

09.45 – 10.00 Ashley Smith: Geomagnetism in space

Lauren Shotter: Environmental Impact of Plinian Eruptions in Iceland

Juliette Maire: Scaling reactive nitrogen at the field scale for intensively managed grassland

10.00 – 10.15 Xin Zhang: 3-D surface wave tomography using reversible jump algorithm

Stacey Fairhurst: Oilseed rape and pollinators: the impact of variety on resource availability and pollination resilience

10.15 – 10.30 Yili Yang: X-ray CT of synthesised dolomite samples

Ebuka Nwobi: Biomass and Productivity Dynamics in Niger Delta Mangrove Ecosystem

10.30 - 11.00 Coffee Break

11.00 – 12.15 Poster Session

12.15 - 13.00 Lunch

13.00 – 14.30 Keynote Speaker - Professor Virginia Murray – (Public Health England) Room: Pentland West Talk title: How can geosciences influence disaster risk reduction and risk management?

14.30 – 16.00 Prize-Giving and Wine Reception – Centro Cafe

Students presenting before Coffee break should load their presentations on the laptop during Registration - BEFORE 09.00

Students presenting before Lunch break should load their presentations on the laptop during Coffee break - BEFORE 10.45

TALK ABSTRACTS – 1S T YEAR PHDS AND MSC BY RESEARCH

Ainscough, Jacob Exploring the influence of community involvement in the dynamics of ecosystem services arising from coastal marine protected areas Coastal marine protected areas (MPAs) have the potential to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services, in addition to protecting local biodiversity. The involvement of coastal communities, in the design and management of MPAs, has been shown to improve their effectiveness in protecting biodiversity. However, less is known about the benefits of community involvement with regards to ecosystem service provisioning. Using a recently developed capital-flow conceptual framework, this project will explore the role of community groups in influencing the delivery and distribution of a range of ecosystem services from coastal MPAs

Supervisor(s): Meriwether Wilson

Keywords: Coastal Communities, MPA, Ecosystem Services

Akkermans, Emily Chronometry and chronometers on British Voyages of Exploration, c.1815-c.1872 Navigational practices involving chronometry became widespread during the course of the nineteenthcentury. Focusing on instruments held in the collections at the National Maritime Museum the development of this practice during the period from c.1820-1840 will be examined. Current themes in the historical geographies of science lead to questions of place, space, authority, standardisation, instrumentation, calibration and credibility. To this end, archival documents relating to the instruments and their related voyages held by the NMM, The National Archives and other repositories will be examined. The documents range from voyage publications, ship logs and letters of correspondence, to navigational manuals and workbooks.

Supervisor(s): Professor Charles W.J. Withers

Keywords:Chronometry, exploration, navigation.

Baynham-Herd, Zac Resolving the conservationists dilemma Conservation conflicts can been defines as situations that occur when two or more parties with strongly held opinions clash over conservation objectives and when one party is perceived to assert its interests at the expense of another. Conflicts are said to be increasing and need to be managed to minimise negative impacts on biodiversity, human livelihoods, and human well-being. This research analyses how people have gone about intervening in such conflicts, with the aim of identifying and testing the assumptions that commonly underpin intervention attempts.

Supervisor(s): Aidan Keane, Matt Bell, Nils Bunnefeld, Steven Redpath

Keywords: conservation, conflict, biodiversity,

Brondolo, Florent Experimental and modelling investigation of coupled carbonate rock physics and Geochemistry Although 60% of the hydrocarbon resources lie within carbonate reservoirs, some of their properties are poorly understood. This project aims to study the properties of a Brazilian carbonate reservoir which, besides lying at a great depth, is made of a unique type of highly heterogeneous rock. We are interested in gaining a better understanding on how reservoir properties change during the oil recovery phase, focusing on coupling between geomechanics and chemical reactions through both experimental investigation (recreating the rock alterations under reservoir conditions) and numerical investigation (creating coupled process numerical models and methods simulating the experimental work).

Supervisor(s): Chris McDermott

Keywords: Geomechanics, modelling, carbonate, EOR

Brouwer, Sara Foodscapes and globalisation in Mbare: shopping, sharing, cooking and eating in a high-density neighbourhood in Harare, Zimbabwe Based on Appadurais conception of scapes and the systems of food provisioning and geographies of food literature, I use the concept of foodscapes to understand the different aspects, and their historical and contemporary bases, of urbanites food sourcing strategies and food consumption in a high-density neighbourhood (or slum) in Harare. These aspects relate to retail environments, urban livelihoods, (im)mobility, (in)formality, social support systems and popular culture. In the backdrop of the increasing power of transnational agro-food corporations and the nutrition transition in Southern Africa, I aim, through an ethnographic approach, to acknowledge the simultaneously local and global realities that urban residents face when using their food system.

Supervisor(s): Dr Caleb Johnston

Keywords: foodscapes, globalisation, high-density neighbourhood, nutrition transition, Zimbabwe

Burton, Vanessa How can woodland expansion best offer nature-based solutions for 21st Century Scotland? Despite a Scottish government aspiration for increased woodland cover and previous research demonstrating significant potential benefits available from more woodland, planting is not occurring at sufficient rate to meet this aim. This research aims to determine how 100,000 hectares of new woodland by 2022 could be reached, and what influence alternative visions for woodland expansion may have on land use and the ecosystem services derived from the land under uncertain futures. An interdisciplinary research design based on landscape ecology and socio-ecological system research will employ a combination of stakeholder interviews and workshops, ecosystem service modelling using GIS and agent-based modelling.

Supervisor(s): Marc Metzger, Calum Brown (University of Edinburgh), Darren Moseley (Forest Research)

Keywords: Trees, ecosystem services, landscape ecology, sustainability, agent-based modelling

Chilombo, Andrew Economic valuation of ecosystem services for improved land governance and livelihoods: an interdisciplinary analysis of large scale land acquisition in Zambia As with most sub-Saharan African countries, agriculture is a key economic sector in Zambia. Through an interdisciplinary analysis of large-scale land acquisitions, this research will seek to understand the impacts of commercial farming on ecosystem services that underpin rural livelihoods on former customary land. Cognisant of potential impacts of commercial farms on ecosystem services, and the nexus with livelihoods, the research will use both quantitative and qualitative approaches to gain an understanding into factors that account for reliance and use of ecosystem services, as well as how rural communities adapt to changing levels of ecosystem service provision and availability.

Supervisor(s): Dr. Dan Van Der Horst

Keywords: Ecosystem services, livelihoods, commercial agriculture, Zambia

Cilli, Phil Modelling carbonate elastic properties by integrating well log and VSP seismic data Physical properties of carbonate rocks are relatively poorly understood and challenging to predict. The complex pore geometries and structures can lead to a vast range of elastic properties across rocks with comparable porosities. Theoretical tools employed in carbonate rock physics modelling are based on traditional elastic mechanics and wave theory, and must be general enough to account for complex pore geometry. This project will use rock physics techniques to model the elastic properties of carbonate rocks, integrating wireline log and Vertical Seismic Profile (VSP) data. The models will aim to predict the pore geometry and anisotropic properties of the rock.

Supervisor(s): Mark Chapman, Andrew Curtis, David Wright

Keywords: Carbonates, Rock Physics, VSP, Seismic

Clarke, Benjamin The Origin and Behaviour of Pyroclastic Density Currents in the Main Ethiopian Rift The Main Ethiopian Rift valley (MER) hosts the second highest number of poorly understood volcanoes on Earth, with ~4,000,000 people living within the range of pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) (Aspinall et al. 2011). PDCs are hot granular flows of ash, gas and rock that can flow from a volcano during an eruption, and as a phenomenon account for 27% of all volcanic deaths (Tanguy et al. 1998). The potentially unusual origin and behaviour of PDCs produced from low viscosity of magmas in the MER must be understood to assess and quantify volcanic hazard to people and infrastructure.

Supervisor(s): Dr. Eliza Calder, Prof. David Pyle, Dr. Julia Crummy

Keywords: Volcano, Pyrolcastic Density Current, Ethiopia, Peralkaline, Physical Volcanology

Clement, Roseanne Earthquake nucleation: small signals from Big Data There have been specific earthquake cases of localised repeating events which can be associated with either the accelerated nucleation of foreshocks leading to a larger earthquake or with stable repeated slip. From creating an algorithm which finds the repeating events in these specific cases, it can then be applied on a more general form to investigate how many significant earthquakes have had (or have not had) these nucleation related foreshocks occurring before the main earthquake. By analysing the statistics of this data, the potential at which the forecasting of catastrophic failure using techniques with real-time data assimilation can be assessed.

Supervisor(s): Prof. Ian Main

Keywords: Earthquake, nucleation, foreshocks, forecasting, repeaters

Cole, Jonathan An analysis of the natural and anthropogenic influences on tree species diversity in the Malay Archipelago In recent years the importance of reforestation for both ecological diversity and carbon capture has become more and more prominent. However, due to the diversity of tropical forets and the radical changes in species dominance during succession it is likely that in the replaced forest will not resemble the forest that was removed. The main objective of this thesis is to find the dominant factors that influence species diversity in different locations in the Malay Archipelago. Also by comparing the differences between primary and disturbed forest I will investigate if a pattern can be seen in species composition based on both natural and anthropogenic factors. To gain the largest possible data set numerous sources have provided their own plot data, which collated makes a database of 15 000 identified trees spread over plots in Borneo and Sumatra. Using satellite and climate data I will describe the correlations that occur. I will then use these to model the change of species diversity that climate change or increased/reduced human impact may facilitate.

Supervisor(s): Edward Mitchard

Keywords: Deforestation, Species dominance, Malay Archipelago

Crippen, Alyssa Real-time wave-based forecasting of fracturing in stressed Earth materials Wave-based monitoring of catastrophic events is based on indicators acquired from looking back on events that we know happened. This method creates a retrospective bias, causing poor forecasting of a posteriori defined main events. To rectify this bias, we create and test failure forecasting models on events that may or may not occur in the real future. Using a rock physics laboratory we test models that predict the future evolution of acoustic emission data and ultimate catastrophic failure time. We employ real-time coda-wave interferometry and Green's function based failure detection to create models that respond to their own real-time data.

Supervisor(s): Andrew Bell

Keywords: forecasting, hazards, seismology, interferometry, coda-wave

Cronin, Martha Spatially explicit landscape-scale valuation of multiple ecosystem services in savannah woodland buffers in Tanzania This thesis will take a multi-scale approach to mapping the distribution of multiple ecosystem services to determine synergies and trade-offs derived from woodland buffer zones under participatory forest management programs in Tanzania. In particular it will combine remote sensing, ground truthing, national datasets and participatory mapping with local stakeholders. Results will be used to examine recent community forest management programs and their effectiveness in addressing anthropogenic drivers of tree cover change whilst maintaining resource accessibility.

Supervisor(s): Dr Dan Van der Horst

Keywords: Ecosystem services, landscape-scale, Tanzania

Cummings, Dominic Improving Seismic Imaging with a Marchenko Equation Method Seismic imaging is a key surveying tool in many industries. By transmitting waves from the Earth's surface into the subsurface and measuring the waves reflected back to us, we can characterise the subterranean structure of the Earth. These methods typically assume waves are only reflected once, hence any multiply-reflected waves must be removed at great expense, both financially and in terms of data-quality. Because these waves travel further, they also sample more of the subsurface. We seek to apply a new methodology, Marchenko imaging, which uses these information-rich multiple waves to improve the image quality without requiring additional data.

Supervisor(s): Andrew Curtis

Keywords: seismic, imaging, reflection, multiple, Marchenko

Delf, Richard Characterisation Of Subglacial Hydrology Using Ground Penetrating Radar The response of glaciers to climate change is poorly constrained partly due to uncertainties in basal conditions, which impact on flow and ice dynamics. Knowledge of subglacial hydrology is mostly limited to exploring ice caves, dye tracing, and borehole records. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is a powerful tool in the geophysical characterisation of the cryosphere, however most studies use simple acquisition methods resulting in limitations in interpretation capabilities. Utilising advances in geophysical imaging and a recently developed, more advanced GPR system, this project aims to develop new techniques in characterising the subglacial hydrology of arctic glaciers.

Supervisor(s): Dr Nick Hulton

Keywords: Ground Penetrating Radar, remote sensing, geophysics, glaciology, hydrology

Dittrich, Ribanna The Role of Organic Matter in the Oceans around Antarctica The processes that drive marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) cycling in the oceans around Antarctica are not well understood. However, marine DOM represents a major dynamic carbon pool and understanding processes that control DOM is important for implications on the global carbon cycle. Further, the Southern Ocean is estimated to be responsible for 20-30% of the annual global marine carbon uptake. Analyses of bulk dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen compounds of Southern Ocean waters and their isotopic composition will help in establishing the role and importance of DOM as well as microbial processes controlling DOM cycling in the Southern Ocean.

Supervisor(s): Sian Henley

Keywords: Antarctica, Southern Ocean, Dissolved organic matter, organic nitrogen, microbial loop

Dobrzanski, Andrew HREE-Enriched Ore Formation at Norra Kärr: Europes Future Rare Earth Resource The Norra Kärr meta-syenite is a deformed Mesoproterozoic (1490±10 Ma) alkaline-igneous body which hosts the 5th most advanced REE-project by %Heavy-REE (52.6% of the Total-REE-Oxide) in the world and is the largest Rare Earth Element (REE) resource within the continental European Union. Norra Kärr is thus an attractive mining prospect due to securing supply of REE - particularly with regards to the Heavy-REE. However, the processes of REE enrichment, distribution and potential mobility within alkaline-igneous rocks are poorly understood and Norra Kärr offers a prime opportunity to study how a combination of geochemistry, metamorphism and deformation can produce such REE-distributions.

Supervisor(s): L Kirstein

Keywords: REE Lanthaniods

Dokter, Eva Relating deterministic and statistical properties of multiply-scattered codas Waves are used for imaging inaccessible objects at different scales parts of the earth's interior, or even the interior of a person. Waves sent into a medium get scattered, reflected, refracted and attenuated, with the effects of the different phenomena overlaying in the measured data. In a simplified ideal medium the development of each phenomenon can be mathematically described, while in a real medium the totality of their visible effects is evaluated quantitatively. If I can extend the existing theory to cover realistically complex scenarios, it would help to untangle the conglomeration of different effects found in real world data.

Supervisor(s): Andrew Curtis

Keywords: geophysics - seismics imaging - internal reflections – scattering

Donoghue, Sarah PRELUDE: Predictive modelling of Lead concentrations using G-Base datasets for urban environments Lead (Pb) is toxic to all life; even low blood Pb levels can cause neurological issues. Elevated Pb levels are found in some urban soils due to the historical use of leaded-petrol, Pb-based paints, and industrial emissions. The legacy of Pb contamination persists today due to Pbs low mobility in the soil. Studies have used spatial interpolation methods to map the distribution and associated health risks from Pb in urban soils. However, these methods require numerous soil samples. A low cost alternative is to predict soil Pb concentrations using proxy datasets i.e. road proximity, housing age and past land use.

Supervisor(s): Dr Margaret Graham

Keywords: Lead, soil, urban, predicive modelling

Earp, Stephanie Seismic imaging using scattered waves In Earth resource exploration, development and monitoring it is important to have an accurate structural image of the subsurface. These images are created by analysing the response of seismic waves travelling through the subsurface. Current industry standard methods such as Reverse Time Migration cannot handle waves that have reflected multiples times (scattered), creating 'false images'. Autofocussing is a novel method of imaging that accurately estimates seismic wavefields, including scattered waves, thus producing clearer images. Using computational modelling this project will explore the properties of scattered waves and the relation between Autofocussing and more established imaging methods.

Supervisor(s): Andrew Curtis

Keywords: Seismology, imaging, wave scattering, autofocussing

Fairhurst, Stacey Oilseed rape and pollinators: the impact of variety on resource availability and pollination resilience Worldwide declines of insect pollinators have the potential to result in a loss of pollination services thus posing a genuine threat to global food security. Pressures such as agricultural intensification and climate change have been identified as major threats to pollinators. Oilseed rape is an important early season forage resource for pollinators but growers select varieties primarily based on gross economic output rather than services provided to pollinators. This project will focus on varietal differences of oilseed rape and explore the impact of variety on pollinator resource provisioning, pollinator diversity and the stability of pollination services under environmental change.

Supervisor(s): Gail Jackson

Keywords: biodiversity, climate change, insects, oilseed rape, crop pollination

Finan, Jessica Spatial econometric modelling of land use systems and ecosystem services Agricultural intensification has been a leading cause of UK land use change and biodiversity declines since the establishment of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 1957., which the CAP aims to halt through greening reforms. Models linking reform, land use change, land owner decisions and biodiversity are important in monitoring new policies. The purpose of my research is to develop a spatial econometric model that uses high resolution spatial data to integrate economic, environmental and policy factors and predict the effects of greening reforms. The initial stage is to build a dataset of land use share allocations, and agricultural input and output prices to develop a functioning land use model. This will determine how profitability, environmental variables, and spatial factors affect landowner decisions. Later stages of the study will focus on establishing a species distribution dataset to more effectively target policies to protect biodiversity.

Supervisor(s): Klaus Glenk

Keywords: Common Agricultural Policy, Econometrics, Land use change, Biodiversity

Godfrey , Lucas Automated map content selection for multi-modal travel In collaboration with the Ordnance Survey, this paper introduces research that interrogates the conventional framework for map design by challenging an absolute view of space. This view is one that is intrinsically tied to notions of fixed hierarchy and consistent scale, and essentially disregards the underlying user context of travel, where people transition through various states, and where space is a performative medium that is constructed through an interplay between the individual and their environment, contingent on task and other variable conditions.

Supervisor(s): William Mackaness

Keywords: design research, automated cartography, mobile technologies, multi-modal travel

Goodwin, Guillaume The Life and Death of Salt Marshes (part 1): Scouring Waves Saltmarshes are intertidal ecosystems found where sediment availability and low wave energy have allowed halophytic vegetation to colonize the shore. Plants engineer raised marsh platforms by trapping sediment and producing organic matter, forming a dynamic system with the surrounding tidal flats. By modelling 0-dimensional scouring of this system by wind-waves, we observe 1) wind speed thresholds for scour generation determined by competing ecogeomorphic and meteorological conditions, 2) a tidally induced bi-normal distribution of wave-scour along depth and 3) an uneven contribution of wind speeds to long-term scouring. These results will allow investigation of the future evolution of wave-dominated tidal environments.

Supervisor(s): Simon Mudd

Keywords: Salt marshes; Erosion; Waves; Modelling

Griffiths, Andy Amazon to the Andes: Tree distributions, plant-herbivore interactions and a changing climate Global climate change will impact biodiversity distribution through both changing environmental conditions and changing interactions between species. The mechanisms setting species distributions in complex tropical ecosystems remain understudied and elusive. Using an evolutionary perspective, and the natural laboratory of an elevation gradient in the montane forests of the Peruvian Andes, we study how climate and herbivores influence tree species distributions, and consider the implications of observed evolutionary patterns for the future of this vulnerable biodiversity hotspot.

Supervisor(s): Kyle Dexter

Keywords: Species Distribution; Elevation; Climate; Herbivory

Jackson, Rowan Resilience, Adaptation and Vulnerability in Norse Greenland The Viking Age/late-Medieval Scandinavian settlement of Greenland (c. A.D. 985-1450) offers a discrete set of case studies through which we might better understand the interplay and dynamics of social and ecological systems. Set against the conceptual background of social resilience, human vulnerability and adaptation, this project aims to better comprehend the population dynamics and utilisation of ecosystem services in the Greenland environment. While there is little consensus on the causal factors leading to the collapse of Norse Greenlandic society, recent evidence suggests sustained conjunctures between environmental, socio-political, economic and cultural variables exacerbated Norse societys vulnerability, surpassing a critical threshold thereafter. Elucidating the complex spatio-temporal dynamics throughout Greenlands longue durée is central to this projects analysis of co-evolutionary social-ecological systems between the settlement and decline of Norse Greenlandic society.

Supervisor(s): Andrew Dugmore

Keywords:Resilience, Norse Greenland, Social-Ecological Systems

Jin, Zhaoyu Frequency-dependent amplitude versus offset modelling for reservoir Characterization Partial gas saturation often leads to seismic dispersion and attenuation, suggesting that the reflection coefficient should be frequency-dependent in many cases of practical importance. We propose a modelling technique to incorporate frequency-dependent reflectivity into convolutional modelling, with which seismic data can be synthesized from well logs of velocity, density, porosity and water saturation. This forward modelling could act as a basis for inversion schemes aimed at recovering gas saturation variations with depth. We present a Bayesian inversion scheme for a simple 3-layer case, and show potential application of this technique to estimating gas saturation and layer thickness.

Supervisor(s): Mark Chapman; Ian Main

Keywords: dispersion; seismic modelling; rock physics

Kinnear, Louis Influence of erosion on clay production and CO2 drawdown Clay minerals have been found to stabilise and protect carbon within soils which can be stably transported from terrestrial sources into deep-sea sediments, acting as a global CO2 sink. Soil formation processes control the type and quantity of clay in the soil, principally erosion rate (which regulates the amount of time material spends within the weathering zone). Despite this, quantitative relationships for many of these interactions remain poorly constrained or absent. Field data and geochemical modelling will develop quantitative controls on soil clay formation allowing insight into a poorly understood but important and dynamic part of the global carbon cycle.

Supervisor(s): Dr Simon Mudd

Keywords: Soil Carbon Clay Formation Erosion

Lomas, Angus Seismic Imaging of Pre-Salt Reservoirs, Offshore Brazil Seismic imaging is the primary technique used to map the structure of subsurface reservoirs. This project focuses on imaging deep reservoirs located beneath salt bodies. The extreme depths of these reservoirs and unusual properties of salt means accurate images are difficult to attain. A major problem with these images are artefacts due to internal multiples (reverberations of seismic signals) from within salt. A recently developed migration technique (Marchenko imaging) may accurately address these artefacts. The aim of this project is to apply Marchenko Imaging to improve seismic imaging capability of pre-salt reservoirs, when working with surface seismic and VSP data.

Supervisor(s): Andrew Curtis

Keywords: Seismic, Imaging, Multiple, Migration, Marchenko

Mackie, Anna Observed and modelled radiation fluxes at Niamey, Niger The balance of solar and thermal radiation at the top-of-the-atmosphere plays a fundamental role in the broader climate system. These radiative fluxes vary at different spatial and temporal scales, driven by the underlying variability of processes such as clouds and aerosols. Capturing this variability in climate models is vital in order to be able to accurately project the state of the climate. Here, we present initial analysis of the ability of ERA-Interim (model output intended to simulate the climate as closely as possible), to reproduce the temporal variability of radiative processes at Niamey, Niger, observed in surface and satellite measurements.

Supervisor(s): Paul Palmer

Keywords: Radiation, ERA-Interim, clouds, aerosols,

Maire, Juliette Scaling reactive nitrogen at the field scale for intensively managed grassland Nitrous oxide has a global warming potential approximately 300 times larger than CO2 and it contributes to the loss of stratospheric ozone. My PhD will be focus on spatial variability of N2O emissions in intensively managed grasslands in Scotland and Ireland. It will assess relationships between soil properties, climate (soil pH, soil moisture content, soil N content as well as topography, rainfall and temperature) and N2O emission rates. The results will be mapped on a digital elevation model collected by a UAV. This study should provide new methods to predict N2O emissions from grassland with greater accuracy than previously possible.

Supervisor(s): Bob Rees, Ute Skiba, Dave Reay, Gary Lanigan

Keywords: N2O, Grassland, Spatial variability, Eddy covariance, Chambers

Mendelova, Monika Reconstructing the timing and significance of glaciations in central Patagonia Robust glacial reconstructions from Southern Hemisphere mid-latitudes can yield insights into the past behaviour of key climatic systems and provide an opportunity to evaluate (a-)synchrony of glacier fluctuations on regional and inter-hemispheric scale. This project aims to develop a well-dated glacial reconstruction from a central part of the former Patagonian Ice sheet (PIS) utilising geomorphological mapping and cosmogenic surface exposure dating. The Lago Belgrano valley exhibits a previously undated, well-preserved glacial geomorphology record spanning the last glacial cycle through to the present day. The glaciers previously occupying the valley drained the San Lorenzo ice cap, which merged with the PIS during the last glacial maximum.

Supervisor(s): Dr Andy Hein, Dr Nick Hulton

Keywords: Patagonia, cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure dating, glacial chronology, glacial geomorphology, last glacial cycle

Miller, Rebekah Investigating the use of digital media and everyday experiences of home for older British migrants living in the Costa del Sol, Spain. Home is a complex concept, especially for transnational migrants. Within my research, an ethnographic approach will be used to understand how home is experienced and practiced by older British migrants living in the Costa del Sol region of Spain. My focus on older British migrants aims to go beyond the typologies or quantitative approach often used in research in this area. I am also investigating the role that digital media plays in the everyday lives and conceptualisations of home for these migrants. This focus reflects the increasingly everyday use of digital media and the growing literature on how people engage with different types of digital media in maintaining, creating, or ending, transnational relationships.

Supervisor(s): Dr. Dan Swanton & Dr. Eric Laurier

Keywords: home, digital media, ageing, transnational migration

Moyer, Alexis Investigating tidewater glacier and ice melange submarine melt rates in Greenland's fjords Accelerating mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet is attributed in part to changes in the dynamics of tidewater glaciers. The precise mechanisms driving changes in tidewater glacier dynamics are poorly understood, and while increasing evidence points to the importance of submarine melt-rates (SMR), estimates of SMR remain uncertain. My PhD research proposes a new approach to estimating SMR, by analyzing elevation changes in thick ice mélange present in tidewater glacier fjords. Spatiotemporal patterns of melt will be identified and estimated SMR will be compared to modelderived values. Preliminary estimates of SMR are presented for ice mélange in southwest Greenland.

Supervisor(s): Pete Nienow, Noel Gourmelen, Andrew Sole

Keywords: submarine melt; tidewater glacier; Greenland

Muñoz, Daniel Embodied social exclusion in the public transport: The case of Transantiago, in Chile This research focuses on the quotidian embodied experiences of public transport users in the city of Santiago, Chile. Every day, different materialities, discourses and flows assemble and shape the travellers bodies in certain ways. Thus, everyday mobilities tend to converge and validate certain bodies above others, creating landscapes of social exclusion that are continuously reproduced. Focusing on the experience of non-hegemonic bodies the ones of disabled, pregnant, or older people -, this research aims to describe how these bodies are produced by everyday life mobile practices and, conversely, how the transport system is configured by the bodies of its users.

Supervisor(s): Eric Laurier

Keywords: Mobilities, everyday life, embodied experiences, public transport

Nawaz, Muhammad Atif Super-Seismic Resolution This research aims to establish a common ground for geological and geophysical interpretation by incorporating any prior geological knowledge in the inversion of seismic data for geological facies (discrete classes of rock types) and rock properties at finer levels of details than is possible using the existing methods. A probabilistic approach is sought in order to allow for quantification of uncertainty associated with the inversion process. This will consequently help the industry to explore new subsurface reserves of natural resources (e.g., hydrocarbons, minerals, water) and storage-reservoirs for nuclear and industrial wastes, and to monitor subsurface flow of fluids.

Supervisor(s): Dr. Andrew Curtis

Keywords: Seismic, inversion, probability, resolution, uncertainty

Nwobi, Chukwuebuka Biomass and Productivity Dynamics in Niger Delta Mangrove Ecosystem Mangrove forests are increasingly being explored as means of climate change mitigation due to their huge carbon potential in their woody biomass and especially in the soil. This ecosystem in coastal Nigeria, although continuously being depleted; is difficult to access due to environmental and social constraints and as such, little or no information on the carbon stock from field studies is known. The aim of this research project is to estimate the biomass and productivity dynamics in mangrove forests of the Niger Delta using ground-based methodologies, remote sensing, and modelling; while addressing the drivers of deforestation and degradation.

Supervisor(s): Mathew Williams

Keywords: Mangrove, Biomass, Productivity, Blue Carbon, Remote Sensing

O'Donnell, Megan Managing Wastewater from Unconventional Gas Production in the EU One of the main challenges for the fracking industry in the EU is the storage, treatment and re-use or disposal of high volumes of waste water generated by the operations. Analysis of the US industry has shown that the chemical composition of fracking waste water can be impervious to conventional treatment techniques and hazardous to water supplies if discharged effluently. Recently, there has been significant concern over the concurrent subsurface disposal of waste water and induced local seismicity in the US. This research aims to provide an insight into the geochemical interactions between fracturing fluids, fresh rock surfaces and naturally present formation water during fracking. The results will inform EU regulators, environmental protection agencies and industry on appropriate management to ultimately protect water supplies.

Supervisor(s): Stuart Gilfillan

Keywords: fracking, wastewater, treatment, sesimicity, environment

Panciroli, Elsa The origin and early evolution of mammals: study of an exceptionally complete skeleton from the Middle Jurassic of Skye, Scotland. Since Mesozoic mammals were first identified from English Jurassic sediments in the 1800s, multiple UK specimens have been uncovered, including members of several stem mammal groups. Field work on Skye has recovered the first Scottish Mesozoic mammal in the Kilmaluag Formation (Bathonian), Borealestes serendipitus, and a tritylodont, Stereognathus hebridicus. B. serendipitus, and S. hebridicus will be formally monographed; CT-scanning this historically overlooked material and digitally reconstructing it forms the basis of a larger review of UK Middle Jurassic mammals. Osteological character data will be collected for phylogenetic analysis, and to ascertain mammalian ecological diversity in the Middle Jurassic.

Supervisor(s): Stephen Brusatte

Keywords: Palaeontology, Mesozoic, Mammals, Skye, Jurassic

Papadopoulou - Korfiati, Ioanna Land dispossession and debt crisis in Greece: the case of Lasithi, Crete My research focuses on the links between public debt, uneven development and land dispossession in Greece. After the financial breakdown the countrys land, property and common resources have been massively shaped as a privileged target for speculative investors; I aim to explore how de-valorised and geographically different land is becoming a new market, challenging the dominant perception of land-deals as a key solution to the debt. The locational conflicts emerging in Cretes Lasithi municipality provide the lens to examine the specific conditions under which large stretches of environmentally fragile land are being contested for touristic real-estate and renewable energy developments.

Supervisor(s): Tom Slater, Tahl Kaminer

Keywords: land dispossession, uneven development, debt crisis, Greece, locational conflicts

Rubiell, Barbara Changing foodscapes and obesity: An understanding of the obesity epidemic through free trade agreements Obesity is now considered to be one of the most important global health problems. Although the individual causes of obesity can derive in a myriad of explanations, most of the studies concerning the sudden rise of the obesity epidemic point towards the changes in the immediate environment in the last decades. Therefore, it is essential to understand why this increase taken place has now and what has possibly triggered such a rapid change in our bodies. In an effort to explore a possible relationship between changes in food consumption and the abrupt accrual of obesity prevalence, my research aims to understand the changes in the local food environment derived from the liberalisation of food trade policies . This exploration is intended to be a comparative study between two urban settings in Mexico and Scotland with the purpose of identifying the most vulnerable population groups to changing food environments

Supervisor(s): Dr. Jamie Peare and Dr. Niamh Moore

Keywords: Obesity, liberalisation, food environment, trade

Saunders, Emma Workers of the World: Organise! The slogan Working Men of All Countries, Unite!(Marx, 1848) runs through the Lefts unconscious dreams. What does it mean in practice after 160years of history and critical studies? I follow French, Moroccan, Italian and Malaysian unions from one micro-electronics company attempting to coordinate their demands and actions. Which stories, interests and needs inspire them to act together? I analyse these developments as an academic whilst, normatively and methodologically positioning myself to think from, and alongside these actors. I work with them and ReAct, which organises people against transnational companies, to understand the potentials and limits of international labour solidarity.

Supervisor(s): Jan Penrose

Keywords: labour, activist-research, power,

Scott, James Investigating Reservoir Connectivity Using Noble Gases Many tools exist to determine static connectivity within hydrocarbon reservoirs, but these tools are not applicable to all scenarios. It is particularly difficult to determine the connectivity between fluids of different phases, or the connectivity of hydrocarbon fluids separated by an aquifer. Noble gases are chemically inert and naturally present in both hydrocarbon reservoirs and aquifers. The fractionation of noble gases between phases is relatively well constrained. If reservoirs are disconnected, noble gases have distinct radiogenic and elemental abundance ratios, which make them ideal tracers of hydrocarbon fluid connectivity.

Supervisor(s): Keywords: Noble Gas, Reservoir, Connectivity, Hydrocarbon

Shotter, Lauren Environmental Impact of Plinian Eruptions in Iceland In the past, large plinian eruptions have covered much of Iceland in thick tephra deposits but the long-term impact of these on the environment is poorly understood. The aim of this PhD project is to establish the impact of such eruptions on different environments across Iceland, and how long similar environments at different distances from the eruption took to recover. Research will employ a variety of palaeoenvironmental and palaeoecological techniques, including pollen, diatom, and sedimentary analyses. It is important that we improve our poor understanding of the consequences of such eruptions, in order to mitigate the impact of future eruptions.

Supervisor(s): Dr Anthony Newton, Professor Andrew Dugmore, Dr John Stevenson

Keywords: Palaeoecology, Iceland, Plinian

Simpson, Eleri Squeezing the Sponge: the behaviour of fluid mobile elements during serpentinite Dehydration The cycling of water at the surface and below is essential for a habitable planet. Water is transported beneath the crust and into the upper mantle by the subduction of tectonic plates and is likely stored in hydrous mantle rocks (serpentinites). Fluids are expelled at ~120 km depth, triggering mantle melting which feeds volcanic eruptions, replenishes atmospheric water and creates continental crust. The expelled fluids contain fluid-mobile-elements (B, Li, etc) which are used to track fluid movement. However, the behaviour of these elements during serpentinite dehydration is largely unconstrained and must be studied to fully understand the deep water cycle.

Supervisor(s): Cees-Jan de Hoog, Jason Harvey, Linda Kirstein, Geoff Bromiley

Keywords: Subduction, Geochemistry, Planet habitability, Water

Singh, Jonathan Carbonate Rock Physics in Four Dimensions Carbonate rocks properties are poorly understood relative to siliciclastic rocks. This project seeks to characterise the complex nature that elastic properties (e.g., seismic velocity) of carbonates evolve as stress conditions vary. Complicated pore networks, which carbonates contain, mean that understanding relationships between stress and velocity can be challenging. Therefore samples will be characterised using high-resolution micro-tomography before the use of experimental apparatus for finding elastic properties of a sample, while undergoing varying confining, differential, and fluid pressures. We seek to find an appropriate analytical model to represent pressure - velocity data, and what aspects of a rocks microstructure control this relationship.

Supervisor(s): Keywords: Carbonates, Rock Physics,

Smith, Ashley Geomagnetism in space My research uses satellite data to study the Earth's magnetic field. Understanding the magnetic field has applications such as: probing the Earth's interior, mineral exploration, navigation, and preparing communications and power systems for the effects of "space weather". When we make measurements of the magnetic field, we have to understand how to separate out the different magnetic sources that contribute to our measurements. One such source is the ionospheric currents which are associated with the aurorae. I will explain how I am using ESA's satellite mission, Swarm, to monitor these currents and will introduce the topic of space weather.

Supervisor(s): Kathy Whaler, Ciaran Beggan, Susan Macmillan

Keywords: geomagnetism, ionosphere, space weather, aurora

Smith, Cathy Rationales for community-based natural resource management in Belizes Toledo District I will examine how 5 communities of differing sizes, ethnicities and histories, located within a 30km radius within Belizes Toledo District, organise themselves for natural resource management and the rationales, practical and ethical, of the external actors (international funders, local NGOs and indigenous rights activists) advocating for involving them in natural resource management. Quantitative exploration of reliance on natural resources will combine with qualitative understanding from participant observation, interviewing and my active role as project officer for a DFID-funded project targeting these communities. The research will inform the present project and have wider implications for conservation policies in Belize.

Supervisor(s): Neil Stuart/ Duncan Macqueen/ Casey Ryan

Keywords: Belize, Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM), Action research, Environmental ethics, Indigenous rights,

Tao, Zui Reconstruction of coarse sediments recycling process in the Great Plains using cosmogenic 21Ne Generally speaking, the coarse sediments transported by major mountain rivers can only reach tens of kilometres into the basin. However, the gravel from the Rockies can catch up to 300km into the Great Plains. To get clear what control the distance of coarse bedload sediments carried into such a long distance and how this process evolves, three branches of methodology are included. 1.Fieldwork in the Great Plains; 2.Numerical modelling based on the steady state model of J. W. Lauer and J. Willenbring; 3.Cosmogenic 21Ne analysis of sand within the channels in research area.

Supervisor(s): Dr. Hugh Sinclair

Keywords: sedimentary recycle, Great Plains, 21Ne

Tepes, Paul Land ice changes from high resolution elevation measurements using satellite Altimetry The cryosphere has been subject to drastic changes due to climate warming. Satellite altimetry can be used to quantify ice mass gains/losses from elevation change measurements over ice-covered regions. Retrieving these measurements presents significant challenges, as a very fine spatial resolution is often required due to complex topography. The main purpose of this study is to understand whether algorithms can be derived to improve upon the spatial and temporal resolution of elevation change measurements from current satellite missions. The algorithms will be tested and applied over ice caps, the main contributor to current change in mass of the worlds oceans.

Supervisor(s): Dr. Noel Gourmelen

Keywords: remote sensing, ice caps, sea level change

Tobin, George Spoiled Landscapes: Mining Landscape Reclamation in West Yorkshire, 1974-1986. This research concerns the process of coal mining landscape reclamation in West Yorkshire from 1974-1986, during the transitory period of deindustrialisation in the UK. Using a combination of archival work and oral history interviews with former workers on these projects, it presents landscape reclamation as a means through which to access alternative mining histories and associated meanings. A knitting together of everyday small stories with the larger political context of the miners strikes and neoliberal reform, aims to both compliment social and economic histories of deindustrialisation, and read against the grain of heritagised narratives of working-class toil and dignified suffering.

Supervisor(s): Fraser MacDonald

Keywords:Landscape, Memory, Deindustrialisation, Temporality, Industrial Ruins

Wells, Geoff Occams razor and simplifying ecosystem service analyses If William of Occam were a GeoSciences PhD student he might ask how to design ecosystem services analyses complex enough to recognise system dynamics yet simple enough to be affordable?. As he was instead a 13th Century Franciscan friar, the question has fallen to me. Seeking accurate information about complex ecosystems, methodologies can themselves become more complex (and costly). Yet when applied in practice, outside of their parent studies, complex analyses may not always improve accuracy. How then to find the right balance? My transdisciplinary research will investigate this in forest ecosystem services projects in Mexico, Uganda, Mozambique and/or elsewhere.

Supervisor(s): Casey Ryan

Keywords: ecosystem services, uncertainty, system dynamics

YANG, YILI X-ray CT of synthesised dolomite samples Dolomite (CaMgCO3) is a carbonate mineral that forms by a replacement reaction of calcite (CaCO3) called dolomitisation. It is a universal diagenetic process that took place in most of the carbonate reservoirs, and it can severely affect the porosity and permeability of a reservoir, therefore change its quality. However, the mechanism of dolomitisation is not well-understood. My study is to process and analyse the X-ray image of synthesised dolomite conducted by Muller et al (2015), thus shed a light on the reaction rate of dolomitisation, as well as establish a workflow of processing geological 3D X-ray Images

Supervisor(s): Dr Florian Fusseis

Keywords: X-ray CT, dolomite, kinetics

Zhang, Xin 3-D surface wave tomography using reversible jump algorithm A seismic surface wave is a type of seismic waves which travels along the surface of the earth. Seismic surface wave tomography is a technique using seismic surface waves to image the Earths subsurface in an effort to understand the geologic structure of the Earths crust, which can offer useful information for earth resources exploration. The reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (RJMCMC) method has proven to be a valuable tool to perform seismic surface wave tomography for imaging 3-D crustal shear velocity. This method involves a Bayesian framework to quantify the posterior distribution given the data and prior information, which can be used to estimate the image uncertainty. However, currently the method uses a two-stage inversion scheme, which separates the 2-D phase/group velocity inversion and 1-D depth inversion. Thus, in the determined model, one model cell is independent from its neighbour cells, which might not be true in the real earth. In response to this issue, we will implement a direct 3-D surface wave tomography method with the RJMCMC inversion scheme.

Supervisor(s): Prof. Andrew Curtis

Keywords: Seismic surface waves, seismic tomography, MCMC

POSTER ABSTRACTS – 2ND YEAR PHDS

Angers-Blondin, Sandra Reading between the rings: Tales of tundra wars Shrubs are increasing rapidly in tundra ecosystems in response to climate change. However, this expansion is spatially heterogeneous, because local factors like plant-plant interactions can constrain vegetation dynamics. To answer the question Does the relative importance of climate and competition as determinants of shrub growth vary with environmental severity?, we mapped shrub populations at four sites across the Canadian Arctic and measured annual growth. Preliminary results suggest that shrubs are more climate-sensitive in colder sites. Spatial analyses will determine whether competition affects individual climate-growth relationships, providing a better understanding of how plant interactions may influence future vegetation change.

Supervisor(s): Isla Myers-Smith

Keywords: plant ecology, vegetation change, tundra, competition

Al Blooshi, Mariam Fracture related diagenesis as a record of reservoir tectonic evolution: case study from an onshore field in Abu Dhabi, UAE Little is known about the relationship between the formation of faults and fractures; which occur due to tectonism and the evolution of percolating fluids. These fluids can lead a trace as either dissolution features or as cements within. Here, this relationship will be explored in a subsurface onshore oil field in the Thamama Formation of the UAE, and compared to an outcrop analogue to place features within the context of regional structural evolution. Fracture formation will be placed within a sequence of diagenetic events. Then ´13C and ´18 values of different cement generations will be used to assess the evolving chemistry and temperature of precipitation of the fracture fill fluid. The results will help establish the role of fractures in the evolution of permeability pathways in the reservoir.

Supervisor(s): Rachel Wood

Keywords: Fractures, Carbonates, diagenesis, porosity,tectonic

Alharthi, Amena Dynamics of calcite cementation in response to oil charge and reservoir evolution: Thamama, Group, U.A.E. The Lower Cretaceous Thamama group hosts important oil reservoirs in the UAE. Porosity varies dramatically across the anticlinal structures, where the crest rocks hold higher porosity compared to those in the flank. This porosity variation has been related to a greater extent of calcite cementation in the water zone than in the oil zone because oil charge is thought to retard or stop diagenesis completely. Yet, the dynamics of the calcite cementation in response to oil charge are still poorly understood. This project aims to (1) understand and quantify the dynamics of the calcite cementation in response to oil charge in Thamama Carbonate Reservoirs, and (2) quantify cement distribution in order to constrain the impact of diagenesis on reservoir quality distribution and evolution. Cathodoluminescence results reveal that lower stratigrahically reservoirs units record longer cementation history compared with upper reservoir units where oil charge has been introduced to the system earlier. Type and volume of calcite cementation varies across different reservoirs.

Supervisor(s): Prof. Rachel Wood

Keywords: Thamama, diagenesis, carbonate, porosity, cementation

Bain, Amelia Boom, Boom, Boom : What can bomb textures tell us about the dynamics of cyclic vulcanian explosions? Vulcanian eruptions are arguably the form of explosive activity that populations living in volcanic areas are most likely to encounter. These cyclical, violent explosions are thought to repeatedly destroy and eject a densified, degassed and crystal-rich plug of magma that has stalled in the shallow conduit. Despite the hazardous nature of this activity, controls on eruption magnitude and timing remain poorly understood. In order to address these problems, this study investigates the evolution of textures and material properties such as porosity and permeability in ballistic bombs from 6 archetypal eruptions of the 2004-2012 period of activity of Galeras volcano, Colombia.

Supervisor(s): Eliza Calder

Keywords: Eruption, Magma, Degassing, Crystallisation, Permeability

Bartlett, Rachel Impacts of East Asian aerosols on the Asian monsoon Recently, Asian aerosol emissions have increased rapidly. Aerosols alter radiative forcing and regional hydroclimate, affecting the Asian monsoon and contributing to observed regional drying. Connections between regional monsoon components mean that aerosols could have far-reaching impacts. Future emissions are uncertain and not well sampled by standard IPCC scenarios. Using HadGEM2-ES we investigate sensitivity of the Asian monsoon to East Asian sulfate aerosol. Increased sulfate corresponds to wetter summers over southern China and Indochina, similar to the southern-floodnorthern-drought trend in observations, while Indian summers are drier. These precipitation patterns are linked to increased sulfate through large-scale dynamics and three-dimensional circulation.

Supervisor(s): Dr Massimo Bollasina, Prof Simon Tett

Keywords: "Asian monsoon", aerosols, "climate sensitivity", "atmospheric dynamics", "climate modelling"

Bayliss, Kirsty Identifying earthquake clusters Earthquake clusters are composed of events which can be linked due to their proximity in time and space. These short-term clusters can obscure information about the long-term rate of background or independent events used in some hazard analysis but can also be useful in themselves, and several methods have been developed to identify clustered events in the earthquake catalogue. Linking earthquakes by their time, space and magnitude results in a distribution of two parts. This work uses mixture modelling to identify background and clustered events, which can then be used to better understand patterns in clustering.

Supervisor(s): Mark Naylor

Keywords: Earthquakes, Clustering, Mixture Models, Seismicity

Bowyer, Fred Redox controls in early animal ecosystems The Ediacaran Period (635-541Ma) saw the first appearance of complex body fossils of probable animal affinity. Their evolution is thought in part to be related to contemporaneous oxygenation above a threshold concentration within their immediate environments. Multi-proxy assessment of palaeoredox evolution has been the focus of numerous scientific investigations of Ediacaran stratigraphic sections worldwide. Most evidence points towards highly location-specific trends in water column oxygenation accompanying similarly diverse macroscopic organisms. Teasing apart the mechanisms which control redox on a local scale is an essential prerequisite to identifying the importance of oxygen concentration and stability in establishment of these enigmatic ecosystems.

Supervisor(s): Rachel Wood, Alex Thomas

Keywords:Redox, Ediacaran, Metazoa,

Buchan, Ashley Conserving the Humberhead Wetlands - Insects and Raised Mire Restoration Through an extensive survey of year-round insect populations across Thorne Moor in South East Yorkshire, the ecological impact of post-exploitation restoration work is evaluated. The invertebrate data are produced from a survey of five compartments at successive stages of restoration on this northernmost fragment of the Humberhead Peatlands, Englands largest lowland raised mire. Analysis will focus on the distribution of fauna with an emphasis on the abundance of characteristic and rare peatland indicator species in each compartment. The value of monitoring key fauna as a novel approach to tracking restoration progress is explored as part of the evaluation.

Supervisor(s): Dr Eva Panagiotakopulu

Keywords: Invertebrates, ecology, restoration, peatlands, monitoring

Cawdell, Oliver Understanding the role of Scottish rivers in the global carbon cycle: Sources, forms and reactivity of organic matter (OM) Rivers are highly active sites of organic matter cycling and a major source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. With increasing dissolved and particulate organic matter levels measured across rivers locally and worldwide, there is now a greater need to study the way in which terrestrial systems cycle carbon. This project will quantify the molecular-level composition of organic matter across the particulate, aqueous and volatile phases in Scottish river samples with varying land use and season. In addition, incubation experiments designed to mimic natural riverine conditions, will assess the reactivity of the observed molecular-level content.

Supervisor(s): Dr Greg Cowie

Keywords: Rivers, Organic, Lignin, Reactivity, Land-use

Chen, Guohui Origin of Upper Cretaceous volcaniclastic sandstones (Kannaviou Formation) in SW Cyprus The aim is specifically to investigate the volcanic source of the Cretaceous volcaniclastic sediments (Kannaviou Formation) that occur abundantly in SW Cyprus. Hypothesis that the Kannaviou Formation was derived from a Late Cretaceous volcanic arc (of either intra-oceanic or continental margin type) will be tested. To further characterise the provenance, on-going research includes additional fieldwork, U-Pb dating of detrital zircons and ion microprobe analysis of trace elements in volcanic glass. Upper Cretaceous felsic extrusive rocks occur in the Kyrenia Range, N Cyprus and may have a similar origin to the Kannaviou Formation; this is being investigated.

Supervisor(s): Prof. Alastair Robertson, Prof. Timur Ustaömer

Keywords:Volcaniclastic sediments, Provenance, Cyprus

Christie, Frazer Four-decade record of pervasive grounding line retreat along the Bellingshausen margin of West Antarctica Recent studies in West Antarctica have aimed to elucidate the drivers of dynamic thinning, a process by which oceanic and/or atmospheric forcing instigates accelerated thinning of coastal ice. These studies have been especially concentrated in the Amundsen Sector, where the greatest losses of ice have occurred over recent decades. There are, however, other regions of West Antarctica, notably the Bellingshausen Sea sector, where the pace and precise drivers of thinning remain uncertain. Using grounding line migration as a proxy for dynamic thinning, we show that that the whole Bellingshausen region has undergone retreat since the mid-1980s, and may be destabilising.

Supervisor(s): Dr. Robert Bingham

Keywords: Landat; InSAR; grounding line; Antarctica; ice-ocean interaction

Cooper, David Big cat skull morphometrics An analysis of tiger and lion skull characteristics in relation to environmental factors across their geographic ranges.

Supervisor(s): Andrew Dugmore

Keywords: Skull Morphometrics, Big Cats, Geographic Change

Daxini, Amar How Do Farmers Make Decisions in Relation to Fertiliser Application? The effectiveness of a farmers decision making process in relation to fertilisers is a key component which determines nitrogen use efficiency at the farm scale, yet our understanding of how such decisions are made remains unclear. This research aims to identify, describe and explore how key fertiliser decisions are made by Scottish and Irish farmers in relation to a specific crop cycle.A clearer understanding of the farmer decision making process has the potential to reveal areas of decision making that could be improved.

Supervisor(s): Dr Andrew Barnes

Keywords: Decision making, nitrogen fertiliser, crop cycle

Dumont, Matthew Unlocking the marine carbon and nitrogen cycles from diatoms During the last deglaciation, Earths atmosphere witnessed an increase in CO2 concentration from ~200 ppm to ~280 ppm. There is evidence to suggest that much of this carbon came from the deep ocean and was transported through the Southern Ocean before reaching the atmosphere. Also during this period the efficiency of Southern Ocean diatoms to draw down carbon was diminishing as a result of a decrease in iron availability from dust. The aim of this project is to untangle the web of processes that occurred during this period and endeavors to question the importance of diatoms in global biogeochemical cycles.

Supervisor(s): Prof. Raja Ganeshram, Dr. Laetitia Pichevin & Dr. Robert Turnewitsch

Keywords: diatoms, iron, silicon, nitrogen, carbon

Fenech, Sara Multiple air pollutants and their health impacts during pollution episodes across the UK Evidence showing the adverse impacts of air pollution on human health due to exposure is in abundance. Both short-term and long-term exposures to particular matter (PM) have been associated with increased mortality. This study is focused on the short-term effects of PM. Poor air quality episodes are surrounded by rapid changes in pollutant concentrations, thus a key requirement of modelling is the ability to capture such changes. This study investigates air pollution episodes across the UK together with their health impacts. Pollutant concentrations are obtained by using a high resolution version of the UK chemistry and aerosol (UKCA) model.

Supervisor(s): Dr Ruth Doherty, Dr Clare Heaviside, Dr Sotiris Vardoulakis

Keywords: Air Pollution, Health

Ferraretto, Daniele Nitrogen deposition and nitrogen cycling in forests: first results Nitrogen (N) is an essential nutrient for plant growth. Most of the N input to the terrestrial N cycle comes from anthropogenic atmospheric deposition (Ndep). Many studies show that N deposition influences forest growth and the function of forest ecosystems as a carbon sink. However there is still much debate on the magnitude of this effect. My PhD aims to address knowledge gaps on how N deposition is intercepted and reallocated by the forest canopy and in the different components of forest ecosystems. It focuses on a Sitka spruce plantation, the most widespread tree cover in Scotland. First results from the analysis of 4-year dataset comparing N fluxes over and under canopy show clear changes in the NO3/NH4 ratio which may indicate that the canopy processes the Ndep.

Supervisor(s): Kate Heal

Keywords: Nitrogen deposition, Sitka spruce plantation, Forest nitrogen cycle

Flack, Sophie The Amazon Carbon Bank Though only covering ~ 5% of the Earths land surface, tropical forests alone account for one third of total terrestrial productivity. Mechanisms controlling productivity are poorly understood, despite significantly influencing global dynamics of climate, carbon and water. With increases in dry season intensity predicted across the Amazon, understanding the interaction between plant carbon dynamics and hydrology is imperative. We employ the ecosystem model SPA to investigate the economics of canopy carbon dynamics and what this means for the future carbon balance of our tropical forests. We explore investment costs, respiratory costs, return potential, and risk associated with depleting labile stocks.

Supervisor(s): Mathew Williams

Keywords: Carbon Economics, Amazon, Precipitation

Foffa, Davide Under the sea: the ecology and evolution of Jurassic marine reptiles. During the Jurassic (ca. 201-145 million years ago) marine ecosystems were dominated by ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and thalattosuchians extinct groups of reptiles adapted to aquatic lifestyles. Despite superficial similarities, these animals were diverse and specific features of their skeletons suggest that they were able to partition resources by adopting different dietary niches. However, these observations are rarely tested on the fossil record and are primarily based on comparisons with modern ecosystems. Here, I quantitatively analyse and compare the structures of two rich fossil assemblages from the Middle-Late Jurassic of the UK.

Supervisor(s): Stephen L. Brusatte; Kyle G. Dexter; Mark T. Young

Keywords: Palaeobiology; ecology; competition; Oxford Clay Formation; Kimmeridge Clay Formation

GHAZALI, NOORZALIANEE Potential of Wave Attenuation by Peninsular Malaysia Coastal Mangroves Using mangroves as a potential coastal bioshield has been intensively studied and tested in the past 10 years. These studies suggest mangroves are able to attenuate waves and storm surges. This report investigates wave attenuation rates by mangrove forests as a function of the geometry of mangrove forests, tidal regime and monsoon patterns (e.g., differences in monsoons between east and west coasts) in Peninsular Malaysia. Thus far I have explored wave attenuation as a function of bathymetry and the spatial configuration of selected Malaysian coastlines. In addition, I plan on exploring the geometry of mangrove forests taking into account spatial variation in forest density. I describe my plan to compute the effect of forest density on the momentum and turbulence of waves by taking into account friction forces, using cylinders as a proxy for mangrove geometry within the oblique flow. The density parameter is governed by the number of mangrove stem per area, stem diameter and stem height. Malaysia also features a wide range of tidal amplitudes and modes. Semidiurnal and mixed dominant semi diurnal tides are common in Malaysian coastal waters, and, in addition, the Chendering region, on the East Coast of Malaysia, features a mixed dominant diurnal tidal regime. This can be quantified using the value of the ratio (F) for the sum of the amplitudes(K1, O1, M2 and N2) ranging between 0.5 to 2.6. I explain here my plan to explore the difference in attenuation rates for the mangrove forest for each tidal regime as a function of different inundation periods and tidal regimes. The nature of the Monsoon throughout the year in Peninsular Malaysia vary from the east coast to west coast. Emerging from the Asian continent and surrounded by Andaman Sea of Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, Peninsular Malaysia is bound by two different monsoons: Southwest Monsoon from late May to September and Northeast Monsoon from November to March. The Northeast Monsoon has been associated with strong winds, intense rain and flooding focused on the east coast if the monsoon meets cold air from Siberia. In contrast, the west coast is spared from this extreme weather by the Main Range of Banjaran Titiwangsa. I will explore the effect of differing wind speeds and directions for each monsoon to explore the interaction between wave height and mangrove geometry. I hypothesize that the reduction in wave height will respond to different mangrove density. Finally, I describe a plan to cataloging mangrove species, their zoning, and the environmental setting as a function of the tidal regime. I will focus on wave attenuation, which is defined by the decrease in wave energy as a result of reduced wave height and flow velocity. Thus, the overall goal of this Ph.D. is to explore the effect of different environmental factors on wave attenuation, and how tidal regime and monsoon properties can feedback between mangrove ecology and wave attenuation.

Supervisor(s): Simon M. Mudd

Keywords: Wave attenuation, mangroves,density, tidal, monsoon,

Giesler, Rebecca Susceptible to Salinity? The impact of short term exposure to freshwater on marine biofouling communities in three Scottish Marinas Marine invasive non-native species (NNS) are prevalent on artificial structures in marinas, facilitating spread by recreational vessels. This study was conducted to see if freshwater could be used as an effective treatment to reduce colonisation of marine fouling non-native species on artificial structures. The effects of 1 hour freshwater immersion was tested on experimental biofouling communities in three Scottish marinas with differing salinity regimes. Salinity varied over the study period to different extents in each marina. Communities in the marina with little variation in salinity showed the greatest response to freshwater treatment.

Supervisor(s): Dr Meriwether Wilson

Keywords: Marinas; Non-native species; Freshwater; Biofouling; Biosecurity

Guimarães, André Alkaline magmatism in Northeastern Brazil and its associations with the Cameroon Line Cameroon line in west Africa is also formed by alkaline volcanism. The rocks in both areas are very similar including major and trace element geochemistry, stratigraphic associations and timing of magmatism and show a precise geometric correlation. In addition, both occurrences straddle the continental and oceanic lithosphere, producing magmas ranging from basic to evolved, and alkaline melts associated with both lithospheric conditions may be studied. The contemporaneous outbreak of apparently identical magmatism on these conjugate margins ca. 65 m.y. after continental separation is unlikely to be purely coincidence and my shed light into lithospheric controls on intraplate volcanism.

Supervisor(s): Prof. Godfrey Fitton

Keywords: Alkaline magmatism, Northeaster Brazil, Cameroon Line

Harries, Rebekah Testing the sensitivity of the sedimentary record to external forcing Dynamic depositional systems create time integrated stratigraphy^(1,2) which is our principle archive of past geological evolution on Earth. But to what extent does this record preserve signals of climate variability? Today the Iglesia basin of the south Central Argentine Andes exceptionally exposes vast alluvial fan systems. These fans contain accumulations of sediment exported from a mountain front that is lithologically relatively homogenous and has not been affected by major tectonic activity since the Pliocene. Climate on the other hand has changed substantially with climate change considered to have had a major control on the development of fan surfaces in this basin. Using a combination of numerical modelling, field geology and cosmogenic nuclide dating the influence of climate on 1) sediment flux; 2) depositional pattern; 3) 3D architectural development of fan surfaces; and 4) surface development through time is investigated.

Supervisor(s): Linda Kirstein

Keywords: stratigraphy, climate, alluvial fan, Andes, sediment

Hipkins, Emma A hot topic: Where should we bury our high level radioactive waste? The UK currently has 650,000 m3 of higher activity radioactive waste from the last 40 years of nuclear power generation. This volume will increase if the proposed new generation of nuclear power plants are constructed and commence operations. The government has identified deep geological disposal as the most viable storage option for higher activity waste. This research has identified three possible UK storage sites. By employing coupled thermo-hydro-chemical (THC) modelling, a direct comparison between the geological formations and hydrogeological regimes of the different sites can be made, and their relative feasibility to house higher activity radioactive waste explored.

Supervisor(s): Professor S. R. Haszeldine and Dr. habil. C. I. McDermott

Keywords: Radioactive Waste, Hydrogeology, THC modelling

Innes, Andrew Heavy Metal Distributions of Abandoned Lead Mines The assessment of contaminated land has traditionally been completed giving outputs of central tendency or ranges. The use of geo-statistical methods can allow investigators to assess the extent of metal contamination in a study site and assess areas of particular concern or interest. In this investigation two contrasting lead mines have been assessed using a kriging approach to characterise the sites and provide information to support future land remediation experiments.

Supervisor(s): Drs Jennifer Carfrae. Joanna Cloy, Barbra Harvey and Margaret Graham

Keywords: Heavy metals, lead, geo-spatial analysis, environmental chemistry

Ives, Stephen Characterisation and prediction of a Regime shift in a shallow lake Regime shifts have been characterised in a number of ecosystems but nowhere as well as in shallow lakes. Statistical methods capable of providing early warning of transitions involving the analysis of variance and autocorrelation have been developed mainly using simulated or experimental data. However recent tests using long-term monitoring data have been less encouraging with low levels of agreement between early warning indicators (EWIs) and detected tipping points. We report, here, on the application and analysis of outputs from EWIs run on the Loch Leven long-term dataset across multiple trophic levels as well as testing EWIs on a known regime shift.

Supervisor(s): Dr Bryan Spears, Prof Kate Heal

Keywords: Regime shifts, early warning indicators, resilience, management

Karolyte, Ruta Fault control on CO2 migration in the Otway Basin Carbon Capture and Storage is globally considered a key technology to mitigate climate change. Effective long-term CO2 geological storage requires a detailed understanding of fault rock sealing properties to CO2 in the subsurface. This study combines fault seal analysis and noble gas geochemistry techniques to account for CO2 and methane distribution in naturally occurring faultbounded reservoir compartments in the Otway Basin, South East Australia.

Supervisor(s): Stuart Gilfillan

Keywords: CCS, fault seal, CO2 migration

Lavarini Ferreira, Chrystiann Sedimentary signal changes in fluvial systems over time and space: insights from Corsica Island, France Detrital zircon has been the most commonly used heavy mineral in Earth surface processes research. It is assumed that they truly represent the characteristics of upstream source area. However, recent researches have also pointed out the influence of physical abrasion over the characteristics of river bedload. Here, I test if fluvial abrasion is a source of bias in the zircon population of sands from modern river systems. Initially, a model is tested on a dataset from published papers. Secondly, fieldworks are carried out in Corsica. Thirdly, double-dating (FT and U-Pb) is performed from Corsicas data. Finally, all methodologies are combined and the initial hypothesis evaluated.

Supervisor(s): Linda Kirstein

Keywords: Zircon; Abrasion; Modelling

Liski, Anja Helena For what its worth. Deliberative framework for valuing nature-based solutions Development and uptake of nature-based solutions for climate resilience require buy-in from a range of stakeholders. Choice-experiments can be used gauge citizens appetite for nature-based solutions and support the design of strategies for climate resilience. Critical challenge for choice experiments is that citizens express their preferences without adequate knowledge about the socio-ecological system, past or predicted environmental change and available management options. Uninformed and quick consideration are unlikely to credibly reflect the values and concerns in situations where impacts of environmental change are long-term, uncertain and not widely known in the public domain. It is argued here that deliberative valuation approaches for informing policy and practice are needed when conventional fast-track valuation surveys are not credible. This paper develops and tests a deliberative framework for monetary valuation of nature-based solutions for climate resilience in the Inner Forth, Scotland.

Supervisor(s): Meriwether Wilson and Marc Metzger

Keywords: choice-experiment, deliberative valuation, nature-based solutions, climate resilience

Majekodunmi, Makanjuola Assessing the carbon balance of Nigeria's forests and savannas A critical look at our environment and comparing it to what existed 20 years back will reveal that our environment is changing in terms of climate, land use/land cover change and other trends. Carbon stocks for most developed countries have been calculated based on land cover, field measurements and an up to date national forest inventory. The same cannot be said for developing tropical regions especially in sub-Saharan Africa due to financial constraints and poor data management. Recent trends indicate a reduction in deforestation levels in the Amazon, however deforestation has significantly increased in other parts of the globe

Supervisor(s): Dr Edward Mitchard, Prof. Iain Woodhouse

Keywords: above ground biomass, tropical forests, savannas, remote sensing

March, Maggie Evaluating the robustness of diverse dairy systems Sustainable intensification of agriculture in the UK is a response to declining ecosystems and global warming, however pressures of competing in volatile global market cause further uncertainty. Methods of dairy farm management vary and this study assesses environmental externalities, financial performance and resource use across a range of milk production systems to appreciate merits and quantify trade offs. The environmental and economic performance of a dairy system differs by indicator and high input regimes are not always favoured. Pathways to sustainable intensification may differ and depend upon varied conditions and a holistic approach is required.

Supervisor(s): D.J. Roberts & R.Wilson

Keywords: Dairy System, Environment, Economic

Mears, Ellen Crocodilian controversy: re-describing the UK's only early crocodylomorph The early evolution of Crocodylomorpha is poorly understood. The UKs only basal crocodylomorph, Terrestrisuchus gracilis, is often used in phylogenetic analyses, but its validity is debated due to similarities to Saltoposuchus connectens. This confusion is perpetuated by the fact Terrestrisuchus has only ever been studied as a collection of paratypes plus the holotype. A new description of Terrestrisuchus based only on the holotype specimen, presented here, indicates that many of the designated paratypes are the remains of different taxa. This re-description has allowed for a new analysis of Crocodylomorpha, bringing us closer to understanding this important group of animals.

Supervisor(s): Stephen Brusatte

Keywords: palaeontology, taxonomy, Crocodylomorpha, phylogenetics

Mouli-Castillo, Julien Exploring the UK's potential for Compressed Air Energy Storage In the context of the development of renewable energy sources in the U.K., and of the increase in anthropogenic atmospheric CO2, it is important to develop alternative ways of providing energy to the community. At present, an important part of the electrical energy which could be produced by renewable sources during low demand periods is not generated. The aim of this project is to apply the existing knowledge available around Compressed Air Energy Storage using porous rocks (PM-CAES) in order to assess the potential for this storage technology to be developed in the U.K. This assessment will be done by developing theoretical geological models to realise a sensitivity analysis of the parameters affecting PM-CAES proposed in the literature. Subsequently, the ranges established for those parameters will be used to filter U.K. formations in order to establish which ones could be suitable reservoirs for PM-CAES.

Supervisor(s): Dr. M. Wilkinson, Prof. S. Haszeldine, Dr. D. Mignard, Dr C. McDermott, Prof. Z. Shipton

Keywords: CAES, reservoir simulation, aquifer, Energy Storage

Nieto Quintano, Paula Investigating the effect of fire dynamis on the aboveground carbon storage in the Bateke landscape, Congo Africa is often referred to as the fire continent due to the regular ocurrence of fires. Most of these fires are anthropogenic, but their dynamics remain understudied. The savanna biome is the most affected by burning. The aim of this research is to set up field experiments, use historical satellite data and modelling approaches to quantify the relationships between fire regimes and aboveground biomass in the Bateke landscape, a savanna plateau surounded by rainforest in Congo. The results will promote a better management of the area to enhace carbon storage and increase the understanding of vegetation dynamics in this ecosystem.

Supervisor(s): Dr. Edward Mitchard

Keywords: Fire dynamics, savanna, remote sensing

Peskett, Leo Re-routing rainfall at the catchment scale: impacts on water storage, transit times and river discharge dynamics The big challenge in contemporary hydrology is to find a more universal method of describing catchment hydrological processes and how rainfall becomes runoff. Water storage and transit times have been suggested as potentially unifying concepts that work across different scales and landscapes. We use these concepts, in combination with hydrometric and hydrochemical datasets, to investigate how large-scale changes to landscapes can alter flow paths and control flooding. We focus particularly on whether natural flood management methods such as tree planting, that aim to channel water into sub-surface storage and flow pathways, can have an impact on river discharge response.

Supervisor(s): Professor Kate Heal

Keywords: Hydrology, Hydrogeology, Flooding, Land-use

Sanchez-Rodilla Espeso, Candela Therapeutic relationships to landscapes: what role does place play in the management of panic for panic disorder sufferers? Although therapeutic landscapes has been a useful framework in health geography, it has so far focused on identifying more and more possible therapeutic places. There has been little research that has investigated how those places actually become therapeutic. And in addition to this, with the exception of Davidsons (2001) work, mental health occupies a small space within therapeutic landscapes literature. My research project seeks to address both of these gaps by exploring the ways in which elements of a place may aid panic disorder sufferers to manage feelings of panic. I am interested in bringing psychoanalytic theory into the study of therapeutic landscapes to explore the ways in which the relationships that we hold with places can have significant emotional and therapeutic benefits for those who experience panic attacks.

Supervisor(s): Dr Liz Bondi, Dr Alette Willis

Keywords: Therapeutic landscapes, panic, phobic spaces, psychoanalytic theory

Sharp, Rosa Impact of linear disturbances on boreal forest micrometeorology Increasing disturbance and fragmentation of forest landscapes has driven rapid expansion of forest edges. In boreal forests, extensive linear clearings have resulted from anthropogenic development, including seismic lines and roads, in addition to natural features such as rivers. A numerical wind model has been used to investigate how forest edges modify flows for a range of hypothetical canopy types and how flows scale with driving wind speed. Future work will combine this with meteorological data from sites in Finland and Canada to investigate how wind influences spatio-temporal distributions of snow accumulation and melt across forest edges.

Supervisor(s): Dr Richard Essery, Dr Genevieve Patenaude

Keywords: Boreal, Forest edge, Wind model, Snow dynamics

Silva de Miranda, Pedro Luiz Determining which are the main biomes of lowland tropical South America and how they differ by using a massive dataset of tree species community surveys Lowland tropical South America (LTSA) is known its diverse flora. However, we still lack a classification scheme built considering information about species composition. Considering this, our aim was to determine the primary floristic units of LTSA. For this purpose, we used tree species composition around LTSA recovered from the NeoTropTree dataset (~2000 sites) and climatic variables from Bioclim. Our analysis revealed five main groups: Amazon Forest, Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, Chaco and Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (SDTFs).These results give quantitative support to many previous qualitative biome delineations, besides showing that climatic information cannot be used to infer about a biomes distribution.

Supervisor(s): Kyle Dexter

Keywords: Phytogeographic Patterns, Random Forest, Cluster Analysis, Simpson, Discriminant Function

Sim, Gavin Understanding chromium speciation and mobility in urban-industrial environments Glasgow has a legacy of chromium (Cr) contamination due to past industrial activities. Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) is highly toxic and carcinogenic. This project seeks to determine the biogeochemical factors that influence transport of Cr(VI) and evaluate its bioaccessibility. Initial work shows Cr(VI) concentrations of <1500 mg/kg in the highly reducing Polmadie Burn sediment and 240 mg/kg in the burn-side soils. Laboratory experiments are being designed to probe under which conditions Cr will be released/absorbed from the sediment and burn-side soils.

Supervisor(s): Dr Margaret Graham

Keywords: Chromium

Stokes, Thomas Cooking up an apatite: Manganese in felsic melts Manganese in apatite has been linked to oxygen fugacity by numerous authors (13), which leads to the exciting potential of using apatite to measure redox conditions (fO2) of melts. This study investigates partitioning of Mn into apatite experimentally at various P-T-fO2 conditions using piston cylinder apparatus and gas mixing furnaces. Preliminary results show that the oxidation state of Mn in felsic melt varies little with fO2. Mn-Fe spinel data show promising results for an increase in Mn with reducing conditions. Work is still under progress to determine apatite-melt behaviour for Mn. 1. Miles, A. J. et al. Apatite: A new redox proxy for silicic magmas? Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 132, 101119 (2014). 2. Chu, M.-F. et al. Apatite Composition: Tracing Petrogenetic Processes in Transhimalayan Granitoids. J. Petrol. 50, 18291855 (2009). 3. Belousova, E., Walters, S., Griffin, W. L. & OReilly, S. Y. Trace-element signatures of apatites in granitoids from the Mt Isa Inlier, northwestern Queensland. Aust. J. Earth Sci. 48, 603619 (2001).

Supervisor(s): Geoff Bromiley

Keywords: Redox, Oxygen fugacity, Apatite, Spinel

Sykes, Alasdair Comparing Farm-Level Greenhouse Gas Calculators on Beef Production Systems Farm-level greenhouse gas (GHG) footprinting tools produce markedly different results from common input datasets. Five farm-level tools were compared using data from beef production enterprises. Emissions estimates between tools were found to be highly variable. Comparison to published life cycle analysis data revealed that some tools produced estimates concurrent with these values, whilst others underestimated in comparison. This study highlights the differences between farm-level tools, and additionally finds that different tools may respond differently to the same system changes. Users and policy makers should be aware of these differences where tools are used to inform GHG management at farm level.

Supervisor(s): Bob Rees; Kairsty Topp; Ron Wilson; Gillian Reid

Keywords: greenhouse gas; climate change; agriculture; beef production; farm-level modelling

Thomas, Haydn Variation in tundra plant traits not explained by functional group Trait-based ecology offers the promise of a generalising framework that can explain and predict ecosystem change. However, fundamental assumptions that underpin trait-based approaches remain untested, notably that i) the primary source of variation is between species, ii) variation is consistent across traits and spatial scale, and iii) plant functional types are good predictors of ecosystem function. We test these assumptions in the tundra biome - a model system due to low species richness. We find that variation is strongly trait-specific, with high within-species and within-group variation. This has critical implications for trait-based approaches to predicting ecosystem change.

Supervisor(s): Dr. Isla Myers-Smith

Keywords: Plant functional traits, tundra ecology

Thompson, Bethan Risk and Revulsion UK households waste vast quantities of dairy products every year. This results in significant environmental, financial and social impacts. Household food waste is arguably best understood as the outcome of multiple inter-related behaviours (Quested et al. 2013). Despite this understanding most research still models household food waste as a single behaviour. This research will take a different approach and focuses on one of the behaviours contributing to household food waste use of expiry dates. It will result in a deeper understanding of trade-offs that individuals make between food waste, safety, health and price, and explore the influence of risk perception and negative food experiences. Results will inform policy makers and food businesses on how they can effect food waste reduction through labeling, communication and policy changes.

Supervisor(s): Luiza Toma

Keywords: Food Waste Safety Behaviour

Thomson, Jennifer Measuring associations between forests and health over time in Scotland Studies have shown that forests provide opportunities for improving health and reducing inequalities. Although evidence is increasing there are no studies to date, which explore links between forests and health through time, mainly due to the lack of readily available historical forestry data. This study aims to address this research gap by constructing a longitudinal forestry data set for Scotland, showing changes in forest cover and forest access over a 20-year period. This data set is to be linked to the Scottish Longitudinal Study and administrative data, which will allow associations between forests and specific health outcomes to be assessed.

Supervisor(s): Jamie Pearce, Niamh Shortt & Catharine Ward Thompson

Keywords: Forests, health, Scotland, inequalities, longitudinal

Tulip, Laura Marine aggregates Marine aggregates are particles that act as the main vehicle transporting particulate organic matter (POM) created in the surface ocean to the deep ocean. Aggregation and sedimentation of these particles varies depending on environmental conditions. They are responsible for driving global biogeochemical cycles and modulating atmospheric CO2. An intensive sampling campaign during 2015 has been undertaken at a historical site in the Firth of Lorne. The aim is to characterise the seasonal variation of phytoplankton community composition which is important for aggregate formation, its link with POM biochemical composition, and sedimentation rates of particles in relation to the physical environment. Understanding the formation and sedimentation of aggregates relative to environmental conditions is fundamental for estimating POM cycling and export in the ocean.

Supervisor(s): Prof. D. Pond, Dr. G. Cowie, Prof. K. Davidson

Keywords: Aggregate Particle POM Sedimentation Phytoplankton

Turk, Jeremy Is Unconventional Gas Compatible with Meeting Climate Change Targets in the USA and UK? This project will compare carbon intensities of USA and UK electricity supply against future carbon reduction goals. The project will model the GHG impact of a switch from coal to gas electricity supply. A USA model will examine the new locked-in carbon commitments in light of retiring coal infrastructure for gas. The UK model will project electricity generation scenarios in comparison with GHG reduction targets. The project will then model shale gas exploitation scenarios and analyse how these would alter GHG emissions, at a global & multi-national scale, considering fuel-switching, and carbon capture and storage.

Supervisor(s): Prof Dave Reay, Prof Stuart Haszeldine

Keywords: Hydraulic Fracturing, Carbon Lock-in, CCS

Undorf, Sabine Spatial patterns of substantial climate impact from anthropogenic aerosols in the early instrumental period Many aspects of climate variation in the early instrumental period (1860-1950) are still unexplained, and the role of anthropogenic aerosols has been largely overlooked. We analyse spatio-temporal patterns of aerosol impact for this period in observations and historical experiments with stateof- the-art climate models. We use coupled empirical orthogonal functions applied to surface temperature and different aerosol-indicating variables; associated circulation patterns are obtained by regression on the principal components. The analysis reveals both statistically significant local and non-local aerosol impact, which -consistently across different aerosol variables- shows specific differences between time scales and might explain the observed early 20C Arctic warming.

Supervisor(s): Massimo Bollasina, Gabriele Hegerl

Keywords: climate change; anthropogenic aerosols; atmospheric physics and composition; transition into the Anthropocene

Valdivia, Paulo Rethinking the links between indigenous well-being and ecosystems: a case study in southern Chile Economic and ecological evaluations are the most common ways to evaluate the interactions between ecosystems and indigenous well-being (IWB), while their socio-cultural values toward ecosystems are often side-lined. Therefore, approaches should take into account other equally relevant aspects of IWB (such as freedoms and rights) that can lead them to achieve a fulfilling type of life. In this research, I explore the extent to which the Capabilities Approach, Participatory Approaches and the Ecosystem Services framework can be integrated to conceptualize and evaluate the well-being of indigenous communities of southern Chile, thus encouraging more culturally-appropriate ecosystem planning and management practices

Supervisor(s): Dan Van der Horst

Keywords: Capabilities, Ecosystem Services, Participatory Approaches

Valluri-Nitsch, Christiane Rural Land Use Visions - a sectoral Overview Scotland is a small country of finite resources. Demands on the land are increasingly complex and it is now widely recognised, that in order to achieve sustainable rural land management scientists, policy makers, rural communities and wider society will have to work together. The poster presents the findings of series of 21 stakeholder interviews from different land use sectors and types (i.e. Private, Public, NGO) who were asked to speak about their vision for Rural land use in Scotland in 2050. The findings will inform the second and third stage, society questionnaire and youth government workshop respectively, of my research.

Supervisor(s): Dr Marc Metzger

Keywords: Land use visions, Land use sectors, trade-offs

Vulturius, Gregor Evaluating the effectiveness of climate change communication and discussing future research This study asks the question how effective climate change communication is in fostering engagement with climate change adaptation among individuals. Climate Change communication (CCC) includes efforts to raise awareness about climate change and promote behavioural change to mitigate its risks by engaging a target audience with climate science and its practical applications. Although CCC has become popular among governments and scientists wanting to promote adaptation, comprehensive quantitative studies of how effective it is in changing mindsets and behaviour are largely absent from the scientific literature. In this paper we close this gap and provide insights into the outcomes of a large CCC project in Sweden. Based on these results, we formulate recommendations for for future research on CCC and discuss common methodological and conceptual approaches and standards. The empirical data of this study comes from a survey of 6000 forestry owners in Sweden. Half of these forest owners took part in a CCC project run by the Swedish Forestry Agency. Participants in this project were given information and practical guidance about the risks of climate change and viable adaptation measures. The study assess if perceptions and attitudes about climate risks and adaptation measures differ significantly between forest owners that have and forest owners that have not participated in the CCC project. Statistical methods used include multivariate regression anaysis, cluster analysis and facto analysis. Those methods are used to estimate the effect of CCC on the perception of climate risks, perceived efficacy of adaptation measures, perceived self-efficacy and actual adaptive action of participants and non-participants of CCC.Findings show that CCC has a statistically significant influence on the level of individual engagement with climate change adaptation. Results show that forest owners that had participated in CCC had higher perceived adaptive capacity, trust in climate science and readiness to take adaptive actions. Findings also suggest that personal views on forestry objectives, such as timber production or nature converservation had marginal influence on the effectivenss of CCC. Taken together, this study offers valuable insights for politicians, activists and scientists ho to become better in using communication and scientific information to raise awareness and promotive behavioural change.

Supervisor(s): Professor Mark Rounsevell

Keywords: Climate Change, Adaptation, Behavioural Change, Communication

Wishart, Harriet Precision Livestock Farming: Application in a hill sheep system Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) involves managing systems in a more precise manner, aiming to improve productivity, profitability, welfare or efficiency. PLF is a new technology and data driven approach applied across all livestock systems but so far little in sheep. The aim of my PhD is to explore how PLF can be implemented to a hill sheep system. Two management approaches were studied: 1) winter feeding of pregnant ewes; 2) selection of ewes to retain in the flock. Initial results suggest that, compared to a conventional method, PLF can be applied in a hill sheep system and have positive impacts.

Supervisor(s): Dr Ron Wilson

Keywords: Precision Livestock Farming; sheep; hill system; pregnancy feeding; flock retention

Wosu, Adaoma Octopus fishing as a livelihood activity in coastal Cabo Delgado: implications for octopus management The reef octopus (Octopus cyanea) is the most commonly occurring octopus species in the Indian Ocean region. In northern Mozambique in Cabo Delgado reef octopus is an economically important component of the artisanal fishery, although declines in catch are widely reported by fishers. Temporary closures timed around the octopus life cycle have been shown in Madagascar to increase the total weight and number of octopus. In order to understand if temporary octopus closures could be suitable in the context of coastal Cabo Delgado, it is essential to first understand the nature of the octopus fishery and octopus fishing as a livelihood activity.

Supervisor(s): Dr Meriwether Wilson, Dr Laura Jeffery

Keywords: fisheries marine livleihoods women

Xia, Felix Diagenesis of the Middle Jurassic Fluvial-deltic Pentland Formation, Central North Sea The Pentland Formation includes all non-marine sediments of Middle Jurassic in the Central North Sea. The sediments are comprised of sandstones with interbedded shales and coals. Porosity decline of the Pentland Formation sandstones below 3 km is slow, particularly when compared with the overlying Fulmar Formation sandstones. This indicates that the diagenesis of the Pentland Formation has been retarded. Petrographic, mineralogical and chemical analyses all support this, with texture, mineralogy and chemistry of the sandstones remaining moderately constant over the depth range. Meanwhile, the Pentland Formation shales also behave similarly without any significant variation. The diagenetically inert feature of the Pentland Formation may be attributed to its nature of lacking K-feldspar. Dissolution of K-feldspars can provide ions to transform kaolin into illite, release silica to supply quartz overgrowth and create new space to increase porosity. However, a lack of K-feldspar may make these diagenetic reactions difficult to proceed.

Supervisor(s): Dr. Mark Wilkinson

Keywords: sandstone, diagenesis, North Sea

Yates, Jack Atmospheric Habitable Zones: Habitability of Cool Y-Dwarf Atmospheres Brown dwarfs are large, gaseous bodies somewhat similar to Jupiter. Recently discovered Y dwarfs are very cold - much colder than other brown dwarfs - and have regions in the atmosphere where the conditions could be similar to those at the Earth's surface. Using a 1D atmosphere model, we show that dynamically the conditions could be hospitable to organisms similar to small terrestrial microbes. The organisms would slowly float or sink, based on their mass and size, in the same manner as plankton in the top few metres of the sea. We also discuss the frequency of brown dwarfs in the galaxy.

Supervisor(s): Paul Palmer

Keywords: atmospheres, habitability, astrobiology

POSTER ABSTRACTS – 3RD YEAR PHDS

Myrgiotis, Vasilis Simulating N2O emissions from the arable soils of Scotland Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a major greenhouse gas whose largest anthropogenic source is the addition of fertilisers to cultivated soils. In Scotland, agriculture and land use are responsible for a quarter of the total greenhouse gases emissions with N2O being the dominant greenhouse gas of the sector. Mechanistic models of soil biogeochemistry are used to describe and quantify soil N2O fluxes but they are complex tools and are particularly difficult to evaluate due to uncertainties in measured N2O. Moreover, the majority of model-based studies focus on smaller spatial scales despite the fact that simulations at larger scales are those that offer more policy-relevant results. In this context, this presentation will provide a picture of N2O emissions from the arable soils of Scotland. The regional-scale estimates are a preliminary product of a PhD project that uses a biogeochemical model along with extensive field data and soil and crop geo-datasets.

Supervisor(s): Dr Mathew Williams, Dr Bob Rees, Dr Kairsty Topp

Keywords: soil biogeochemistry, N2O, mechanistic model, Scottish croplands

CONFERENCE FEEDBACK

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

GeoSciences Postgraduate Research Conference Organisers: Kate Heal Sarah McAllister Lynne McGillivray Nicki Reid Pat Ferguson Louise McKay

Thank you also to our Keynote Speaker Professor Virginia Murray. All information is correct at time of printing, but subject to change