Research Interests
Rifting and Volcanism
Magmatism associated with rifting is one of the most important factors in shaping the crust: two-thirds of the earth's crust forms at mid-ocean spreading centres, and many of earth's most spectacular features, including flood basalts and volcanoes, result from interaction between rifting and mantle melting. Relatively small changes in mantle temperature have a profound effect on the volume and composition of melts produced from that mantle. Understanding these processes is important not only academically, but also for wider social reasons because of the hazards of volcanic eruptions, their impact on global climate change, and their importance in the development of sedimentary basins and continental margins. Much of our understanding of these processes comes from probing the subsurface using seismic methods. My research group acquires state-of-the- art seismic data from both controlled sources and earthquakes, on land and at sea, and at all scales from metre-size observations in boreholes to hundred-kilometre scale transects of rifted continental margins. We seek to apply innovative data processing and modelling methods to maximise the geological constraints that can be inferred from these observations.