Matthew Thirlwall

I'm interested in using geochemistry, including particularly the radiogenic isotopes of strontium, neodymium, hafnium and lead, to investigate interactions between mantle and crustal chemical reservoirs, and for isotopic dating.  I'm working particularly on spatial relationships between different components of the Iceland plume mantle, the melting process under Iceland, and how magma behaviour in the crust modifies the mantle signature. 

I'm also studying rocks affected by the various stages of the Caledonian Orogeny in Britain. This includes identifying different metamorphic phases in the Moine of NW Scotland using Lu-Hf isotopic dating on garnets and Rb-Sr isotopic dating of white mica, as well as deciphering the role of crustal components in Ordovician to Devonian Caledonian magmatism, in the Lake District and Scotland.

Garnets

Glencoe, Scotland

References

• Portnyagin, M, Duggen, S, Hauff, F, Mironov, N, Bindeman, I, Thirlwall, M & Hoernle, K 2015, 'Geochemistry of the late Holocene rocks from the Tolbachik volcanic field, Kamchatka: Quantitative modelling of subduction-related open magmatic systems', Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, vol. 307, pp. 133-155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2015.08.015