Details
- Close date
- No date set
- Academic background
- Sciences
- Host campus
- Dunedin
- Qualification
- Master's
- Department
- Geology
- Supervisor
- Dr Mike Palin, Emeritus Professor Alan Cooper
Overview
Detrital zircons from the Alpine Schist (Cooper et al., 2013; 2015; Cooper and Palin, 2018) suggest accretion of the Late Cretaceous Pounamu Terrane took place from the west. The metamorphic core of the Otago Schist has recently yielded detrital zircons as young as 108 Ma (Mortimer et al., 2015) whereas overlying sedimentary sequences include 112 Ma volcanics (Tulloch et al. 2009). Together, these findings challenge the prevailing paradigm for building Zealandia solely by accretion of tectonostratigraphic terranes from the east.
The goal of this project is to extend the detrital zircon database into central and eastern Otago. The work will involve field mapping and sampling, petrography, and zircon imaging by SEM and U-Pb dating by LA-ICP-MS.
Recommended preparation
GEOL x62 and x74
Useful information
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