Scientific Webinars

The authigenic ¹⁰Be/⁹Be dating method holds significant potential due to its ability to determine depositional ages from just a few grams of mud, spanning up to 14 million years. However, the factors influencing this method are not yet fully understood. Its complexity arises from the distinct origins of the isotopes: radioactive ¹⁰Be is produced by cosmic rays in the atmosphere, while stable ⁹Be originates from the weathering of rocks. Both nuclides are incorporated into oxyhydroxides that form authigenic rims around sedimentary particles, which are subsequently extracted for dating.
Our research builds on key studies, primarily with independent age constraints, to investigate how depositional processes, changes in base level, sediment source proximity, and drainage network dynamics influence the fluxes of ⁹Be and ¹⁰Be in epicontinental basin environments. This study represents the first comprehensive effort to establish criteria for the effective application of the authigenic ¹⁰Be/⁹Be dating method.

This talk is a clastics-framed window into the main Karoo Basin during the Carnian Pluvial Event, exploring its environmental impact and associated biotic changes. It will emphasize the importance of field sedimentology in investigating footprint- and plant-bearing strata and in decoding the climatic and ecological upheavals at the dawn of the dinosaurs in the Late Triassic.

The Taiwan Strait, a dynamic shallow-marine environment influenced by strong ocean currents, provides an ideal natural laboratory to investigate the processes and products of ocean-current dominated straits. This study aims to elucidate the complex interplay between hydrodynamic forcing (tides, waves and large-scale ocean circulation), sediment supply, and sea-level changes that shape the evolution of muddy depositional systems in the Strait. By integrating high-resolution seismic data, sediment cores, and hydrodynamic analysis, this study will provide new insights into the formation and evolution of muddy depositional systems in shallow-water straits. Taiwan Strait serves as a starting point for developing a facies model for ocean-current-dominated straits.

Offshore wind farms are currently planned or built at scale on many continental shelves around the globe and it is predicted that ~380 GW of new offshore wind capacity is going to be added in the next 10 years (four times the current capacity). With offshore wind farm (OWF) sites getting larger (some > 900km2), deeper and further offshore and with more plans for floating turbines deployment, the challenge is not small, and geoscience is posed to play one of the key roles in it.

In the first part of this this lecture we will introduce the process of ground modelling for offshore wind developments including the turbine array but also subsea cables and landfalls. We will also discuss similarities and differences in workflows, data requirements and specific geoscience expertise between offshore wind and oil and gas sectors. And the differences between fixed and floating wind developments.

The second part of this lecture will focus on case studies showcasing the technical aspects and geoscientific challenges of ground modelling and geohazard assessment. In particular we will (1) discuss development of ground model (GM)and quantifying GM uncertainty across a former ice marginal setting using ultra-high resolution seismic (UHRS) data in the Baltic Sea, (2) look at how understanding of crustal scale isostatic movements and relative sea level changes can help with Cable Burial Risk Assessment in Canada and Scotland with a particular focus on submerged organic-rich muds and peats, (3) touch on sediment mobility and submarine geomorphology aspect of offshore wind development and (4) show how seismic geomorphology approach using 3D HR seismic data and process-based seismic interpretation can help with identifying engineering ground units and geohazards accelerating the GM process. This is relevant for all offshore wind sites but here it will be discussed in the context of formerly glaciated Northern Hemisphere continental shelves where the shallow subsurface (here defined as first ~200m below seabed) was affected by multiple phases of ice sheet advance and retreat during the Pleistocene, leaving a complex mosaic of glaciogenic sediments, glaciotectonic deformation, evidence for periglacial alteration of sediments, all that interbedded with terrestrial and marine sediments deposited in non-glacial settings.

1. Annelotte Weert, University of Naples ‘Federico Il’, The geothermal sedimentary system of the West Netherlands Basin

2. Zidan Benabdelkrim, University of Lorraine, Multi-Scale Characterization of Geothermal Reservoir Analogs in Ooidal Carbonate Platform Borders (Middle Jurassic, Charentes): Sedimentary, Stratigraphic, and Paleoenvironmental Records from Sample to 3D Model

3. Rioko Moscardini, University College Dublin, Heterogeneity in the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone Reservoir in Northern Ireland: A case study in the Larne Basin

4. Maria Isabel Vidal Reyes, University of Trieste, Geological-Geothermal characterisation of the Alps-Apennines tectonic limit: insights from the Tertiary Piedmont Basin (NW Italy).

Over the past ~20 years, rigorous field, petrographical, and geochemical studies have considerably advanced our understanding of dolomite and dolomitization. These advancements coincide with breakthroughs in reactive transport modelling, alongside the advent of high- resolution mass spectrometers that can measure novel trace and rare earth elements, and non-traditional isotopic ratios. Such advancements are paralleled by several studies that claim to have synthesized dolomite in the laboratory, providing invaluable insights into the evolution of dolomite stoichiometry and cation ordering in the geological record. This presentation will review recent advancements in the characterization of dolomite, with several examples from (1) Cenozoic “island dolomite” on the Cayman Islands (Caribbean Sea) and the Xisha Islands (South China Sea), (2) structurally-controlled “hydrothermal dolomite” in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, and (3) laboratory-based dolomitization experiments.

Field analogues for planetary exploration are terrestrial environments that share physical, chemical and/or geological similarities with modern or ancient extraterrestrial environments. Planetary field analogues provide a unique opportunity to perform in-situ measurements during field campaigns, allowing to test methodologies, protocols, and technologies that are part of the payloads of present and future missions and shed light on the interactions between geological processes and communities of extremophiles: organisms thriving under physical and chemical conditions that are considered extreme and potentially hostile for life as we know it. As most of these terrestrial analogues occur in sedimentary environments, the trained eye and know-how of a sedimentologist become crucial for furthering our understanding in planetary geology.