Through previous MSc projects several episodes of intrusive and extrusive magmatic events have been identified and dated on the Orkney Islands. The excellent stratigraphic control and high precision ages provide a good basis for a paleomagnetic study of a selection of the dated Silurian to late Carboniferous intrusive and volcanic rocks.
This study will provide key data points for the geographic position of Laurentia through periods in time with important plate reconfigurations associated with the Caledonian Laurentia - Baltica continental collision and later rift initiation(s). It will, furthermore, allow a new evaluation of displacements on the Great Glen Fault and associated strike-slip faults that were active from the Silurian and well into the Devonian (and perhaps later?).
The study will also provide a test on proposed links of the late Carboniferous Orkney dike swarm with the Skagerak Centred Large Igneous Province.
The thesis work will include field work in north-eastern Scotland and laboratory work at the Ivar Giæver Geomagnetic Laboratory, CEED.
Photo: Lars Eivind Augland/Department of Geosciences