Supervisors: Professor Randall Parrish (University of Leicester and NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory); Dr. Andy Carter (Birkbeck College, London), Dr. Fin Stuart (SUERC University of Glasgow), Dr. Stewart Fishwick (University of Leicester)

The Canadian Rockies – Project Background

High mountain chains with elevations higher than 2000m have long been known to influence local and global climate by acting as barriers for atmospheric circulations. The Canadian Rocky Mountains with their longitudinal orientation and surface extent of several thousand kilometres in length and several hundreds of km in width, are an excellent example. With highest elevations ranging from 2000-5000m, they are thought to influence the climate of the North-American continent by acting as a barrier for Pacific air entering the inner parts of Canada and North America and controlling glaciations in this area. However, in order to understand this influence and compare collected climate data to changes in the past, we first need to understand the development and uplift history of these mountains.

View from Rocky Mountain Trench near lnvermere, October 2011

Research

My project aims to investigate the uplift history and development of this mountain chain, using fission track dating and (U/Th)-He dating on apatites and zircons – both from detrital samples and bedrock. I will look at changes of erosion-rates and -budgets of these mountains during the Neogene in order to understand the temporal evolution of the Canadian Rockies. This aspect will also include literature

review to reveal provenance and current position of these eroded sediments. I hope to provide data for comparison to previous studies from the Canadian Cordillera in order to evaluate the role of the Rocky Mountains in this large mountain belt. At a later stage, numerical modelling of heat flow, erosion and exhumation in the region will provide further insights into the timing and causes for the uplift of these mountains, the geomorphic development of the western Canadian Cordillera and finally the specific role of the Rockies in influencing the northern hemisphere climate.

Ongoing work

Athabasca Glacier, Columbia lce Fields, October 2011

During my first field season in September/October 2011 I have collected numerous samples which I am processing and dating at the moment. The second field season for further sample collection, including several vertical profiles, is currently planned for summer 2012.

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I'm taking part in this year's University of Leicester Festival of Postgraduate Research. So if you want to know more about my project or have a chat with me about it come along on May 17th 2012!

Contact

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me by email: as655@le.ac.uk

Links

• Prof. Randall Parrish at Leicester
• Randall Parrish at NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory
• Dr. Andy Carter (Birkbeck College, London)
• Dr. Fin Stuart (SUERC, Glasgow)
• Dr. Stewart Fishwick (University of Leicester)

Other research interests and published work:

Structural Geology and Geodynamics 

• Mapping thesis on fold behaviour in shear zones (‘unfolding’); Supervisor: Prof. Paul Bons, Universität Tübingen, Germany
  

Thermochronology of Glacial Erosion

• Diplom Thesis: ‘Quantifying Spatial Variations in Glacial Erosion with Detrital Thermochronology: Insights from the Coast Mountains, British Columbia, Canada’; Supervisor: Prof. Todd Ehlers, Universität Tübingen, Germany; publication in preparation