Dr Catherine Mottram
Summary
I am a geologist interested in geochronology, tectonics, metamorphic petrology, geochemistry and putting all these tools together to unravel the complex deformational process that have shaped our planet over geological time.
Biography
2018- now: Senior Lecturer, Structural Geology and Tectonics, University of Portsmouth, UK
2017-2018: Lecturer, University of Portsmouth, UK
2016: Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dalhousie University, Canada
2014-2015: Fulbright Postdoctoral Research Scholar, University of California, Santa Barbara, U.S.A
2010-2014: PhD, Open University, UK. Thesis "An integrated metamorphic and isotopic study of crustal extrusion along the Main Central Thrust, Sikkim Himalaya"
2006-2010: BSc (first class Hons), Geosciences, University of St Andrews, UK
Research interests
I am a geologist who combines tools such as geochronology, geochemistry, field, structural, and economic geology to understand the interplay between large-scale tectonics, faulting, fluid flow and mineralisation events. My research focuses on developing techniques for directly-dating deformation events to unravel complex processes that have shaped our planet through earth history. I focus on the dynamic settings in the Earth's crust where stress built up during continental collisional events is released by movement along faults. My research actively involves developing and using laser ablation (LA) techniques to directly-date past movement on these structures. I am particularly interested in this developing innovative new methods to date non-traditional mineral geochronometers such as calcite, with applications in the Himalaya, Greece, Arctic Canada and beyond.
Current research projects:
- In-situ carbonate U-Pb dating as a tool for directly dating deformation
- Investigating timing of gold mineralisation along strategic faults in the Yukon, Arctic Cordillera (in collaboration with Dawn Kellett, Geological Survey of Canada; Maurice Colpron, Yukon Geological Survey; Tony Barresi, Triumph Gold Corp. NERC-funded project).
- ‘Timing of brittle deformation of the Alps revealed by direct U-Pb dating of calcite’ Leonie Weiss PhD student
- Directly dating seismically active faults in modern mountain belts (using the Himalaya and North Anatolian Faults as examples)
- Tectonic evolution of the Himalayan orogen
- Quantifying crystallographic deformation mechanisms in minerals used as geochronometers
- Development of Petrochronological tools using (Split stream) Laser Ablation ICP-MS, Electron BackScatter Diffraction, and Electron Probe techniques
I am interested in supervising PhD students for motivated students interested in using micron-scale tools to understand large-scale tectonic processes.
Teaching responsibilities
I teach Structural Geology, tectonics, mapping and field techniques.
I particulary enjoy teaching in the field and teach in Scotland, Brittany, Cyprus, Cornwall and southern England.
Research outputs
2024
Coeval TTG and sanukitoid magmatism during the Rhyacian tectonic evolution of the Juiz de Fora Complex (São Francisco Paleocontinent, SE-Brazil)
Almeida, R., Bersan, S., Bruno, H., Chapman, G., Fowler, M., Heilbron, M., Lacerda, S., Marra de Souza, A., Mauri, S., Mottram, C., Neto, C., Paravidini, G., Storey, C., Strachan, R., de Abreu Marques, R.,
1 Nov 2024, In: Precambrian Research. 414, 21p., 107585
Late Tonian (c. 735 Ma) A-type granite magmatism on the passive margin of the São Francisco paleocontinent was coeval with outboard subduction
Bersan, S., Bruno, H., Chapman, G., Gomes, D. G. d. C., Heilbron, M., Mottram, C., Paravidini, G., Storey, C., Strachan, R., Valeriano, C. d. M.
1 Oct 2024, In: Precambrian Research. 413, 18p., 107578
Using U–Pb carbonate dating to constrain the timing of extension and fault reactivation within the Bristol Channel Basin, SW England
Anderson, M., Connolly, J., Mottram, C., Parrish, R., Price, G. D., Sanderson, D.
2 Sep 2024, In: Journal of the Geological Society. 181, 5, 13p., jgs2024-021
An electron backscatter diffraction study of monazite: Linking the time-deformation path
Cottle, J. M., Mottram, C. M.
1 Sep 2024, In: Chemical Geology. 663, 16p., 122238
Tracking the porphyry-epithermal mineralization transition using U-Pb carbonate dating
Barresi, T., Chapman, G. G., Halle, J., Kellett, D. A., Mottram, C. M.
3 Jul 2024, In: Geology
Rhyacian-Orosirian transitional arc-collisional magmatism in the Archean Piedade Microcontinent, southern São Francisco Paleocontinent, Brazil
Bersan, S., Bruno, H., Carvalho, M., Chapman, G., Fowler, M., Heilbron, M., Lana, C., Mottram, C., Neto, C., Storey, C., Valeriano, C.
1 May 2024, In: Precambrian Research. 404, 107343
New U-Pb and Hf data of the contact region between the Oriental and Cabo Frio terranes, Central Ribeira Belt, Brazil: Implications for the closure of the Ediacaran-Cambrian oceanic space
Almeida, J., Carvalho, M., Chapman, G., Cutts, K., Dussin, I., Heilbron, M., Mottram, C., Storey, C., de Freitas, N. C.
1 Feb 2024, In: Precambrian Research. 401, 22p., 107272
From source to emplacement: the origin of leucogranites from the Sikkim-Darjeeling Himalayas, India
Harris, N., Joshi, K. B., Mottram, C., Srivastava, T., Wanjari, N.
1 Jan 2024, In: Geoscience Frontiers. 15, 1, 18p., 101733
2023
A well preserved pan-pleurodiran (Dortokidae) turtle from the English Lower Cretaceous and the first radiometric date for the Wessex Formation (Hauterivian–Barremian) of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom
Gale, A., Jacobs, M. L., Martill, D., Martin-Jimenez, M., Mattsson, O., Mottram, C. M., Perez-Garcia, A., Wood, C.
1 Oct 2023, In: Cretaceous Research. 150, 15p., 105590
Sedimentary provenance in continental rifts: U–Pb detrital zircon, Nd and Sr isotopes and lithogeochemistry of the Eocene alluvial sandstones of the Resende Basin, SE–Brazil
Aguiar Neto, C. C., Cota, N., De Morisson Valeriano, C., Dunlop, J., Heilbron, M., Mottram, C. M., Paravidini, G., Parrish, R., Rodriguez Cabral Ramos, R., Storey, C., de Oliveira Carvalho, M.
15 Jul 2023, In: Sedimentary Geology. 453, 106452