Kate McKercher
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MSc Thesis: Unroofing active and ancient mountains: applications of the Ti-in-quartz geothermometer to sedimentary rocks and river sediments Supervisor: Candace Martin / Michael Palin Email: mxdmsgs@hotmail.com |
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Project description
The purpose of this study is to test whether TitaniQ can accurately determine temperatures of detrital quartz grains that can then be correlated with parent rock types. TitaniQ will be applied to sediments derived from the modern Southern Alps of New Zealand. By analysing bedload river sediments from limited known catchments such as the Haast River in the western South Island. With view to determining whether TitaniQ will returning results which accurately reflect the known geology of the catchment area. TitaniQ will also be applied to East Otago sedimentary units comprised of detritus from an ancient New Zealand mountain belt. The TitaniQ geothermometer is capable of distinguishing between an igneous quartz source and different grades of metamorphic quartz. Use of TitaniQ will enable the provenance determination detrital quartz grains to be inferred based on their crystallisation or recrystallisation temperature.