Projects
A cost-efficient methodology for quantitative provenance analysis and mass budget studies in clastic sedimentary geology (southern North Sea Basin). KU Leuven
Sedimentary provenance analysis attempts to uncover the different sources of a sediment deposited in a certain sedimentary basin, recently or in geological history. Different aspects of the sediment composition, such as bulk petrography, heavy mineral composition or single grain geochemistry can provide clues to determine the source areas. Based on these data, a quantitative mixing model can be constructed describing the proportion of ...
IMPACT – Identification of Microstructures in Phosphate grains of Apollo 14 breccias and Correlation To precise U-Pb ages. Vrije Universiteit Brussel
formation of the Moon (~ 4.5 Ga) and the first basaltic mare (~3.8
Ga) remains a matter of intense scientific debate. Understanding the
timing and intensity of impact events during the infancy of the Solar
System is not only important for reconstructing the early crustal
evolution of the Moon, but also to determine the formation, evolution
...
Climate change and human response at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in the Belgian Meuse basin (13,000-6000 cal BP) Ghent University
This interdisciplinary project aims at investigating climate variability on a local/regional level and its impact on human lifeways at the transition from the Pleistocene (Younger Dryas) to the Early Holocene in the Meuse valley of southern Belgium. Climate reconstruction, focusing on the detection of Rapid Climate Changes (RCCs) will be conducted through high-resolution analyses of trace elements and stable isotopes from speleothems. This ...
Shedding light on medieval landscape transformation in the North Sea coastal plain: an interdisciplinary approach combining retrogressive analysis, deposit modeling and optically stimulated luminescence profiling and dating Vrije Universiteit Brussel
North Sea coastal plain during the Middle Ages, and the strategies
people developed to live in this wetland landscape, especially for the
earliest phases of reclamation in the first millennium AD, which are
currently neither well-studied nor well-understood. This requires
identifying, examining and accurately dating the traces of earlier
...
Geochemistry of nummulties as proxy for Eocene climate change in the Southern North Sea Basin KU Leuven
This research concerns the use of geochemical data from well-preserved Large Benthic Foraminifera, i.e. Nummulites, to reconstruct key intervals of the Eocene climate history of NW Europe. By using a paleotemperature proxy equation, temperatures can be reconstructed through the Mg/Ca of fossil Nummulites tests. This PhD will focus on the application and improvement of this proxy by (a) methodological research and (b) high resolution ...
Scanning Electron Microscopy at the core of Earth Sciences; reading 4 billion years of history in backscattered light. Ghent University
With this application we seek to replace the Dept. of Geology’s aging Scanning Electron Microscope with a model that is up to challenges of modern Earth Science research in geology, archaeology and soil management. Our current SEM is c. 25 years old and has reached the end of its serviceable cycle. Nevertheless, this instrument is pivotal in the day-to-day functioning of the emerging research group of two newly appointed lecturers, T. ...
Chicxulub IODP-ICDP deep drilling: from cratering to mass extinction Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Tectono-metamorphic evolution of the Giterama-Gatumba-Mwendo area (Rwanda): implications for the geodynamic framework and the metallogenesis of Nb-Ta-Sn-W granite-related mineralization of the Karagwe-Ankole Belt. KU Leuven
This PhD research investigates the tectono-metamorphic history of the Karagwe-Ankole Belt in Central Africa. Earlier studies in this Mesoproterozoic belt have focused on the magmatic events and granite-related Sn-Nb-Ta-W-Au metallogenetic province, and only to a lesser extent on the sedimentological and tectono-metamorphic aspects. Additionally, not all results of these studies could be incorporated into one consistent geological model, ...
Beyond sediments: luminescence chronometry of consolidated rocks Ghent University
The project develops two innovative areas of research: (i) luminescence-thermochronology and (ii)rock surface exposure dating. The first aims at providing chronologies for recent development of mountainous and tectonic topography and geomorphology; the second at determining the time that elapsed since hard-rock surfaces, with cultural, archaeological or geological significance, became either shielded from or exposed to sunlight.