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• Martin Wood

I am currently working within the Institute for Complex Systems Simulation and the Geology and Geophysics Research Group at Southampton University, as a postgraduate research student.

Coupled processes of magma injection and hydrothermal circulation control oceanic crust accretion at mid-ocean ridges, a key component of the tectonic cycle and contributor to the oceanic geochemical budget. However, there are several competing theoretical models of how ocean crust is generated. The models now known as Gabbro Glacier models entail a high level magma chamber, from which crystals grow, accumulate and sink to form the lower crustal gabbros, Residual melt ejected upwards from the chamber forms the vertical sheeted dyke complexes and the pillow lava basalts. The Sheeted Sill models hold that the lower crust is emplaced directly by sills intruding horizontally at all depths, though dyke-forming processes above remain the same.

Ultimately these two models rely on very different fluid flux regimes. The gabbro-glacier model requires only that the high level magma chamber be efficiently cooled hydrothermally, the sheeted sill model requires deeper fluid flux and rapid cooling at lower crustal levels to facilitate deep crystallisation. The aim of this research is to draw together constraints on the thermal evolution of oceanic crust from numerous disciplines, to try to provide a thermal history for oceanic crust against which these theoretical models can be tested.

Otherwise I practice TaeKwonDo, repair and play with my sailboat and repeatedly fail to learn french. I'm especially fond of cycling, cider, lemon cheese cake and terrible puns.

MSci in Geology - University of Southampton (2012)

This research is funded by the EPSRC, and undertaken at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, in concert with the Institute for Complex Systems Simulation.