KK's PhD is focused on the geology of North Andros Island in the Bahamas where she will investigate the history of sea-level change that has periodically exposed and flooded the stable carbonate platform throughout the Pleistocene. Karst features, cements, and depositional facies mapped and examined in surface rocks will provide information on the interaction of fresh and seawater on the island throughout recent times and into the Pleistocene. In addition, the depositional and diagenetic controls on pore network evolution may be examined, offering insight into changing behaviours of fluids in icehouse carbonate reservoirs. 

Kate is examining the late Cambrian SPICE Event and the "Furongian Gap" in eastern Laurentia. Her field sites are based in Newfoundland. This supposed gap in the fossil record has been identified in several locations around the world, but has been questioned as a worldwide phenomenon, and rather may be considered a more localized phenomenon, the cause of which is yet to be determined. 

Eric joined the PDRG and the Lowe Tectonostratigraphy Research Group in Fall 2024. His project will examine the reservoir properties and CCUS potential of several offshore oil fields of Newfoundland and Labrador. Hyperpectral imaging of drill core through clastic reservoirs will be used to define certain key intervals affected by carbonate diagenesis.  Selected samples and mineralogical phases identified through core-logging and through hyperspectral analysis will be micro drilled and analyzed for x-ray diffraction, stable isotope, and trace element analyses. Raman spectroscopy will be used to identify mineral phases and structure. This data will be used to decipher the controls on the distribution of spectra to the depositional and diagenetic history of the formations.

Tommy Young hails from Maine, US, where he completed a BSc in Marine Science with an Earth Science minor.  Tommy will be joining the 2025 CCGS Amundsen mission to the Arctic where he will be part of a science crew from the universities of Laval, Rimouski, Dalhousie, and Memorial. They will be performing numberous scientific operations on board, and Tommy will be part of the geology team collecting cores. These sediment cores, along Fjord transects, will be used to study the retention of carbon in marine sediments in Arctic fjords, and the influence of retreating glacial meltwater on the benthic community. Neoichnology will be used as part of this study whereby Tommy will characterize CT scans of each core through use of a Bioturbation Index, documenting bioturbation intensity and it's relation to carbon storage, along wtih segmenting the cores in order to characterize the diversity in bioturbation along the fjord, away from it's head to confluence of three fjords. 

John joined the PDRG after completing his BSc at Ekerd College in Florida, US, where he studied Marine Chemistry with a minor in Mathematics. John is part of the 2025 Amundsen CCGS Mission to the Arctic as part of the Transforming Climate Action Program between the universities of Laval, Rimouski, Dalhousie, and Memorial. John's research will consist of tracing the transport of carbon from land to sea, using geochemical proxies and markers. He will present his findings in the context of the depositional history in adjacent two fjords, one that has a marine-terminating glacier connected to the Penny Ice Cap on Baffin Island, and the other that no longer connects to the Penny Ice Cap. His research will contrast the changes between these environments in terms of sediment provenance, and the shifts in carbon composition observed in the sedimentary sequences that record glacial retreat. 

Emma is investigating the potential of mineralized carbon storage in carbonates precipitated from ultramafic-hosted springs. Her field sites are in the Tablelands of Gros Morne National Park, and at the Cedars in California. She is linking the biochemistry of the spring waters to the resulting carbonate precipitates. She will investigate the types of carbonate that precipitate in these environments, and evaluate their potential for permanent CO2 storage, based on the stability of the carbonate phases. 

Julia is currently working as a Research Assistant (RA) in the PDRG while pursuing her BSc in Earth Science at Memorial. Julia helps with many different tasks in the lab, including the extraction of benthic foraminifera from modern sediment cores collected in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. and North Andros, Bahamas. Her identification of different types of foraminifera within the cores will help to determine how changes in the water chemistry over time have affected the diversity and population of foraminifera in shallow marine settings. 

Drew's MSc project studies the distribution and effect of bioturbation on diagenesis in the intertidal zone in Abu Dhabi, adjacent to the famous sabkha environment of mixed carbonates and evaporites. The data collected from sediment cores along a transect of different bioturbation intensities is compared with pore water data to determine how infauna affect the sediment and pore water chemistry, and the formation of hardgrounds.  Drew is doing his MSc at the University of Alberta with myself and Dr. Murray Gingras, with Dr. Fiona Whitaker at the University of Bristol as an additional advisor. 

UPDATE: Drew Brown will begin his PhD with Drs. Cathy Hollis and Ian Kane at the University of Manchester and Dr. Hilary Corlett at Memorial.