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Living conditions of captive baboons and their trade in ancient Egypt revealed through palaeopathological and demographic data
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RBINS Staff Publications 2023
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The unexpectedly short Holocene Humid Period in Northern Arabia
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022
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ISROC—Inundation Signatures on ROcky Coastlines—A new Research Coordination Network targeting coastal boulder deposits
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022
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Coastal geoarchaeology in the Mediterranean – on the interdependence of landscape dynamics, harbour installations and economic prosperity in the littoral realm, Panel 2.3. Archaeology and Economy in the Ancient World
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022
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Using social media as a tool to increase geoscience awareness in Belgium
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A social media campaign to increase geoscience awareness was organised as part of the celebrations of 125 years of the Geological Survey of Belgium (GSB). This action was motivated by the perception within the geoscientific community that although our field is key for sustainable societal development, there is a lack of interest in it from the overall public, particularly younger generations. In Belgium, for example, this is evidenced by dropping numbers of geoscience students in universities as reported by regional media over the last 5 years. Our awareness campaign highlights 125 geoscience-related facts that were thought to be curious and/or thought-provoking, aiming to demonstrate that geosciences have been and will be widely present in humanity’s past, present and future. Geo-facts have been produced as short communications in English, Dutch and French, with at least one accompanying illustrative image, and posted on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Set to end in December 2022, the campaign has reached over 200,000 views and greatly increased the number of non-geoscientist followers and their engagement with GSB’s social media. We believe that the multilingual material tagged with #125GSBGeoFacts could be further valorised as a teaching tool and has significant potential to be expanded.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022
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In-Situ Multispectral Investigation of the Biogeochemistry of the Geldingadalir Lava Field
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Scientific payload demonstration in volcanic environments for astrobiological research understanding microbial colonization of fresh basalt. The volcanic eruption in at Geldingadalir (Iceland) in 2021 is an ideal analog site for studying the biogeochemistry of volcanism on other planetary bodies, both those with active (e.g. Io) and extinct (e.g. Mars) volcanic systems. The recent eruption enables comparative studies between the "fresh" lava field at Geldingadalir and older, inactive lava fields present throughout Iceland. Studying these systems provides insight into (1) the conditions necessary for microorganisms or other biotic materials to colonize barren environments and (2) how life transforms its environment over time. These investigations, while interesting in their own right for characterizing the biogeochemical diversity of Iceland's landscapes, have implications beyond Earth in the search for extant or extinct life in our solar system. To simulate planetary exploration missions, we deployed a suite of four handheld, low-SWaP (size, weight, and power), ruggedized spectroscopic instruments to enable in-situ investigation of the lava fields. We deployed a gamma ray spectrometer and laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) probe for macroscopic and microscopic (respectively) assessment of the elemental composition of the natural samples; we used an ultraviolet (UV) fluorescence imager to investigate organic signatures present on the natural surfaces; and finally, we used a near-infrared (NIR) reflectance spectrometer for determining mineralogy and identifying hydrated bonding structures. These complementary measurement techniques enable a wholistic study of a samples' biogeochemistry and have a direct path for mission infusion in planetary science, as various embodiments of these spectroscopic techniques have been used to study planetary surfaces for decades. We collected co-registered spectroscopic measurements with all four instruments on several samples throughout the Geldingadalir lava field and at a control (i.e. inactive) field nearby. Additionally, we surveyed >10 surface and subsurface features throughout the lava field with one or more of the instruments. At the conclusion of this field campaign, we had collected >1000 UV fluorescence images, 10s of NIR reflectance and LIBS spectra, and >10 gamma ray measurements. Along with this, samples from the fresh and inactive lava fields were taken back to the lab for further investigation of microbial diversity using laboratory instrumentation.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022
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Reading Minerals: Rare Element Enrichment, the Magmatic-Hydrothermal Transition, and Geochemical Exploration of Lithium Pegmatites in Ireland
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The battery market for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage is dominated by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, making lithium supply essential to climate action through decarbonization. In 2019, more than half of the world's lithium was sourced from lithium pegmatites of the Li-Cs-Ta (LCT) family, predominantly from Australia. Current global lithium supply involves long diesel-fueled maritime transport routes, which counteracts lithium's role in climate action. Responsible consumption and production require shorter supply chains from deposit to battery. Reading the mineralogical record of LCT pegmatite deposits can help address the challenge of reducing the climate impact of lithium production, by informing deposit models, mineral exploration, and geometallurgy, therefore promoting local supply. Our research focuses on a belt of LCT pegmatites, which is located along the eastern margin of the late-Caledonian S-type Leinster Batholith, southeast Ireland. The LCT pegmatites are hosted by a major regional shear zone and are part of a tin-lithium province that stretches subparallel to the Iapetus suture from Europe through Nova Scotia to North and South Carolina. We investigated crystal chemical zoning in muscovite, cassiterite, and columbite-tantalite using petrography, scanning electron microscopy, and LA-ICP-MS chemical mapping. The zoning patterns record that pegmatite rare element mineralization resulted from an interplay of magmatic crystallization, metasomatism, and hydrothermal processes. Late-stage metasomatic alteration led to partial resorption of early minerals including the lithium ore-mineral spodumene, followed by dispersion of lithium and other rare elements into country rocks, mostly within dark mica. Dispersion led to formation of geochemical halos around the LCT pegmatites with the potential to use country-rock lithogeochemistry and mica composition as geochemical vectoring tools. Geochemistry of mica in the granite host analyzed by handheld LIBS has been found to exhibit coherent spatial patterns occurring adjacent to and above LCT pegmatites known at depth from drilling. These channels of mineral-specific geochemical information are distinct from soil geochemical patterns and are not influenced by the same secondary, surface processes such as dilution. As outcrop is virtually absent in the study area, regional stream sediment geochemistry data (Geological Survey Ireland) was assessed as an LCT pegmatite exploration tool. After correcting for geologic background using a linear regression approach, catchments containing LCT pegmatites show high residuals for concentrations of both tantalum and tin. The mineralogy of stream sediment samples from a subsample of these catchments was subsequently analyzed to characterize the host minerals of tin and tantalum. Cassiterite and columbite-tantalite were identified, and both show geochemical and textural signatures that correspond to the zoning patterns mentioned above, which indicates that these minerals were derived from the local LCT pegmatites. These results suggest that, when regional geology and tectonic setting are prospective, lithium pegmatite prospectivity can be further assessed for tin-tantalum associations in (often publicly available) regional stream sediment data. Following geospatial analysis, stream sediment samples could be obtained from individual prospective catchments and their mineralogy analyzed. Local-scale geochemical surveys could follow where stream sediments of prospective catchments contain tin and tantalum oxides with chemistries and textures indicative of a lithium pegmatite source.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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Sheep and goat birth seasonality at Early Byzantine Sagalassos
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The seasonality of birth, a key parameter when addressing past domestic livestock management, can be investigated through serial stable oxygen isotope analysis in tooth enamel. The assessment of the season of births requires furthermore the availability of modern reference data set, existing for cattle, sheep, pigs or llamas. The ancient site of Sagalassos, in the Taurus Mountains (SW Turkey), has delivered a large assemblage of sheep and goat remains. The osteological analysis revealed a predominance of goat over sheep, with a ratio varying between 65 and 90% over time. Goats and sheep were kept at an old age for the production of milk, wool/hair, as well as for horn-working and hide exploitation. A stable oxygen isotope (δ18O) analysis focussing on mandibular M2s was undertaken to investigate goat and sheep livestock demographic management during the Early Byzantine period (450-680 CE). ZooMS was used to confirm specific attribution of selected specimens (ten goats, eight sheep). Ten modern hair goats collected in the late 1990s in the context of a research project on small ruminant herd management in the Eastern Mediterranean were also sampled to provide a modern comparative for the assessment of birth season. The modern goat δ18O sequences were modelled according to Balasse et al. (2012) and compared with the existing sheep reference data set. The comparison suggests a different timing in the isotope record between sheep and goats and argues for the use of species-specific comparative for the assessment of birth season in archaeological herds. The comparison of the modern and archaeological goat δ18O sequences indicate a quite restricted season of births in spring for the latter. On the contrary, sheep births were spread out over roughly six months, from late winter/early spring to early-/mid-summer. More modern goat comparatives are needed to enrich this dataset. Keywords: Stable oxygen isotope, tooth enamel, birth seasonality, goat, Sagalassos.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2023
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Holy mackerel! Medieval harbour cats from Iran and Oman had differential access to marine fish
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Being opportunistic animals, cats have adjusted to anthropogenic environments and enriched their food repertoire with meat from large terrestrial animals and fish. Although cats are skilled hunters, anthropogenic food comprises an important part of their diet when living in an urban centre, and, thus, their dietary reconstruction can provide information on regional food availabilities as well as their interactions with humans. With the aim to reconstruct the diet of cats from two medieval harbours in the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman (Siraf in Iran and Qalhât in Oman), we conducted carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratio analysis on 28 cats and more than 100 associated faunal samples. Tens of cat remains have been discovered at both sites, which have historical and archaeological evidence for a long tradition in seafaring and sea fishing. The isotopic results reveal a high marine protein-based diet for the cats from Qalhât and a mixed marine-terrestrial (C4) diet for the cats from Siraf. Cats at both sites were most likely scavenging on both human food scraps and refuse related to fishing activities, with differences in the two areas most likely associated with the local availability of marine resources. By shedding light on the dietary habits of cats from two medieval harbours in the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, our study illustrates the potential of stable isotope analysis in reconstructing human-cat interactions in the past. Keywords: carbon; nitrogen; cat; diet; Qalhât; Siraf.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2023
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Digital elevation model generation for historical landscape analysis based on LiDAR data, a case study in Flanders (Belgium)
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RBINS Staff Publications
