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Inproceedings Reference Reading Minerals: Rare Element Enrichment, the Magmatic-Hydrothermal Transition, and Geochemical Exploration of Lithium Pegmatites in Ireland
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.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference Reappraisal of the extinct seal “Phoca” vitulinoides from the Neogene of the North Sea Basin, with bearing on its geological age, phylogenetic affinities, and locomotion
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2017
Article Reference Reassessment of historical sections from the Paleogene marine margin of the Congo Basin reveals an almost complete absence of Danian deposits
The early Paleogene is critical for understanding global biodiversity patterns in modern ecosystems. During this interval, Southern Hemisphere continents were largely characterized by isolation and faunal endemism following the breakup of Gondwana. Africa has been proposed as an important source area for the origin of several marine vertebrate groups but its Paleogene record is poorly sampled, especially from sub-Saharan Africa. To document the early Paleogene marine ecosystems of Central Africa, we revised the stratigraphic context of sedimentary deposits from three fossil-rich vertebrate localities: the Landana section in the Cabinda exclave (Angola), and the Manzadi and Bololo localities in western Democratic Republic of Congo. We provide more refined age constraints for these three localities based on invertebrate and vertebrate faunas, foraminiferal and dinoflagellate cyst assemblages, and carbon isotope records. We find an almost complete absence of Danian-aged rocks in the Landana section, contrary to prevailing interpretations over the last half a century (only the layer 1, at the base of the section, seems to be Danian). Refining the age of these Paleocene layers is crucial for analyzing fish evolution in a global framework, with implications for the early appearance of Scombridae (tunas and mackerels) and Tetraodontiformes (puffer fishes). The combination of vertebrate fossil records from Manzadi and Landana sections suggests important environmental changes around the K/Pg transition characterized by an important modification of the ichthyofauna. A small faunal shift may have occurred during the Selandian. More dramatic is the distinct decrease in overall richness that lasts from the Selandian to the Ypresian. The Lutetian ofWest Central Africa is characterized by the first appearance of numerous cartilaginous and bony fishes. Our analysis of the ichthyofauna moreover indicates two periods of faunal exchanges: one during the Paleocene, where Central Africa appears to have been a source for the European marine fauna, and another during the Eocene when Europe was the source of the Central Africa fauna. These data indicate that Central Africa has had connections with the Tethyian realm.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference Recent advances in heteromorph ammonoid palaeobiology
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference Recent and old records of the rare myrmecophilous beetle Haeterius ferrugineus (Olivier 1789) in Belgium, Luxembourg and North-East of France
Haeterius ferrugineus (Olivier 1789) is a rarely observed histerid beetle which lives permanently in ant nests. We provide the first records of this species in Flanders, the northern part of Belgium, and give an overview of the scattered records for this species in Belgium, Grand-Duché of Luxembourg and the border region in the North of France gathered over the past 150 years.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference Recent changes in the distribution and rooting elevation of Schoenoplectus club‑rushes in the Scheldt estuary and the consequences for their survival
Abstract We aimed to assess the distribution and trends in abundance and rooting elevation in relation to substrate type (soft sediment/riprap) for three Sch‑ oenoplectus club-rush species in the Zeeschelde estuary (Belgium). Surveys took place in 1995, 2003 and 2013, following dike fortifcations for the SIGMA food control plan. Compared to 1995 club-rush tufts are now positioned lower in the tidal frame, especially their upper margin. Club-rush cover decreased by 50% in the last time interval. This is linked to marsh succession after a vegetation set-back by SIGMA works and increasing competition with Phragmites and Salix. The lower margin of club-rushes shifted downwards on riprap, but not on soft sediment. This substrate-dependent rooting elevation reach likely indicates that substrate stability can be an important factor for club-rush persistence and growth on the lower marsh margin. This emerged only recently probably because tufts needed time to expand after the SIGMA works and because of the improved water quality. Currently, Schoenoplectus club-rushes on soft sediment in the Zeeschelde sufer from the lack of suitable areas with cyclic natural morphodynamics that maintain pioneer habitat. To maintain club-rush diversity we suggest to manage threatened club-rush populations or to translocate them to newly created restoration sites.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference Recognising Type Specimens in a Dispersed Collection. The Macaronesian Land Mollusca Described by R. T. Lowe
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Article Reference Reconciling biodiversity and carbon stock conservation in an Afrotropical forest landscape
Protecting aboveground carbon stocks in tropical forests is essential for mitigating global climate change and is assumed to simultaneously conserve biodiversity. Although the relationship between tree diversity and carbon stocks is generally positive, the relationship remains unclear for consumers or decomposers. We assessed this relationship for multiple trophic levels across the tree of life (10 organismal groups, 3 kingdoms) in lowland rainforests of the Congo Basin. Comparisons across regrowth and old-growth forests evinced the expected positive relationship for trees, but not for other organismal groups. Moreover, differences in species composition between forests increased with difference in carbon stock. These variable associations across the tree of life contradict the implicit assumption that maximum co-benefits to biodiversity are associated with conservation of forests with the highest carbon storage. Initiatives targeting climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation should include both old-growth and regenerating forests to optimally benefit biodiversity and carbon storage.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
Article Reference Reconstructing Asian faunal introductions to eastern Africa from multi-proxy biomolecular and archaeological datasets
Human-mediated biological exchange has had global social and ecological impacts. In sub- Saharan Africa, several domestic and commensal animals were introduced from Asia in the pre-modern period; however, the timing and nature of these introductions remain contentious. One model supports introduction to the eastern African coast after the mid-first millennium CE, while another posits introduction dating back to 3000 BCE. These distinct scenarios have implications for understanding the emergence of long-distance maritime connectivity, and the ecological and economic impacts of introduced species. Resolution of this longstanding debate requires new efforts, given the lack of well-dated fauna from highprecision excavations, and ambiguous osteomorphological identifications. We analysed faunal remains from 22 eastern African sites spanning a wide geographic and chronological range, and applied biomolecular techniques to confirm identifications of two Asian taxa: domestic chicken (Gallus gallus) and black rat (Rattus rattus). Our approach included ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis aided by BLAST-based bioinformatics, Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) collagen fingerprinting, and direct AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry) radiocarbon dating. Our results support a late, mid-first millennium CE introduction of these species. We discuss the implications of our findings for models of biological exchange, and emphasize the applicability of our approach to tropical areas with poor bone preservation.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2017
Article Reference Reconstructing science networks from the past: eponyms between malacological authors in the mid-19th century
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019