Biography
Odhrán McCarthy is a PhD researcher in the iCRAG hydrocarbon spoke TP4.1. Odhrán graduated from University College Cork with a first class honours BSc. Geology degree in October of 2016. In January of 2017 he joined the hydrocarbon spoke under Dr. Pat Meere. His project investigates the provenance of Mesozoic sediments in the North Celtic Sea Basin and St. Georges Channel Basin. Using offshore core and chip, Odhrán will utilise detrital mineral analysis, heavy mineral analysis and sedimentary petrography to identify provenance signatures from source to sink. General research interests include geochemistry, sedimentary provenance analysis and sedimentary petrography.
Hydrocarbons (Oil and Gas) are powerful energy sources which drive much of our society. To negate the environmental impact of this energy source, we must make industrial exploration more efficient. My research is a Provenance Analysis project which looks at identifying the possible sedimentary host rocks of hydrocarbons and aims at understand how and why they are present, but also where the sediments came from. In doing so we can further understand the extent of hydrocarbon reservoirs and the geological history of the planet while utilising a cleaner and more localised energy source.
Project title: A provenance study to characterise the contribution of axial drainage systems to the deposition of lower Mesozoic sandstone reservoirs in the North Celtic Sea and St. Georges Channel Basins, offshore south east Ireland.
Technical description
Provenance analysis is the identification of a sediments source regions by looking at the composition of the sediments and comparing it to their potential source’s. Using a combination of sedimentary petrography, radiogenic isotope dating of primarily detrital zircon but also apatite and tourmaline, SEM-EDS mapping and cathodoluminescence of single grains and thin section samples and Heavy Mineral Analysis I hope to further constrain the provenance of the North Celtic Sea Basin and Saint Georges Channel Basin. By applying multiple analytical techniques, I hope to navigate the difficulties of provenance analysis. The main objective of my research is one which stems from previous provenance work done on the NCSB; to identify the source of Avalonian sediments in these Celtic Sea basins. To achieve this, I will be conducting field work and sampling in Wales as a number of potential sources for these Avalonian sediments have already been identified. In addition, I will be analysing core samples from both basins.
Role
- Postgraduate Researcher
Institution
- UCC
Research Area
- Energy Security
Expertise
- Sediment Tracking, Mineralogy , Hydrocarbons, Provenance, Sedimentology
