Lester Anderson

Postgraduate Student

Biography

I graduated with a B.Sc (honours) in geology from Bedford College (University of London). I subsequently went on to study for an M.Sc in structural geology and rock mechanics at Imperial College London (1988). Following on from my masters thesis on the structure and eveolution of the Barents Sea, I was employed at CASP (formally Cambridge Arctic Shelf Programme) for 18.5 years working initially as a research geologist and later specialising in the use of geophysical data for regional tectonic models and its integration into GIS. I worked from 2007 to 2009 for a commercial airborne gravity gradiometry survey company (ARKeX) based in Cambridge, developing feasibility models for hydrocarbon and mining exploration targets.

Project details

Project title

Interpretation of airborne geophysical data over the Gamburtsev subglacial mountains, Wilkes and Aurora subglacial basins: implications for regional tectonic models of East Antarctica.

Supervisors

Dr Fausto Ferraccioli (British Antarctic Survey) and Professor Graham Stuart (University of Leeds)

Funding

NERC (BAS) studentship

Start date

1st October 2009

Project outline

The PhD project will utilise various techniques to interpret and analyse potential-field data (gravity and magnetics) over a large part of East Antarctica (extending from the Transantarctic Mountains to the Gamburtsevs, in order to gain an understanding of the subglacial geology and tectonic framework. The Gamburtsev subglacial mountains are enigmatic, being located in an intra-cratonic setting and with significant elevations. The question to be addressed is why they there and what is the uplift mechanism? More significantly the study will provide clearer pointers to the "primary" location for the East Antarctic Ice Sheet nucleation and its long-term stability in relation to the subglacial geological model.