Dr Andrew McCaig - Personal details:

BA Cambridge 1978

MSc Western Ontario 1980

PhD Cambridge 1983

Lecturer, Dundee University 1983-84

Lecturer in Structural Geology, Leeds University, 1984 to present (Senior Lecturer from 1996)

Career Research interests:

• Ophiolite emplacement processes; mantle deformation in ophiolites and chromite bodies; deformation and fluid flow in the ocean crust
• thrust belt evolution and palaeomagnetic studies of thrust sheet rotations;
• shear zone geometries and intersections;
• large scale fluid flow in mountain belts and thrusts; fluid flow associated with seismicity; isotopic and geochemical tracing of fluid flow using whole-rock geochemistry and fluid inclusion analysis;
• retrograde fluid flow and permeability generation in basement rocks; dolomitisation reactions
• alteration patterns associated with diffusive and advective mass-transport; microchemical signatures of fluid flow using SEM and microprobe; grain boundary migration and diffusion processes;
• deformation mechanisms and fabric development in mylonites.

Current research projects:

1. Fluid flow during Alpine thrusting in the Pyrenees. This project has integrated structural geology, stable and radiogenic isotopes, fluid inclusion microthermometry and crush-leach analysis and microstructural/microchemical work. A summary and bibliography of Leeds-based publications is available for further information.
2. Fluid flow and deformation mechanisms on the Glarus Thrust, Swiss Alps. This is a collaboration with Martin Burkhard and Nicholas Badertscher (Univ. Neuchatel). Leeds contribution includes SEM EBSD work on fabrics (by Jane Cooper, PhD student), Sr isotopic analysis, and microchemical studies of dolomite layers along the thrust
3. Dolomitisation in Dalradian basement rocks, SW Highlands of Scotland. This work has been done by Rob Guest (PhD student) in collaboration with Colin Graham (Edinburgh). Dolomitisation of marbles adjacent to faults has been shown to be due to basinal brines at moderate temperatures. The same porosity was subsequently exploited by meteoric fluids. A summary of ion probe work so far, and further work scheduled for Jan 2001, is available here.
4. Diffusion and grain boundary migration in calcite. Collaboration with Ernie Rutter and Steve Covey-Crump (Manchester) and Geoff Lloyd and Jane Cooper (PhD student) Leeds.
5. Numerical modelling of grain boundary processes. This is a collaboration with the Elle numerical modelling group based mainly at Monash University, Australia. Jane Cooper and Andrew McCaig will both be visiting Monash during 2001 to work on diffusion/boundary migration models related to 4) above.
6. Deformation and fluid flow on mid-oceanic detachment faults. This is a collaboration with Geoff Lloyd and Joe Cann. See here for details of a current NERC-funded research project and here for preliminary SEM results on deformed and altered gabbros.

Recent publications

Contact details