Biography

Siobhán Burke earned a Joint BSc (Hons) in International Field Geosciences from both University College Cork and University of Montana in 2016. Following this, she worked for 6 months as field base Lab Manager contracted out to the GSI for the “Tellus West” geochemical ground survey. In January 2017, Siobhán joined the Marine Geosciences Research Group under the supervision of Prof Andy Wheeler to pursue an iCRAG funded PhD.

Siobhán works as a PhD researcher on the Formation of Littoral and Offshore Irish Placer Resources (FLiPeR) project funded within the Supply of Raw Materials spoke at iCRAG. The study investigates the onshore – offshore heavy mineral exchange in modern sands and the potential for marine heavy mineral placer deposits offshore Ireland. Her focus is on understanding concentration mechanisms of heavy minerals in marine detrital sediments, establishing the provenance areas and determining the pathway of heavy mineral sands in the littoral and shelf domains. The project uses a combination of geophysical (high resolution seismics and multibeam echosounder) and geochemical techniques (SEM-EDS, LA-ICP-MS , RAMAN and trace element analyses) to identify, characterise and quantify the heavy mineral sands both temporally and spatially.

Research Interests

Heavy minerals

Professional Activity

Awards and Honors

European Association of Geochemistry (Student Travel Award) 2017.

60th Annual Irish Geological Research Meeting 2017 – Third Place & honorary mention for Best Poster.

Certificate for Merit of Results. Ranked highest (1st) in Joint BSc Degree International Field Geosciences, Class of 2016.

Dean’s List 2014/15, University of Montana – Merit of results

Robert and Eleanor Weidman Award – Award for best field based research proposal (University of Montana, 2015).

Dept. of Geosciences, University of Montana Travel Scholarship (University of Montana, 2015).

Outreach

Irish Association of Women in Geosciences – Postgraduate committee representative

iGeo 2018 – Postgraduate committee representative

Girls in Geoscience – Volunteer