Geologist
Interests: Expanding Earth
Grew up in Scotland. Graduated with his doctorate in structural geology from the University of Glasgow in 1971. Entered the mining industry in Western Australia the same year. Has provided independent contracting/ consulting geological services in Perth since 1986. Does the usual field and mine requirements of the business and besides:- Has since 1971 developed a boudinage model as an organising principle for the formation of ore deposits and (since the early eighties) its extrapolation to global tectonics as a framework for better understanding the occurrence and distribution of mineralisation.
Experience
Routine exploration: surface/ underground/ open pit mapping. Regional studies (Australia, North America United Kingdom). Conceptual extrapolation to global tectonics.
Specialization: Structural geology
Considered strength = synthesis in general; field mapping in particular. Practical application of principles of brittle - ductile deformation in mineral exploration (as described on this site), which are important in :- Explaining the structural controls on the location and formation of many giant (and smaller) ore deposits. Providing the empirical link between the principles of colloidal and surface chemistry and the macroscopic (field to regional) behaviour of rock layers in forming ore bodies.
Describing basin formation and basin deformation as an integrated continuum of vertical tectonics). Recognising global torsions and Earth Expansion as the underlying framework for crustal tectonics. (Supports Sam Carey's work but with substantial modification regarding Tethyan torsion and Pacific opening).
