Tectonic Studies Group

Thanks to everyone who attended and participated at TSG 2026, held at University College Dublin, Ireland, you all helped to make it a great experience!

Congratulations to our 2025 Prize winners:

Dave Johnston Mapping Prize Winner

Estelle Pass (Royal Holloway University of London)

Project: Geological Mapping of the Isle of Kerrera, Scotland

Patience Cowie Early Career Award – Winner

Billy Andrews (University of Plymouth)

Keynote Talk: Societal impacts of 4D fault and fracture growth

Ramsay Medal – Winner

Cole McCormick

Publication: Zebra textures in fault-controlled, hydrothermal dolomite bodies: Coupled mechanisms of replacement, deformation, and cementation

Cole McCormick is a carbonate geologist, with research interests that span the broader fields of structural geology, carbonate diagenesis, and sedimentary geochemistry. Cole received his Ph.D. from the University of Manchester (2023), where he was a recipient of the President’s Doctoral Scholar award and evaluated the rock textures that are produced by fault-controlled, hydrothermal dolomitization – research that significantly leveraged the long legacy of experimental rock mechanics in Manchester. Cole is currently a postdoctoral scholar at Penn State.

Mike Coward Prize (best student presentation) – Winner

Elliot Bird (British Geological Survey/ University of Liverpool)

Presentation: Direct observations of a transition in gas migration behaviour across clay/sand mixtures of varying ratios

Elliot is a 1st year PhD student with the British Geological Survey (BGS) and the University of Liverpool where he uses analogue experimental techniques to understand the deformation processes of clay-rich rocks. He works within the Fluid Processes and Fracture Physics Research Laboratories at BGS where he researches gas migration and swelling behaviour in these materials.

Honourable Mentions:

Simon Vokes (UCD), Cenozoic faults and fractures: Controls on the expression and polarity of conjugate structures

Alissa Forsythe (University of Edinburgh), Investigating the Highland Boundary Fault, Scotland, through high-resolution geophysical surveying

Sara Degl’Innocenti (University of Bologna), Rethinking the Late Cretaceous subduction-obduction history of Oman: new evidence of multiphase shortening and high-pressure metamorphism in the Jabal Akhdar Window

Sue Treagus Prize (best student poster) – Winner

Saoirse M. Coveney (Imperial College London)

Poster Title: New constraints on active normal faulting in the South Gulf of Evia, Greece

Saoirse is a 2^nd year PhD student at Imperial College London working on active normal faulting in the Southern Gulf of Evia rift in Central Greece. Her research integrates field mapping, tectonic geomorphology, seismic reflection data and geodetic data to constrain the continuity, spatiotemporal evolution and seismic potential of the major active fault zones bounding the rift margins.

Sue Treagus Prize – Runner-Up

Hager A. Elattar (University of Leeds)

Poster Title:  Fracture architecture of the Eocene Thebes Formation: Integrated field, image-based, and 3D photogrammetric analysis

We are pleased to announce that abstract submissions are now open for TSG 2026!

Submissions via the conference website: www.tsgdublin2026.ie

A few Key dates for the diary:

• 16^th November – Abstract submission deadline & Earlybird registration deadline (registration will open soon)
• 7^th December – Final Registration deadline
• 6 – 9^th January – TSG2026 Conference, UCD

In addition, we have x2 student bursaries (up to £500) available in the winter round (open until 16^th November), further details available at: https://tectonicstudiesgroup.org/funding/

We are delighted to announce that next year’s conference will be held at O’Brien Centre for Science, University College Dublin (UCD)

The conference will include a pre-conference workshop and icebreaker and a post-conference fieldtrip to Loughshinny, led by John Walsh, where attendees can investigate Inversion structures of the Lower Carboniferous Dublin Basin

Dates for the Diary:

• Tuesday, 6 Jan – Day 1: Workshop + Ice-breaker Event
• Wednesday, 7 Jan – Day 2: Conference Day 1
• Thursday, 8 Jan – Day 3: Conference Day 2
• Friday, 9 Jan – Day 4: Fieldtrip (Loughshinny)

Call for Award Nominations & Applications:

• Patience Cowie Early Career Award
• Ramsay Medal
• Dave Johnston Mapping Prize

Thanks to everyone who attended and participated at TSG 2025, held at the British Geological Survey, Keyworth, you all helped to make it a great experience! We look forward to seeing you in Dublin in 2026!

Congratulations to our 2025 Prize winners:

Dave Johnston Mapping Prize Winner

Phoebe Stansfield

Project: Geomorphological evidence for post-glacial faulting in Sweden and South Greenland

Mike Coward Prize (best student presentation)

Mannon Carpenter

Presentation: Controls on Postseismic and Interseismic Deformation: Modelling Localised Rheological Weakening Beneath a Strike-Slip Fault

Manon is in her final year of PhD at the University of Leeds, where she combines field work, microstructural analyses and geophysical modelling to understand how and why deformation is localised in continental crust. She uses constraints from mid-crustal shear zones to inform numerical models of crustal-scale strike-slip faults and see what we can learn from them.

Sue Treagus Prize Winner

Natalie Forrest

Poster Title: Using Cosmogenic 36Cl To Estimate The Holocene Slip Rate of the Eşen Fault, SW Türkiye

Natalie is a 4^th year PhD student at the University of Leeds, based in the Institute of Geophysics & Tectonics. Her PhD investigates the dynamics of normal faulting across multiple timescales, through a multi-disciplinary study involving geological and geodetic methods, such as InSAR and GPS. 

At the TSG AGM 2025, Natalie presented her laboratory-based study on cosmogenic chlorine-36 analysis on the Eşen Fault, a normal fault in SW Türkiye. There have been no known historical earthquakes on this fault, yet it is a prominent 20 km long escarpment across the landscape. Cosmogenic chlorine-36 is primary formed through the interaction of calcium-40 in the limestone with cosmic rays, therefore this method produces an estimate of the fault scarp exposure through time. By combining chlorine-36 profiles with Bayesian models, the study suggests that the fault scarp experienced its last large earthquake around 1000 years ago, and prior to that, the fault was slipping at 2-3 mm/yr. This shows that the fault represents a significant, and previously unquantified, hazard in this region.

Ramsay Medal Winner

Giovanni Toffol

Publication: On-fault earthquake energy density partitioning from shocked garnet in an exhumed seismic mid-crustal fault

Giovanni obtained a PhD at the University of Padova (Italy), with a thesis titled “High differential stress in the seismogenic lithosphere: constraints from numerical modelling and microstructural analysis”. He is currently postdoctoral research associate at Cardiff University, where his work focuses on the seismic and aseismic behaviour of faults in subduction zones.

Ramsay Medal – Honourable Mention

Joe Connolly

Publication: Using U–Pb carbonate dating to constrain the timing of extension and fault reactivation within the Bristol Channel Basin, SW England

Registration for in-person attendance at the conference closes on Sunday (15th December).

Registration for online attendance will remain open until early January.

Registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tectonic-studies-group-annual-meeting-2025-tickets-1023866752017

The TSG 2025 abstract submission and registration are now live!!! 

Abstract Submission deadline: 17^th November

Registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tectonic-studies-group-annual-meeting-2025-tickets-1023866752017

The TSG Annual Meeting will be held from the 7th-9th January 2025 at the British Geological Survey in Keyworth Nottinghamshire and a post conference workshop will be offered on January 10th, with a limited number of places available. Abstract submission and further details about TSG 2025 are available at https://tectonicstudiesgroup.wixsite.com/2025/.

The TSG 2025 abstract submission is now live!!! 

Abstract Submission deadline: 17^th November

The TSG Annual Meeting will be held from the 7th-9th January 2025 at the British Geological Survey in Keyworth Nottinghamshire and a post conference workshop will be offered on January 10th, with a limited number of places available. Abstract submission and further details about TSG 2025 are available at https://tectonicstudiesgroup.wixsite.com/2025/. Conference registration will open later this month.

Registration

A registration portal will be made available in early September. Early bird registration will be available until mid-November. Registration includes the ice-breaker reception, two days of conference including coffee breaks, lunches, poster session refreshments and the conference dinner. Separate registration will be available for the workshops. 

“Call Open for Award Nomination”

• Ramsey Medal
• Dave Johnston Mapping Prize

Bursaries

2 bursaries are available in this round of funding. This includes fees for virtual meetings! 

For details see the Bursary Page: http://tectonicstudiesgroup.org/funding/ 

Bursary Application Deadline: 17^th November 2024 

The TSG Annual Meeting will be held at the British Geological Survey, Nottingham, England. Post conference workshops will be offered, with a limited number of places available, on January 10^th.  Further updates to come soon..!

Registration: 

A registration portal will be made available in early September. Early bird registration will be available until mid-November. Registration includes the ice-breaker reception, two days of conference including coffee breaks, lunches, poster session refreshments and the conference dinner. Separate registration will be available for the workshops. 

Abstract Deadline: 17^th November 2024  

Bursaries

2 bursaries are available in this round of funding. This includes fees for virtual meetings! 

For details see the Bursary Page: http://tectonicstudiesgroup.org/funding/ 

Bursary Application Deadline: 17^th November 2024 

Ramsay Medal

Johanna Heeb

Johanna is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher in the High pressure and temperature laboratory, Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Paper Title: Rapid hydration and weakening of anhydrite under stress: Implications for natural hydration in the Earth’s crust and mantle. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/se-14-985-2023

Mike Coward Prize (best student presentation)

Joe Connolly

“Hi, I’m Joe and I’m currently in the final year of my PhD at the University of Plymouth. 

I’m interested in how fluids flow through faults, and what this can tell us about the evolution of different structures. I use a range of geochemical techniques such as radiometric dating on veins to establish the history of fluid-flow along structures. I then use these data to come up with structural models for a fracture network.”

Sue Treagus Prize (best student poster)

Emily Madoff

Emily is pursuing a PhD at the University of St Andrews, working with the M3Ore lab group. Her research is focussed on how the regional and local structure of Ilimaussaq, a famous layered igneous intrusion in South Greenland, influences the formation of the intrusion’s world-class REE deposits. Emily’s research combines classic field mapping methods with state-of-the-art rock magnetics analyses to collect structural data invisible to the naked eye.

Green Rebel Prize: Best Talk

Akos Kiss

My name is Akos Kiss, a PhD candidate at Durham University. I graduated from Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary with a bachelor in earth sciences. The main areas of my interest are structural geology and tectonics.

I always find that applying my expertise to issues around energy security and environmental protection to be the most rewarding part of my research experience. As part of my Msc project I worked on identifying faults that serve as gas leakage pathways in the Barents Sea. I currently focus my PhD research on the petrophysical characterisation of potential geothermal reservoirs and the experimental investigation of fluid injection induced seismicity.

I believe the role of subsurface in the energy transition will continue increasing. Hence I feel especially honoured to have my talk chosen by Green Rebel for the TSG Awards 2024 – Energy Transition Prize.

Green Rebel Prize: Best Poster

Selina Bonini

I am a 2nd year PhD student in Structural Geology at the University of Bologna, currently working on the Seismic Hazard Assessment of areas affected by Active and Capable Faults.

The aim of my PhD project, which is co-financed by the Italian railways’ authorities (Italferr S.p.A of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group), is to develop a new protocol/set of guidelines for the characterization of site-effects in active fault zones, specifically for railways design purposes. This work includes both detailed fieldwork and modeling. The next step is to use the structural data collected during the geological survey to perform scenarios of Fault Displacement Hazard Analysis suitable for railway planning and construction.

St. Andrews, Scotland

The TSG Annual Meeting will be held 9th-11th January 2024 at St. Andrews, Scotland. A post conference TSG field trip will be offered to all attendees on January 12th.

Registration:
A registration portal will be made available in early September. We expect early bird registration costs to be ~£110 for students, retired and unemployed and a full rate early bird cost will be ~£240. This discounted rate is expected to be available until mid-november.
Registration includes the ice-breaker reception, two days of conference including coffee breaks, lunches, poster session refreshments and the conference dinner.

Abstract Deadline November 15th 2023

*Bursaries Deadline 30th November
Additionally we have a number of travel bursaries to award, and have extended our deadline until the 30th of November.
The TSG supports students and Early Career Researcher attendance at conferences by providing up to £500 bursary for e.g. conference registration fees, travel, accommodation and subsistence. Up to 4 bursaries are awarded each year. This includes fees for virtual meetings!
http://tectonicstudiesgroup.org/funding/

*Prizes
Nominations for the Ramsay Medal and the Dave Johnston Undergraduate Mapping Prize are open. These prizes are awarded annually by the Tectonic Studies Group and will be announced at the annual meeting.

        *The Ramsay Medal*
        The prestigious Ramsay Medal is awarded to the Early Career Researcher who has been judged to have produced the best publication arising directly from their postgraduate research project. The paper must be in the field of tectonics and structural geology and been published in the 12-month period before the closing date. It must also have been written primarily by the nominee, based on their own research. The paper would preferably have also been presented at a previous TSG-sponsored conference or event.
        This year the closing date for nominations will be November 17th 2023. You can find out more about the nomination process for the Ramsay Medal on the TSG website: http://tectonicstudiesgroup.org/ramsay-medal/


        *The Dave Johnston Mapping Prize*
        The Dave Johnston Undergraduate Mapping Prize is awarded for the best undergraduate mapping project arising from fieldwork dissertations completed in the past two years. Nominations are open all year round. Due to an increasing number of submissions in recent years, applications are now limited to one nomination per institution.
        Full information about the Dave Johnston Undergraduate Mapping Prize and how to nominate is available on the TSG website: http://tectonicstudiesgroup.org/dave-johnston-mapping-prize/
        A nomination form is available from the TSG website and must be submitted to the TSG Secretary before December 1st 2023.

We look forward to receiving your abstracts, applications and nominations.