Isabelle Goddard

Profile

I completed my integrated masters degree in Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford in 2024. My research thesis examined the metamorphic and metasomatic aureole around the Loch Borralan Intrusion, northwest Scotland, including modelling chemical potential gradients across lithologcal boundaries, modelling temperature and fluid composition conditions, and assessing the potential of the newly-classified fenites to be REE hosts. I was involved in the committee of the Oxford University Geological Society, was a writer for The Oxford Scientist, and participated in outreach efforts for Oxbridge admissions for under-represented groups within the universities. In 2022, I won the Keith Cox Prize for best mapping exercise of the Assynt Window, northwest Scotland.

During my undergraduate studies, I undertook a Women in Mining internship with Green Lithium, assessing the viability of potential feedstock suppliers, including mineral resource estimations, tracking causes for and patterns in variations in lithium prices over years, and developing a framework for estimating the efficacy of ESG policies of these companies. I also contributed to a project at the University of Oxford and Cambourne School of Mines (University of Exeter) that examined tin and tungsten mineralisation in greisen veins in the Cornubian Batholith granites, where I was responsible for fieldwork, namely mapping and documenting observations of the greisen veins, collecting structural data, and gathering and preparing a sample suite into thin sections and powders.

Following the completion of my first degree, I worked as a geotechnical engineer for a year, developing an ongoing interest in contaminated land and its remediation.

I am a fellow of the Geological Society of London (FGS), and am working towards Chartered Geologist status.

Research interests

My research examines the processes involved in the amalgamation and consolidation of ancient terranes into the cratons that we see at the hearts of continents in the modern day. Specifically, I look at the roles of melts and fluids through the evolution of shear zones, and how they impact the rheological and petrological properties of the lithologies, with a view to better understanding how shear zones strengthen and consolidate following active deformation.

This PhD project will involve fieldwork in South Harris, Outer Hebrides, and in southwestern Greenland, examining Proterozoic and Archean shear zones respectively. In addition to field mapping, we will undertake a variety of techniques, focussing on in situ methods, such as EBSD, EPMA, and LA-ICP-MS to establish parameters for the age and duration of metamorphism, characterise compositions and provenances of lithologies present, and to asctertain the ways in which deformation takes place.

I am supervised by Prof. Sandra Piazolo and Dr. Craig Magee at the University of Leeds, and Dr. Silvia Volante at the University of Zurich. This project is also in collaboration with Dr Nick Roberts, BGS, and Dr Richard Palin, University of Oxford.

Qualifications

• MEarthSci Earth Sciences

Research groups and institutes

• Ores and Mineralization