HolcombeCoughlinOliver

I am a structural geologist with over 35 years of structural analysis experience in orogenic systems both as a teaching/research academic and as a consultant to the minerals exploration industry. Although international consultancy activities now occupy most of my time, I continue to maintain an active research position at the University of Queensland.

My expertise and personal enjoyment is in the unravelling of complex geological structures, particularly in metamorphic rocks and shear zones. My consultancy strengths are my experience, and an in-depth knowledge of the structural geologist's toolbox, both practical and theoretical.

My main consulting activities are trouble-shooting brownfields exploration dead-ends related to a poor understanding of the structure, greenfields regional targeting, and in-house structural re-training. Many situations that I have to deal with require only the application of quite basic structural techniques (even when the structure is complex), and the main problem is that on-site geologists have forgotten how and when to use basic structural tools. The best solution is to combine elements of retraining by including the on-site people in the process of solving the problem.

My research interests include: the geological architecture and formation of mountain systems, both modern mountain ranges and eroded ancient mountain belts; the characterisation of strain and flow kinematics of metamorphic rocks and complex shear zones; the evolution of orogenic belts; and the structural control of mineralisation. Additionally I have an interest in developing computer applications applied to mapping and structural analysis, and links to these can be found on these pages.

My field experience has been divided between strongly deformed Precambrian metamorphic terranes (eg., Mount Isa, New Mexico, Southern Appalachians, Yilgarn, Finland, Brazil, Russian Far East) and Phanerozoic continental margin orogens (Australian NEFB, Argentine Andes, Alpine Fault, New Zealand). I have also had passing experience in a variety of other terranes in the US, Scandinavia, and Australia.

Current research projects are the regional structure and framework of mineralisation in the Quadrilateral Ferrifero, Brazil (with Marcio Sales, Tim Coughlin, Nick Oliver), the Peruvian Andes (with Tim Coughlin, Arne Scherenberg), the northern New England Fold Belt of eastern Australia (with Chris Fielding, Scott Bryan), and in Southern Finland (in association with Nick Oliver from James Cook University and GTK, the Finnish Geological Survey).