Sam Bright

I work on granite plutons in the Scottish Highlands, using a mixture of geochronological, geochemical and structural data to understand the genesis, evolution and emplacement of a select few plutons close to the Great Glen Fault. Specifically, I want to understand their relationship to the Great Glen, and use this to answer broader questions about mountain building processes: was the emplacement of these granites controlled in some way by the fault? Can we use these granites to estimate the total magnitude of movement along the Great Glen Fault during the climax of the Caledonian Orogeny? What is the significance of this fault - is the crust on one side of it (the Northern Highlands) completely different in origin to the other side (the Grampian Highlands)? These all tie into larger questions about how granites are formed and emplaced, and how large blocks of the Earth's crust are deformed and shifted during episodes of continental collision.