Early Career Geologist Award

In a close final, Lisa Mol won the Southern Wales Geological Society Regional Group's Early Career Geologist Award. Lisa talked about her developing work focused on weathering processes in Svalbard and her interest in ammunition damage to stone and building conservation.   She will now go on to represent SE Wales at the national competition at the Geological Society of London next year.  Lisa was pushed hard for the award by Rosie Gornall who talked about the Applied Environmental Geology MSc project that she undertook with Mott McDonald.

Lisa currently researches the complex interaction of weathering processes in the Arctic and their response to climate change. In particular, she is interested in changes in sediment production characteristics under deglaciating conditions and the potential consequences for ecosystem health and CO₂ drawdown efficiency.

To this end, she has undertaken fieldwork in Svalbard. By installing test sandstone and limestone blocks of known characteristics and monitoring microclimatic temperature conditions she will be able to map the most efficient production areas within the catchment. In addition, she carries out laboratory tests on sediments both suspended in the meltwater channel flow and within bank deposits, to quantify volume influx and characteristics from both the Borgerbreen glacier and Endalen valley sides. This field research is funded by the Royal Geographical Society and the Geological Society of London.