Chemostratigraphy and Inorganic Forensic Fingerprinting
Key staff: Dr David Wray
Chemostratigraphy is the study of the variation of chemistry within sedimentary sequences.
The production of high-quality inorganic elemental data from sediments and soils is used to characterise materials and correlate packages of sediment. This approach has been extensively used in the petroleum industry during both the exploration and development phases of oil and gas reservoirs. It is also gaining acceptance in forensic investigations and has been extensively used in the study of recent sediments to establish trends in fluvial, estuarine and coastal pollution.
Recent projects
- Chemostratigraphy and correlation of the southern North Sea gas fields.
- Development of instrumental techniques and procedures for the study of forensic samples.
- Correlation and evolution of oil and gas bearing strata in Canada, North Africa, West Africa, the Middle East and Far East.
- Recent sediment- and hydro-chemistry of the rivers Medway and Stour (east Kent).
Publications
De Vos, E., Edwards, S. J., McDonald, I., Wray, D. S., and Carey, P. J. (2002) A baseline survey of the distribution and origin of platinum group elements in contemporary fluvial sediments of the Kentish Stour, England. Applied Geochemistry, 17, pp. 1115–1121.
Pearce, T. J., McLean, D., Wray, D. S., Wright, D. K., Jeans, C. V., and Mearns, E. W. (2005) Stratigraphy of the Upper Carboniferous Schooner Formation, southern North Sea: chemostratigraphy, mineralogy, palynology, and Sm-Nd isotope analysis. In: Carboniferous hydrocarbon geology, the southern North Sea and surrounding onshore areas. Collinson, J. D., Evans, D. J., Holliday, D. W., and Jones, N. S. Yorkshire Geological Society Occasional Publication (2005) 7, pp. 165–182.
Pearce, T. J., Wray, D. S., Ratcliffe, K. T., Wright, D. K., and Moscariello, A. (2005) Chemostratigraphy of the Upper Carboniferous Schooner Formation, southern North Sea. In: Carboniferous hydrocarbon geology, the southern North Sea and surrounding onshore areas, Collinson, J. D., Evans, D. J., Holliday, D. W. and Jones, N. S. (2005) Yorkshire Geological Society Occasional Publication (2005) 7, pp. 147–164.
Pye, K., Blott, S. J., and Wray, D. S. (2006) Elemental analysis of soil samples for forensic purposes by Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometry – precision considerations. Forensic Science International, 160, pp. 178–192.
Ratcliffe, K. T., Martin, J., Pearce, T. J., Hughes, A. D., Lawton, D. E., Wray, D. S., and Bessa, F. (2006) A regional chemostratigraphically-defined correlation framework for the late Triassic TAG-I in Blocks 402 and 405a, Algeria. Petroleum Geoscience, 12, pp. 3–12.
Ratcliffe, K. T., Wright, A. M., Hallsworth, C., Morton, A, Zaitlin, B. A., Potocki, D., and Wray, D. S. (2004) An example of alternative correlation techniques in a low-accommodation setting, nonmarine hydrocarbon system: The (Lower Cretaceous) Mannville Basal Quartz succession of southern Alberta. Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologist, 88, pp. 1419–1432.