Jeremy Rushton

• BSc (Reading, Geochemistry), PhD (Aberdeen, Geology)
• Laboratory Manager at British Geological Survey

The Bunter Sandstone Formation (BSF) is a target reservoir for storage of CO 2 in the UK Southern North Sea (UKSNS). Previous industry studies highlighted diagenetic features that influence fluid flow in the BSF, but failed to identify the controls and patterns of regional diagenesis that are now needed to inform more accurate prediction of porosit...

Despite all the effort made towards an understanding of the sedimentary, tectonic, and diagenetic evolution of the presalt sequence and the Pre-Salt reservoirs of the North Campos Basin (East Brazil), two knowledge gaps have yet to be filled: 1) a detailed study of diagenesis in the crystalline basement and rift phases, and 2) the timing of diagene...

Despite all the effort made towards an understanding of the sedimentary, tectonic, and diagenetic evolution of the presalt sequence and the Pre-Salt reservoirs of the North Campos Basin (East Brazil), two knowledge gaps have yet to be filled: 1) a detailed study of diagenesis in the crystalline basement and rift phases, and 2) the timing of diagene...

Hexavalent chromium (Cr 6+) is a toxic carcinogenic pollutant that might be released by the mining and processing of ultramafic rocks and nickel laterites and which requires permanent removal from the contaminated biosphere. Ultramafic material can also serve as a feedstock for the sequestration of CO 2 resulting from the growth of new minerals, ra...

This report describes a regional petrographic study of the Triassic aged Bunter Sandstone Formation (BSF) in the northern part of the UK Southern North Sea. To date, the spatial relationships leading to the prediction of regional reservoir quality in the BSF in terms of its potential for storage of CO2 or hydrogen have not been fully understood. Pr...

The transition to a low-carbon future relies on the development of new technologies and sustainable energy production. The utilisation of high temperature geothermal resources will be crucial to the sustainable development of many countries. Future geothermal energy production will likely tap deep reservoirs with 'super-hot' temperatures (>350°C) t...

Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is a promising technology being actively investigated to ameliorate anthropogenic climate change. ERW accelerates atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) drawdown in agricultural soils following the addition of crushed, silicate rocks. The application of basalt, an abundant silicate rock, has widely been proposed for ERW. In...

Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is a promising technology being actively investigated to ameliorate anthropogenic climate change. ERW accelerates atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) drawdown in agricultural soils following the addition of crushed, silicate rocks. The application of basalt, an abundant silicate rock, has widely been proposed for ERW. In...

Soils deliver multiple ecosystem services and their long-term sustainability is fundamentally controlled by the rates at which they form and erode. Our knowledge and understanding of soil formation is not commensurate with that of soil erosion, in part due to the difficulty of measuring the former. However, developments in cosmogenic radionuclide a...

A light REE (LREE)-bearing mineral called chevkinite (Ce, La, Ca, Th)4(Fe²⁺, Mg)2(Ti, Fe³⁺)3Si4O22, originating from a heavy metal placer deposit Aksu Diamas in Turkey, previously assessed for potential REE extraction as a by-product of magnetite production, was studied using scanning electron microscopy with energy and wavelength-dispersive spectr...

Correct interpretation of soft-bodied fossils relies on a thorough understanding of their taphonomy. While the focus has often been on the primary roles of decay and early diagenesis, the impacts of deeper burial and metamorphism on fossil preservation are less well understood. We document a sequence of late-stage mineral replacements in panarthrop...

This study presents an integrated mineralogical assessment for the provenance of sediments derived from modern-day rivers and Cenozoic deposits in Senegal and Gambia. Two distinct populations are identified from discrimination of the heavy mineral assemblages; the Senegal River sediment, sourced from the West African Craton and Mauritanides and Mes...

Fractures within hydrothermal systems represent major pathways for fluid flow, and it is therefore vital that we understand processes occurring along them as these may have an impact on productivity of hot fluids during geothermal exploitation. This is especially important where hydrothermal activity crosses contrasting rock types, as fluid movemen...

Lithium is a critical metal, vital for electrification of transport. Currently, around half the world's lithium is extracted from rare-metal pegmatites and understanding the genesis and evolution of these igneous rocks is therefore essential. This paper focuses on the pegmatites in the Kamativi region of Zimbabwe. A group of early pegmatites is dis...

Silica cementation exerts a key control on the compaction and geotechnical properties of mudstones, and by extension, the style of hydrocarbon and/or mineral systems present in a given sedimentary basin. Integrated microscopic and bulk geochemical observations demonstrate that siliceous mudstones in the Bowland Shale Formation, a target for UK shal...

Improving our ability to predict the interactions between CO2 and reservoir rocks at geological time scales is of key importance if carbon capture and storage (CCS) is to have a role in climate-change mitigation, particularly in the light of likely regulatory requirements. Understanding and identifying the relevant geological processes over long ti...

Oceanic hydrogenetic ferromanganese (Fe-Mn) crusts precipitate directly from ambient seawater over millions of years. Their very slow growth rates and physio-chemical properties mean that they adsorb numerous elements from seawater. As such, they provide condensed records of seawater evolution through time that can be used for paleoceanographic rec...

The rare mineral kalistrontite, K2Sr(SO4)2, has been discovered in exceptional quantities in exploration boreholes targeting Permian polyhalite [K2Ca2Mg(SO4)4·2(H2O)]-bearing evaporite deposits in North Yorkshire, U.K. The kalistrontite is associated with anhydrite, polyhalite, halite, magnesite, and traces of celestine in the Fordon (Evaporite) Fo...

Estuarine sediments can be a source of Phosphorus (P) to coastal waters, contributing to nutrient budgets and geochemical cycles. In this work, the concentration and speciation of P in 47 cores were examined from the inter-tidal mud flats of the tidal river Thames (~ 120 km). Results of P concentration and speciation were combined with published da...

The release of Phosphorus (P) from river sediments has been identified as a contributing factor to waters failing the criteria for ‘Good Ecological Status’ under the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). To identify the contribution of sediment-P to river systems, an understanding of the factors that influence its distribution within the entire non-t...

The Jurassic Entrada sandstone at Salt Wash Graben, Utah, USA, a red sandstone contains significant rock bleaching. The cause of the bleaching has been thought to be associated with the modern day CO2-rich fluids in the area which present on the surface by utalising the local fractures, some of which are filled with calcite and iron rich minerals (...

The Bunter Sandstone Formation in the Southern North Sea is a regional saline aquifer that extends across the median line between UK and Netherlands territorial waters. Numerical simulations of CO2 injection into a brine-saturated structural closure located in the UK sector have modelled the temporal development of an injection-induced pressure foo...

Concern about security of supply of critical elements used in new technologies, such as the Rare Earth Elements (REE), means that it is increasingly important to understand the processes by which they are enriched in crustal settings. High REE contents are found in syenite-dominated alkaline complexes intruded along the Moine Thrust Zone, a major c...

Bentonite is one of the more safety-critical components of the engineered barrier system in the disposal concepts developed for many types of radioactive waste. It is used due to its favourable properties (including plasticity, swelling capacity, colloid filtration, low hydraulic conductivity, high retardation of key radionuclides) and its stabilit...

The Cyprus Natural Analogue Project was carried out due to the requirement to support ongoing laboratory and modelling efforts on the potential reaction of the bentonite buffer with cementitious leachates in the repository engineered barrier system. Although it is known that the higher pH (12.5-13) leachates from ordinary Portland cement will degra...

Corrosion, water radiolysis and microbial degradation will result in the generation of gas within repositories designed for the geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste. It is therefore crucial in the design of such facilities that the relevant mechanisms allowing gas migration through repository materials, both engineered barriers and c...

We thank Westaway (2012) for his interesting discussion of the uplift rates derived from the Alport tufa and its geomorphological setting. In particular, Westaway (2012) questions the validity of the uplift rates that were presented within our original paper (Banks et al., 2012) and we welcome the opportunity to clarify this further. Analysis of hi...

Subsurface 3D geological models of aquifer and seal rock systems from two contrasting analogue sites have been created as the first step in an investigation into methodologies for geological storage of carbon dioxide in saline aquifers. Development of the models illustrates the utility of an integrated approach using digital techniques and expert g...

This review considers the geological and geomorphological context of tufa barrages that occupy buried valley settings in the Wye catchment, Derbyshire. It describes the potential relationship of the tufa with locations of hypothesised river captures and inception horizon-guided groundwater flow paths. Tufa barrage development is associated with ste...

Brachiopod carbonate from Early Permian brachiopod shells from low palaeolatitude north Iran and higher palaeolatitude Pakistan Karakorum were screened for diagenesis and analysed for oxygen isotope ratios to derive seawater palaeotemperatures. Screening techniques employed included SEM ultrastructural analysis, cathodoluminescence (CL), image anal...

Bentonite is a key component in many designs for radioactive waste repositories. The plasticity, swelling capacity, colloid filtration, low hydraulic conductivity, high retardation of key radionuclides and stability in relevant geological environments all make bentonite an ideal barrier/buffer material. However, bentonite is chemically unstable und...

In Permo-Triassic continental clastic sediments of the Elgin area in Scotland, detrital K-feldspar is tartan-twinned, whereas the diagenetic K-feldspar is untwinned. The overgrowths are optically homogeneous but are not in optical continuity with the detrital grains. The interface between the detrital grain and the overgrowth represents no profound...