Antony Morris

Teaching interests

As a geophysicist I am interested in applying physical methods to look at plate tectonic and geodynamic processes. In addition, I use field studies to examine the evidence for oceanic crustal processes preserved in ophiolites. I have worked mainly in the eastern Mediterranean orogenic belt, but have recently extended my interests into the present-day ocean basins through involvement with the IODP. This range of interests is reflected in my teaching, which includes:

Stage One:

EAR110 Planet Earth (Module Leader) - This module provides an introduction to Earth systems and is delivered to students from many programmes within Earth Sciences and Marine Sciences. Within the module I deliver a series of lectures on the solid Earth, including plate tectonics and the interior structure of the Earth

EAR113 Quantitative and Experimental Earth Sciences - exercises in analyses of numerical datasets

EAR115 Introductory Fieldwork and Skills - Stage One tutorials and contribution to the residential fieldtrip to Dorset 

Stage Three:

EAR311 Geophysics - lectures and practicals on solid Earth geophysics, including geomagnetism, marine magnetic anomalies, gravity, heatflow, palaeomagnetism, and the geophysical signatures of plate margins

EAR312 Advanced Geological Fieldwork - leader of a nine-day field excursion to the Troodos ophiolite, Cyprus, drawing upon >20 years research experience in this globally significant ophiolite

EAR314 Advanced Tectonics - lectures and practicals on focal mechanisms, new advances in seafloor spreading, and a contribution to an extensive case study on Mediterranean tectonics (palaeomagnetic analysis of fault block rotations)

EAR318 Geohazards - my contribution to this module is a set of lectures on earthquake hazards, dealing with the science of earthquakes, their impacts upon human systems and our attempts to mitigate their effects and predict their occurrence.

Stage Four:

GLY5105 Geodynamics of the Ocean Basins (Module Leader) -  delivering a series of advanced lectures on modern concepts in oceanic geodynamics and a student-led integrated case study of the Atlantic Ocean.

Supervision of a range of BSc, MGeol, MSc and PhD projects

 

 

Research interests
I use palaeomagnetic methods to investigate fundamental crustal processes.

A recent focus of my research has been the palaeomagnetic analysis of samples of lower oceanic crust recovered from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (and associated site surveys). In 2004/2005 I was a Shipboard Palaeomagnetist aboard the JOIDES Resolution on IODP Expedition 304/305. This  recovered a complexly layered sequence of gabbros and minor ultramafic rocks from the footwall of a major oceanic core complex known as Atlantis Massif, located at 30 degrees north on the Mid Atlantic Ridge. The core, extending to over 1400 mbsf, opens a window in to lower crustal accretion processes. This was an exciting opportunity to extend my palaeomagnetic and magnetic fabric research in ancient ophiolitic terranes (which act as analogues for oceanic crust) into the modern ocean.  Shorebased research was carried out in collaboration with Dr Chris MacLeod (Cardiff University), Dr Jeff Gee (Scripps Institution) and Dr Bobbie John (University of Wyoming). The award of a NERC Standard Research Grant allowed us to conduct detailed palaeomagnetic analyses of the Expedition 304/305 core materials, and to combine these with wireline log interpretation, geochronological and geochemical data to provide important insights into the spatial and temporal controls of the accretion of slow-spreading rate lower oceanic crust. The project benefited from the research of Dr Nicola Pressling, a NERC research fellow funded by the project, who is now at the University of Southampton.

In January-February 2008 I sailed on an IODP Site Survey cruise to the tectonic exposures of fast-spreading rate oceanic crust at Hess Deep, as part of a NERC funded cruise aboard the new James Cook research vessel (cruise JC21). This provided essential site survey data (bathymetric swath-mapping and sampling using the NERC remotely operated vehicle ISIS) to support future IODP drilling at this key locality (IODP Proposal #551). My post cruise research has focused on a combined magnetic fabric and electron backscatter diffraction study of petrofabric development in lower oceanic crustal gabbros, in collaboration with Dr Chris MacLeod (Cardiff; Principal Scientific Officer on JC21), Dr Johan Lissenberg (Cardiff) and Dr Benoit Ildefonse (Montpellier).

Most recently (April-June 2011), I was Lead Shipboard Palaeomagnetist on IODP Expedition 335 to Hole1256D located in 15 Ma old East Pacific Rise crust formed at a superfast spreading rate. This was the fourth expedition to this hole, which is the only place in the world's oceans where drilling has penetrated a complete, in situ upper crustal sequence (lavas, sheeted dykes) and reached the underlying gabbros of the lower oceanic crust. My post cruise research will focus on palaeomagnetic and fabric analyses of gabbroic rocks and of dykes that have been contact metamorphosed to a granoblastic texture by heat from gabbro intrusions.

In addition to research in oceanic tectonics via the IODP, I have also focused on the application of palaeomagnetic and magnetic fabric techniques to a range of geodynamic and tectonic problems within the Tethyan orogenic belt. Field areas have included central Greece, the Aegean Islands, Turkey, Cyprus, and Syria . Examplesinclude: (i) an integrated palaeomagnetic and structural analysis of the tectonic evolution of the Hatay ophiolite, southern Turkey (PhD research, and its relationship with the Baer-Bassit ophiolite (NW Syria) and Troodos ophiolite (Cyprus); (ii) palaeomagnetic analysis of the development of the arcuate Kyrenia Range terrane of northern Cyprus; (iii) the tectonic evolution of the Mersin ophiolite (Turkey), which exposes a superb sequence of lower oceanic crustal gabbros (PhD research of Mr Ahmed Omer); and (iv) magnetic fabric analyses of gabbros in the fast-spreading rate Oman ophiolite and their implication for lower crustal accretion (PhD research of Mr Matthew Meyer).


 

UoP Research group membership

Centre for Research in Earth Sciences (CRES) 
Geodynamics and Palaeomagnetism 
Marine Institute 

Grants & contracts
SUCCESSFUL GRANT APPLICATIONS SINCE 2001:

2011 - NERC Small Grant, "Superfast spreading rate crust 4: magnetism of the lower oceanic crust" (PI: Morris)(£12,425)

2010 - EU Marie Curie IEF Award, Jan 2010, "DEFOrm: Detachment Faults in Ophiolites" (PI: Morris, CI: Anderson, Research Fellow: Maffione)(176,000 Euros)

2007 - NERC Standard Grant, July 2006, "Spatial and temporal scales of crustal accretion in slow-spreading rate oceanic crust (Atlantis Massif, Mid Atlantic Ridge - IODP Site U1309D)" (PI: Morris, CI: MacLeod (Cardiff), Project Partners: Gee (Scripps), John (Wyoming))(£217,400 FEC)

2006 - NERC UK IODP Rapid Response Grant, May 2006, "Palaeomagnetic constraints on the construction of the lower oceanic crustal section recovered at Hole U1309D, Atlantis Massif, Mid-Atlantic Ridge (IODP Expedition 304/305)" (£1890)

2004 - NERC UK IODP Site Survey Initiative Standard Grant, May 2004, "Accretion of the lower oceanic crust at fast-spreading ridges: a rock drill and near-bottom seafloor survey in support of IODP drilling in Hess Deep" (PI: MacLeod (Cardiff) CI: Teagle (Soton), RR: Morris + Project Partners)(£474,413)

2003 - British Council (Turkey), December 2002 round, Exchanges and Visits Scheme, Short course in "Palaeomagnetic techniques and applications" at Istanbul University (£600).

2002 - Royal Society Conference Grant for attendance of EGS2001 (£600).

2002 - Istanbul University Research Fund. Tectonic evolution of the "Palaeozoic of Istanbul" Zone, W Pontides, Turkey. (£5000 Jointly with Dr. T. Ustaomer (P.I.))
2001 - Royal Society Conference Grant for attendance of EGS2001 (£670)

 

 

Publications

RECENT PUBLICATIONS .

Teagle, D. A. H., Ildefonse, B., Blum, P. and the IODP Expedition 335 Scientific Party (inc. Morris, A.), 2011. Battling through the thermal boundary layer: Deep sampling in ODP Hole 1256D during IODP Expedition 335. InterRidge News, 20, 12-17.

Expedition Scientific Party (inc. Morris, A.), 2011. Superfast spreading rate crust 4: drilling gabbro in intact ocean crust formed at a superfast spreading rate. IODP Prel. Rept., 335. doi:10.2204/iodp.pr.335.2011.

Harris, M., Teagle, D., Lissenberg, J., Morris, A. and Expedition 335 Science Party, 2011. IODP Expedition 335 - 'Superfast Spreading Rate Crust 4'. IODP UK Newsletter, 36, 15-16.

Blackman, D. K., Ildefonse, B., John, B. E., Ohara, Y., Miller, D. J., Abe, N., Abratis, M., Andal, E. S., Andreani, M., Awaji, S., Beard, J. S., Brunelli, D., Charney, A. B., Christie, D. M., Collins, J., Delacour, A. G., Delius, H., Drouin, M., Einaudi, F., Escartín, J., Frost, B. R., Früh-Green, G., Fryer, P. B., Gee, J. S., Godard, M., Grimes, C. B., Halfpenny, A., Hansen, H.-E., Harris, A. C., Tamura, A., Hayman, N. W., Hellebrand, E., Hirose, T., Hirth, J. G., Ishimaru, S., Johnson, K. T. M., Karner, G. D., Linek, M., MacLeod, C. J., Maeda, J., Mason, O. U., McCaig, A. M., Michibayashi, K., Morris, A., Nakagawa, T., Nozaka, T., Rosner, M., Searle, R. C., Suhr, G., Tominaga, M., von der Handt, A., Yamasaki, T. and Zhao, X., 2011. Drilling constraints on lithospheric accretion and evolution at Atlantis Massif, Mid-Atlantic Ridge 30°N. Journal of Geophysical Research, 116, B07103, doi:10.1029/2010JB007931.

MacLeod, C. J., Carlut, J., Escartin, J., Horen, H. & Morris, A., 2011. Quantitative constraint on footwall rotations at the 15°45′N oceanic core complex, Mid‐Atlantic Ridge: Implications for oceanic detachment fault processes. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 12, Q0AG03, doi: 10.1029/2011GC003503.

Kinnaird, T. C., Robertson, A. H. F. & Morris. A., 2011. Timing of uplift of the Troodos Massif (Cyprus) constrained by sedimentary and magnetic polarity evidence. Journal of the Geological Society of London, 168, 457-470.

John, B. E., Cheadle, M. J., Gee, J. S., Grimes, C. B., Morris, A. & Pressling, N., 2009. Spatial and temporal evolution of slow spread oceanic crust - graphic sections of core recovered from IODP Hole U1309D, Atlantis Massif, 30°N, MAR. Proceedings of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, 304/305, doi:10.2204/iodp.proc.304305.205.2009.

Morris, A., Gee, J. S., Pressling, N., John, B. E., MacLeod, C. J., Grimes, C. B. & Searle, R. C., 2009, Footwall rotation in an oceanic core complex quantified using reorientated Integrated Ocean Drilling Program core samples. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 287, 217-228.

Inwood, J., Morris, A., Anderson, M. W. & Robertson, A. H. F., 2009, Neotethyan intraoceanic microplate rotation and variations in spreading axis orientation: palaeomagnetic evidence from the Hatay ophiolite (southern Turkey). Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 280, 105-117.

Inwood, J., Anderson, M. W., Morris, A. & Robertson, A. H. F., 2008, Successive structural events in the Hatay ophiolite of southeast Turkey: Distinguishing oceanic, emplacement and post-emplacement phases of faulting. Tectonophysics, doi: 10.1016/j.tecto.2008.10.037.

MacLeod, C. J., Teagle, D.A.H., Gillis, K.M., Cazenave, P.W., Hansen, H.E., Harris, M., Howard, K.A., Hurst, S.D., Ildefonse, B., Lissenberg, C.J., Morris, A., Shillington, D.J. & Tominaga, M., 2008. Accretion of the lower oceanic crust at fast-spreading ridges: a rock drill and near-bottom seafloor survey in support of IODP drilling in Hess Deep. RRS James Cook JC21 Cruise Report, Cardiff University, 50pp.

Ildefonse, B., Blackman, D., John, B. E., Ohara, Y., Miller, D. J., MacLeod, C. J., Morris, A. & the IODP Expeditions 304-305 Scientists, 2007, Oceanic core complexes and crustal accretion at slow-spreading ridges, Geology, 35, 623-626, doi:10.1130/G23531A.1.

Ildefonse, B., Blackman, D., John, B. E., Ohara, Y., Miller, D. J., MacLeod, C. J., Morris, A. & the IODP Expedition 304-305 Shipboard Science Party, 2006. IODP Expeditions 304 & 305 characterise the lithology, structure, and alteration of an oceanic core complex. Scientific Drilling, 3, 4-11, doi:10.2204/iodp.sd.3.01.2006.

Morris, A., Anderson, M. W., Inwood, J. & Robertson, A. H. F., 2006. Palaeomagnetic insights into the evolution of Neotethyan oceanic crust in the eastern Mediterranean. In: Robertson, A. H. F. & Mountrakis, D. (eds.), Tectonic development of the eastern Mediterranean region, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 260, 351-372.

Blackman, D.K., Ildefonse, B., John, B.E., Ohara, Y., Miller, D.J., MacLeod, C.J., Morris, A. and the Expedition 304/305 Scientists, 2006. Oceanic core complex formation, Atlantis Massif. Proc. IODP, 304/305: College Station TX (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Management International, Inc.). doi:10.2204/iodp.proc.304305.2006

Shipboard Scientific Party (inc. Morris, A.), 2005. IODP Expeditions 304 and 305: Oceanic Core Complex Formation, Atlantis Massif. Scientific Drilling, 1, 28-31, doi: 10.2204/iodp.sd.1.05.2005

Expedition Scientific Party (inc. Morris, A.), 2005. Oceanic core complex formation, Atlantis Massif—oceanic core complex formation, Atlantis Massif, Mid-Atlantic Ridge: drilling into the footwall and hanging wall of a tectonic exposure of deep, young oceanic lithosphere to study deformation, alteration, and melt generation. IODP Prel. Rept., 304. (http://iodp.tamu.edu/publications/PR/304PR/304PR.PDF)

Morris, A., Anderson, M. W. and Robertson, A. H. F., 2005. Comment on: “Tectonics of the Akamas and Mamonia ophiolites, Western Cyprus: magnetic petrofabrics and paleomagnetism” by G. J. Borradaile and K. Lucas. Journal of Structural Geology, 27, 171-174.

Böhnel, H., Houndslow, M., Morris, A. and Petrovsky E., 2004. Preface. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 29, p849.

Böhnel, H., Houndslow, M., Morris, A. and Petrovsky E. (Eds.), 2004. Special Issue on "Paleo, rock and environmental magnetism", Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 29.

Anderson, M. W. & Morris, A., 2004. The puzzle of axis-normal magnetic lineations in folded low-grade sediments (Bude Formation, SW England). In: Martin-Hernandez, F., Lüneburg C. M., Aubourg, C. and Jackson, M (eds.), Magnetic fabric: methods and applications. Geological Society of London Special Publication, 238, 175-190.

Morris, A., 2003, The Late Cretaceous palaeolatitude of the Neotethyan spreading axis in the eastern Mediterranean region. Tectonophysics, 377, 157-178.

Morris, A., 2003, A palaeomagnetic and rock magnetic glossary. Tectonophysics, 377, 211-228.

Morris, A., and Tait, J. A., 2003, Geodynamic applications of palaeomagnetism - introduction. Tectonophysics, 377, 1-5.

Morris, A., and Tait, J. A. (eds.), 2003, Geodynamic applications of palaeomagnetism. Tectonophysics, 377 (Special Issue).

Morris, A., Anderson, M. W., Robertson, A. H. F., and Al-Riyami, K., 2002, Extreme tectonic rotations within an eastern Mediterranean ophiolite. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 202, 247-261.

Morris, A., and Anderson, M. W., 2002, Palaeomagnetic results from the Baër-Bassit ophiolite of northern Syria and their implication for fold tests in sheeted dyke terrains. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 27, 1215-1222.

O'Sullivan, P., Cooper, M., Shine, A.J., Huckerby, E., Matthews, N., Salter, N., Henon, D., Jones, V., Williams, T., Nicholson, M., Sandford, R. & Morris, A., 2000, Long term response of Loch Ness, Scotland, to changes in inputs from its catchment. Verhandl. Internat. Verein. Limnol. 27, 2307-2311.

Morris, A., 2000, Magnetic fabric and palaeomagnetic analyses of the Plio-Quaternary calc-alkaline series of Aegina Island, South Aegean volcanic arc, Greece. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 176, 91-105.

 

Conferences organised

• Symposium SE5 "Palaeomagnetism and Block Rotation", European Geophysical Society XVII General Assembly, Edinburgh, 6-10 April, 1992.

• JAG 2-day International Meeting "Palaeomagnetism in the Mediterranean Region", Geological Society of London, 28-29 September, 1994.

• Special Session on “Crustal rotations: causes and consequences”, European Union of Geoscience IX, Strasbourg, 23-27 March 1997.

• Symposium L4 “Palaeomagnetism, magnetic fabrics and tectonics”, European Union of Geoscience X, Strasbourg, 28 March - 1 April 1999.

• Symposium SE14.05 "Signature and causes of pervasive and localized remagnetization", European Geophysical Society XXVI General Assembly, Nice, 25-30 March, 2001.

• Symposium LS3 “Integrated tectonic studies of the evolution of the Tethyan orogenic belt in the eastern Mediterranean region", European Union of Geoscience XI, Strasbourg, 8 - 12 April 2001.

• Symposium SE6.02 “Magnetism: Palaeomagnetic contributions to plate tectonics”, European Geophysical Society XXVII General Assembly, Nice, 21-26 April, 2002.

• Symposium MG1 "Open Session on Palaeo-, Rock & Environmental Magnetism", EGS-AGU-EUG Joint Assembly, Nice, 7-11 April 2003.

• Special Session S3 " Palaeomagnetism and the structure of eastern Mediterranean", 5th International Symposium on Eastern Mediterranean Geology, Thessaloniki, Greece, 14-20 April 2004.

• Tectonic Studies Group, University of Plymouth, 4-9 January 2005.

• Session ST14 “Palaeomagnetism in the Aegean Region”, International Symposium on the Geodynamics of Eastern Mediterranean, Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey, 15-18 June 2005.
• Scientific Committee member, "Neogene magmatism of the central Aegean and adjacent areas: petrology, tectonics, geodynamics, mineral resources, and environment", Milos, Greece, 11-13 September 2006
• Session TS8.4/GD06.1/GMPV16 "Structure and dynamics of mid-ocean ridges", European Geoscience Union, Vienna, 15-20 April 2007
• Session TS8.5/GD06.2/GMPV17 "Tracing hydrothermal circulation at mid-ocean ridges using geochemistry, geophysics and modelling", European Geoscience Union, Vienna, 15-20 April 2007
• Session IS71/GMPV05/GD6/GD7 "Mid-ocean ridges: interaction of structure, geodynamics, magmatism and hydrothermal circulation", European Geoscience Union, Vienna, 13-18 April 2008

 

Links

• School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Centre for Research in Earth Sciences (CRES)
• Academia.edu page