Science and Engineering at The University of Edinburgh

The Cameroon line, West Africa, is recognised to be a unique example of a linear series of volcanic structures that traverse a passive continental margin. There is no age progression along the line yet geochemical characteristics imply the same melt source for igneous rocks above both continental and oceanic lithosphere.

My PhD project will investigate the continental shelf area by interpreting commercial seismic data, likely to be made available by the sponsoring company early in 2010. I aim to describe the structural, subsidence, depositional and volcanic history of the offshore area using this newly available information and to integrate my results with existing data and observations to produce a unifying model that describes the origin and evolution of the Cameroon line.

The Cameroon line   (inset shows Africa):