iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Byron Adams @transient-earth.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Enjoyed talking to the folks @earthdotcom.bsky.social ! Special thanks to Eric and Luis! They have put together a great news feature on this @royalsociety.org and AXA funded research.

100

Reposted by Byron Adams

Frances Cooper @geofrances.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

New paper in #ScienceAdvances! Led by @transient-earth.bsky.social at @es-ucl.bsky.social and building on longstanding research in northern Chile while we were at @bristoluni.bsky.social. 🌋🦩🦙

011

Byron Adams @transient-earth.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Regionally extensive ignimbrites records landscapes shaped during periods of relatively slow uplift. This suggests that ignimbrite surfaces are not generic markers of orogenic uplift but instead sample tectonomagmatic states in which landscapes have sufficient time to equilibrate before burial.

041

Byron Adams @transient-earth.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

We use ignimbrite deposits to explore how steep buried landscapes were and what this meant for Andean tectonics - a little like Pompeii, but on a vastly larger scale. Pompeii shows eruptions can freeze a moment in human history. We show larger eruptions can also freeze moments in Earth history.

Byron and his son exploring the streets of Pompeii with Mount Vesuvius in the background.

171

Byron Adams @transient-earth.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

🚨New open access publication🚨🧪⚒️ Check out the lastest collab with @geofrances.bsky.social, Kathy Cashman, and my former student Clementine! 'Landscapes buried beneath large-volume ignimbrites reveal preeruptive uplift rates' in Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

(A) Oblique view of the western Andes of southern Peru and northern Chile. The portion of the landscape colored in magenta denotes the extent of Oligocene-early Miocene ignimbrite deposits. (B) A synthetic landscape overlain by an ignimbrite deposit defined by a plane dipping 1.5° in the direction of transport.

1143

Reposted by Byron Adams

Science X / Phys.org @sciencex.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

A vast volcanic deposit in northern Chile preserved clues to an Andean landscape from 22 million years ago. Its shape suggests rocks there rose no more than 0.26 kilometer per million years. doi.org/hcjc45

phys.org

Giant volcanic blanket reveals hidden 'Pompeii' of Andean landscapes

A vast sheet of volcanic rock in the Andes has preserved clues to a buried landscape that existed 22 million years ago, according to a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers.

033

Byron Adams @transient-earth.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

We show adding magmatic heat to thermal models is important for long-term exhumation histories in magmatically-active regions, particularly where shallow intrusions are suspected. We also show geobarometry constraints ensure exhumation histories do not exceeded geologically plausible limits.

000

Byron Adams @transient-earth.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Without the addition of magmatic heat, the thermochronometers appear to require extremely high exhumation rates, yielding total exhumed thickness values many times higher that the permisable values constrained by independently measured emplacement depths from geobarometry.

A comparison between exhumed crustal thickness determined from geobarometry and predictions from Pecube-D modeling for scenarios with and without magmatic heat. Models incorporating two magmatic heat pulses lie close to a 1:1 line whereas models with no magmatic heat input consistently overestimate the exhumed crustal thickness by an average factor of three, but reaching up to four times greater than geologically plausible. Note that the 1:1 line (pink) and 3:1 line (blue) are reference lines and not regressions through the datasets.

100

Byron Adams @transient-earth.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Adding heat via intrusions raises the geothermal gradient, which reduces the distance between the surface and thermochronometer closure isotherms at depth. This means that the chronometers move a much smaller distance, thus reducing the exhmation rate they record.

Predicted exhumation histories and exhumed crustal thicknesses in models run with 0 intrusions, 1 intrusion, and 2 intrusions. To reproduce the observed cooling ages without the addition of magmatic heat, the model predicts exhumation rates up to 2.36 ± 0.37 km/Myr (A), which requires the removal of 16.7 ± 3.4 km of crust since the time of emplacement (B). This is 3.4x greater than the ∼4.9 km emplacement depth of the sample. Addition of magmatic heat from a single intrusion requires exhumation rates as high as 0.99 ± 0.03 km/Myr, leading to the removal of 12.9 ± 1.2 km of crust, which is 2.6x the emplacement depth. When a second intrusion is added, rates up to only 0.27 ± 0.1 km/Myr are required. This reduces the removal of crust to just 5.3 ± 0.2 km, which is within error of the emplacement depth.

100

Byron Adams @transient-earth.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

In this article we explore the idea that shallowly emplaced magma plays a large role in resetting chronometers and also changing the geotherm, which informs our interpretations of exhumation rates. We use a thermokinematic model, Pecube-D, to emplace heat similar to what is predicted for intrusions

1-D models illustrating variations in geothermal gradient as a function of exhumation rate and magmatic heat. (A) An increase in exhumation rate advects more heat to the surface, causing the shallow geothermal gradient to steepen. Curves denote the geotherms for the transient solutions of the heat transfer equation for different steady exhumation rates. (B) Intrusion of a 5 km-thick magmatic body at 5 km depth during slow exhumation at 0.1 km/Myr also causes the geothermal gradient to steepen. When the intrusion is held at a constant temperature of 750 °C for 5 Myr and then allowed to cool, the following thermal evolution is observed: Initially (t0), the gradient is severely perturbed by the intrusion but 5 Myr after the intrusion event has ceased (t + 10), gradual diffusion of heat results in a smooth elevated gradient virtually indistinguishable from one caused by an increased exhumation rate (c.f. 0.5 km/Myr curve in A). After 40 million years (t + 40), the gradient has almost returned to its initial unperturbed state and after 90 million years (t + 90) there is no trace of the magmatic heat pulse.

100

Byron Adams @transient-earth.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

🚨New open access alert🚨 Have you ever wondered if magmatic heat was influencing your thermochronometry data? Check this article out from @geofrances.bsky.social @kvhodges.bsky.social, me, and others. Reassessing long-term exhumation rates in magmatic terranes www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

Reassessing long-term exhumation rates in magmatic terranes

Crustal exhumation is central to mountain building, weathering, and sediment production processes, which significantly influence the composition and b…

152

Byron Adams @transient-earth.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

I'm running the London Marathon to increase awareness of the challenges experienced by young people living with epilepsy and to raise funds for the charity Young Epilepsy. Check in regularly to my page for updates on training and to learn about epilepsy. Please consider donating! bit.ly/byron_runs

010

Byron Adams @transient-earth.bsky.social · 10/11/2024

Just more evidence that tectonics is the most important process 🤣 well done y'all!

130

Byron Adams @transient-earth.bsky.social · 16/12/2023

Applications open for UCL Earth Sciences Ph.D. scholarship. Scholarship is meant to support underrepresented groups. The deadline for applications is on January 29th, 2024. Please contact me if interested for all things geochronology or surface processes. Details: bit.ly/47TTjGp ⚒️

020

Byron Adams @transient-earth.bsky.social · 16/12/2023

Looking for a PhD project on the connection between river incision and the mechanical properties of rocks? Come to UCL Earth Sciences to work with me to extract the secrets that rocks hold by torturing them in our new experimental labs. Details - bit.ly/game0stones ⚒️

A back lit drum full of water and glass beads rotates.

032

Byron Adams @transient-earth.bsky.social · 16/12/2023

Reposting as there are only a few weeks left. Please get in touch. Open to international applicants! ⚒️

001

Byron Adams @transient-earth.bsky.social · 26/11/2023

🚨Fully funded PhD position🚨Come work with me in London to unlock the secrets of cosmogenic nuclides within river sediments. Fieldwork in Hawai'i and Sierra Nevada (US). Details @ bit.ly/cosmicland

023

Byron Adams @transient-earth.bsky.social · 20/11/2023

Thanks @dralkatrip.bsky.social! I am also here looking for a student interested in geomorphology and geochemistry to take a fully funded PhD studentship of my hands. Standby for details...

010

Byron Adams @transient-earth.bsky.social · 20/11/2023

Late to the party as per usual, but thanks to @jscheingross.bsky.social for vouching for me! Now, to try to find all my friends that I knew from that previous life in that other place...

060