Detail of a photo: Glowing orange lava flow running down a dark slope at twilight, with smoke and pink-lit clouds rising past a dark cone-shaped hill behind it.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Sorcha

Science Snap (#26): Angel Falls, Venezuela

Sorcha McMahon is a third year PhD student in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. Sorcha is investigating how strange igneous rocks called carbonatites may have formed, using both natural samples and high-pressure experiments. Angel Falls is the world’s highest uninterrupted waterfall in the Canaima National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage …[Read More]

Science Snap #21: Nash Point, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales

Sorcha McMahon is a third year PhD student in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. Sorcha is investigating how strange igneous rocks called carbonatites may have formed, using both natural samples and high-pressure experiments. Nash Point is a picturesque headland along the coastline of the Vale of Glamorgan, consisting of near-vertical …[Read More]

Science Snap (#19): Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Sorcha McMahon is a third year PhD student in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. Sorcha is investigating how strange igneous rocks called carbonatites may have formed, using both natural samples and high-pressure experiments. The word Angkor is derived from the Sanskrit term Nagara meaning “Holy City”, and was the capital …[Read More]

PhD profile #6 – Sorcha McMahon

Sorcha McMahon – 3rd year PhD student “New insights into deep mantle melts and the carbonatite-meliliitite connection” 1) The Twitter challenge: Your PhD in 140 characters Investigating how strange igneous rocks called carbonatites may have formed, using both natural samples and high-pressure experiments