Podcast: 5 minutes with Shane Webb
In this episode of 5 Minutes With, we chat to Dr Shane Webb, an economic geologist and postdoctoral research fellow at Université Laval, Canada.
Dr Shane Webb, economic geologist and postdoctoral research fellow at Université Laval, Canada (Image courtesy of Alex Marshall)
Episode Transcript
[00:10] Marissa Lo: Hello and welcome to Five Minutes With, a podcast by Geoscientist magazine. My name is Marissa Lo and today I’m joined by Dr Shane Webb, a postdoctoral research fellow at Laval University, Canada. Can you tell us what you’re currently working on?
[00:25] Shane Webb: I’m an economic geologist, so think in terms of deposits of iron, gold, silver, lead. My own research focusses specifically on gold deposits that are hosted in quartz veins. They are typically associated with structures, such as faults, and hosted in metamorphic rocks. Sometimes they are referred to as orogenic gold deposits. So, at the minute I’m trying to investigate the processes that form these gold deposits, in order to benefit exploration models so that other people can figure out new strategies for attempting to discover new orogenic gold deposits.
I would say that my research is multi-pronged or multidisciplinary in the sense that I use several different methods to investigate their formation. So, one of the main things that we use is geochronology, which is the science of dating rocks and geological events, for example, the age of mineralisation. The main method that I would be using in my research now is Uranium-Lead geochronology, doing that in-situ using a laser to target dateable minerals within quartz veins. The other major strategy that my research uses to constrain the processes that form the gold deposits is stable isotope geochemistry – that can give you a handle on the nature of the fluids that are involved in the mineralisation processes. Geochronology and stable isotope studies are the main methods, although it’s ultimately all underpinned by a large amount of geological fieldwork. So, my research is very field based, it involves going into the field, collecting rock samples, and taking the rock samples back into the laboratory so I can analyse them and generate the data that I need to do the research.
Whilst my PhD was about gold deposits in central Scotland within the Grampian terrain, I first got interested in the broader topic because for my master’s thesis I did some research into the gold deposits in the southern uplands of Scotland. Whereas, at the minute, I am looking at gold deposits in the Abitibi Belt of Canada. Specifically, I am looking at the formation of orogenic gold deposits along a structure that continues for over 250 km called the Larder Lake-Cadillac Break. It’s a very large, almost continental-scale structure that hosts many of the world’s biggest gold deposits.
[03:08] Marissa Lo: What’s your favourite thing about your research?
[03:11] Shane Webb: I really like the variety of my research and the variety of economic geology specifically, which is the main reason why, when I was an undergraduate, I decided to really focus on economic geology and take it forward because I really enjoyed my undergraduate geology degree and I saw economic geology as being a way for me to combine all of the different aspects of the undergraduate degree. So, I really like the integrated nature of the field. Another thing that I particularly enjoy about it is, naturally, the field work. I enjoy going to new places. The fact that it has an impact: society needs to find mineral deposits that it can develop and exploit so that society can continue, so I feel like my work has a real impact in the real world.
[04:06] Marissa Lo: What advice would you give to someone hoping to work in your field if they’re interested in, say, economic geology or research?
[04:13] Shane Webb: Probably the biggest piece of advice, and this is something that I neglected when I was younger, is getting a driving license is very essential. Where I now work in Canada, for example, the places I need to get are only accessible by car. Another piece of advice, and this is possibly applicable to people who are even in school, is that getting involved in any society or activity that encourages you to spend large amounts of time outdoors is good. For undergraduate students with an interest, if possible, I would recommend joining the different academic societies relating to mineral deposits. So perhaps your university might have a chapter of the Society of Economic Geologists. Even though I work in the academic side of things, the field of economic geology is fundamentally applied research. So, getting industry experience of some kind, for example, an internship with a junior exploration company for a few weeks, can be invaluable because it can help you place what you’re doing in academia in the context.
[05:20] Marissa Lo: Thanks so much for chatting to us today, Shane, and all the best with the rest of your research.
[05:25] Shane Webb: Thank you.
