Dr. Brendan Dyck

I am a petrologist with a keen interest in high-temperature crustal processes and the evolution of planetary lithosphere. My research combines field and electron-beam microscopy techniques with phase-equilibrium modelling to better understand crustal evolution. In January 2021 I moved to the University of British Columbia – Okanagan, where I lead a group whose research combines igneous and metamorphic petrology with microstructural analysis to study deep crustal processes (i.e., melting, crystallisation, and plastic deformation). Prior to UBC, I was an Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University (2017-2020) and I held a Royal Commission of 1851 Research Fellowship at Cambridge (2016-2017). My interest in high-temperature crustal processes originated during my PhD at Oxford, where I studied crustal melting in the Himalaya. 

Current group members

PhD – Alix Osinchuk

Alix started her PhD at the University of British Columbia – Okanagan in 2021 after an receiving a BSc (Honors) and MSc at University of Alberta, where she studied the petrogenesis of late- to post-orogenic granitoids in northern Nunavut. She is interested in tectonic evolution and orogenesis of early Precambrian Earth, namely of cratons in the northern Canadian arctic, using regional mapping, thermodynamic phase modelling, mineral chemistry, and microstructure analysis. Alix's PhD will utilize sub-grain paleopiezometery coupled with single grain thermometers to quantify deformation within varying metamorphic grades. Using the Great Slave Lake shear zone in Northwest Territores as an initial case study, she aims to use both microstructure analysis and regional mapping to better understand deformation during large-scale orogenic events. 

PhD – Will Mckenzie

Will started as a PhD student at SFU in 2019 after graduating from Oxford University with a masters in Earth Sciences. Will's current research is situated in the Kluane Basin, Yukon, where he employs multiple field, lab and computational techniques to understand the Jurassic-Cretaceous evolution of the northern Cordillera. Will is also interested in the exhumation of the Western Gneiss Complex in Norway. 

MSc – Dana Šilerová

Dana started her MSc at SFU in September 2020. Her main research focus is on constraining the timing and duration of ductile deformation along the Great Slave Lake shear zone, a major crustal structure located in the Northwest Territories, Canada. Her research combines fieldwork and microstructural analysis with U-Pb geochronology of key accessory minerals. Prior to SFU, Dana completed her BSc in Geology at McGill University, where she focused on the relationship between fault surface roughness and friction for her honours thesis

MSc – Kelsey Krossa

​Kelsey started her MSc at the University of British Columbia - Okanagan in May of 2022 after completing a BSc(Hons) in Earth Sciences at Simon Fraser University. Her honours project used in-situ U-Th-Pb petrochronology to study the evolution of the Monashee Metamorphic Complex in southeastern BC. Her current research focuses on the Wopmay fault zone in the Northwest Territories. Through field work, microstructural analysis, and thermodynamic phase modelling Kelsey aims to gain a better understanding of the ductile deformation and fluid flow that occurred within the Wopmay fault zone.

Past group members
PDF – Dr. Jamie Cutts – Geological Survey of Canada
​Jamie is a geochronologist and geochemist mainly interested in applying novel high-precision and high-resolution techniques to constraining the timing and rates of orogenic processes. These interests began during his B.Sc honours thesis and continued through his PhD (2015-2019) and a Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2019-2021) at the University of British Columbia – Vancouver during which he mainly applied the Lu-Hf garnet geochronology method to Ultrahigh-Pressure rocks exposed in the Western Gneiss Complex in Norway. His project at the University of British Columbia – Okanagan was focussed on the Great Slave Lake shear zone in the Northwest Territories, which is a crustal-scale shear zone between the Archean Slave and Rae cratons and that has a complex poly-metamorphic history.