Research projects

Finnish Thermal Ionisation Mass Spectrometer and metal-free cleanroom facility (FINTIMS)

funded by the FiRi call (research council of Finland) for local research infrastructures Funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, Recovery and Resilience Facility

 

FINTIMS establishes a novel chemical fingerprinting technique not available in Finland and forms the basis of Cosmochemistry, Geosciences, Biosciences, Chemistry, Environmental and Food Science, Humanities and Medicine research in southern Finland. It targets natural, environmental, biological and artefactual materials and allows analysing previously unexplored heavy isotopes advancing Finnish science and education and boosting the local and regional research environment, i.e. in metal and water resource monitoring, green mining required for the green transition and carbon neutrality, and circular economy. FINTIMS is focusing on the high-precision determination of heavy radiogenic isotopes at low element abundances and advances the scientific and education frontiers targeting small ion beam currents at deficient elemental levels. At these low concentrations and limited sample material, the close spatial association with an ultraclean metal-free ultraclean chemical preparation environment is crucial to obtain accurate, meaningful analysis. The isotopic material fingerprinting is of interest with a rising demand of high technology metals for a green transition and sustainable future. Heavy isotopes also allow new fingerprinting approaches to be developed with industry to track material flows within the transition from fossil to bioeconomy. Archaeological materials commonly have a large societal impact involving topics such as migration, climate and environmental change. Heavy isotopic ratios drastically improve the traceability of human migration from Holocene to Anthropocene. This includes dealing with the long-term effects of climatic and environmental challenges and addresses the causes of societal collapses after climatic short- and long-term events. FINTIMS thus has a large societal impact to understand human history – and future. FINTIMS provides isotope analytical services to a wide range of users extending the existing facilities available. The involvement of fundamental and governmental research institutions in the consortium warrants a strong, interdisciplinary future academic and non-academic userbase

 

Collaborators

University of Helsinki (UH, Faculty of Science):

  • Faculty of Science
    • Department of Geosciences and Geography (Prof. Christoph Beier)
    • Department of Physics (Prof. Simo Huotari)
    • Department of Chemistry (Prof. Gareth Law)
  • Faculty of Humanities (Prof. Volker Heyd)
  • Faculty of Medicine (Prof. Antti Sajantila)

Finnish Museum of Natural History, LUOMUS (Dr Markku Oinonen, Dr, Arto Lutinnen) 

Geological Survey of Finland – GTK (Dr Xuan Liu)

Natural Resources Institute of Finland – Luke (Dr. Liisa Ukonmaanaho)

Finnish Food Authority – Ruokavirasto (Docent Annikki Welling)

Fingerprinting the origin and ascent of magmas through the crust in rift zones (FinMag) 

Funding from the research council of Finland

 

The hypotheses address the temporal and spatial geodynamic changes in the mantle and crust during post-glacial lithostatic rebound. FinMag applies short- (crystal diffusion modelling, U-Th-Ra disequilibria) and long-lived (Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf) geochemical techniques as well as geodynamic and magma modelling to igneous samples systematically sampled along and across the ridges in Central East Iceland. The geodynamic implications obtained from combining both spatial and temporal geological, geochemical and structural observations from intraplate and rifting environments advance our understanding of the spatial and temporal variability of crustal melt transport and storage in response to changes in large-scale lithosphere dynamics. The final synthesis of the project will provide a detailed, geodynamic model of a yet sparsely sampled region which provides key to our understanding of large-scale tectonic and magmatic changes with decreasing lithospheric load. 

 

Main partners involved

Christoph Beier, Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Finland

Eemu Ranta, Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Finland

Adam Abersteiner, University of Adelaide, Australia

Sæmundur Halldórsson, University of Iceland, Iceland

Noëmi Löw, University of Iceland, Iceland

funded by the K.H. Renlund Foundation and the Doctoral School of Geosciences at the University of Helsinki (GEODOC)

This research project uses mineral and fluid inclusion geochemistry to investigate the petrogenesis of LCT-type pegmatites and related Li mineralization in Finland which hosts some of the most critical Li resources in Europe. The project aims to give insight into the fractionation and fluid processes involved in the pegmatite evolution and Li mineralization, as well as, into the origin of the LCT-type pegmatites. We also investigate the suitability of mineral chemistry as a vectoring tool for Li exploration.

(Photo: Tourmaline bearing pegmatite from the Somero-Tammela Li region, S-Finland, © Jussi S. Heinonen, limited access)

funded by the K.H. Renlund Foundation

 

This project is re-investigating the metamorphic and tectonic history of the Lapland Granulite Belt in Arctic Finland and Norway utilizing new field investigations and phase equilibria modelling (pressure and temperature determination) techniques of high-grade metamorphic rocks. The goal is to provide answers to several key questions: What will higher-resolution pressure–temperature–time (P–T–t) determinations reveal about the tectonic history of the Lapland granulites?  What were the peak metamorphic conditions, and were ultrahigh-temperature (UHT; > 900oC, < 13 kbar) conditions experienced? How many metamorphic cycles affected the terrane?  What is the heat source for the granulite-facies metamorphism?  What is the exact nature of the southwestern margin of the LGB, and was this once a site of subduction?  Could the arcuate nature of the Lapland­–Kola orogen be a consequence of rollback-driven extension?  What is the source of alluvial gold deposits in the southern LGB, and how does this relate to the tectonics of the southern contact?  Furthermore, how did the evolution of the LGB influence mineralization in the Lapland Greenstone Belt to its south?

 

Dr. Jon Pownall, university lecturer, University of Helsinki

Dr. Kathryn Cutts, GTK

Viivi Yliknuussi, MSc student, University of Helsinki

Karoliina Hiltunen, MSc student, University of Helsinki

funded by the K.H. Renlund Foundation

 

This project aims at deciphering the processes concentrating metals in rifted island arc environments in the modern seafloor, comparing the modern with Archean and Proterozoic Finnish bedrock, developing suitable whole rock and mineral geochemical tracers and models to improve our understanding of the processes of magmatic ore deposit formation in supra-subducting rifting environments, using mineral and whole rock analysis. We focus on comparable rifted island arc/back-arc environments in the modern and Proterozoic geological framework to test whether Proterozoic and modern seafloor processes can be compared and what the crucial processes in ore enrichment are. Our sample material stems from the New Ireland Basin, Papua New Guinea and the Finnish Proterozoic belts in the Svecofennian bedrock in southern Finland. The two environments share similarities in that they are both situated in a rifted supra subduction zone setting, and both have experienced a complex tectonic reorganisation and have focussed occurrences of Au and base metal deposits.

 

Main partners involved

Christoph Beier, Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Finland

Eemu Ranta, Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Finland

Katie Doig, Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Finland

Philipp Brandl, Researcher, GEOMAR Helmholtz Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel, Germany

Thor H. Hansteen, Researcher, GEOMAR Helmholtz Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel, Germany

Other projects

(funded by the Foundation for Research of Natural Resources in Finland)

 

The aim of this project is to gain further insights into the critical mineral system parameters of the IOCG deposit type and develop new mineral prospectivity models within northern Finland for this deposit type to delineate areas favourable for future mineral exploration. 

 

Main partners involved

Christoph Beier, Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Finland

Feresteh Khammar, Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Finland

Vesa Nykänen, Geological Survey of Finland, Rovaniemi

"Why are they round?"

This is probably the first question that comes in mind when looking at feldspar megacrysts in rapakivi granites. This is a bit of a mystery and we are determined to study the 'locus classicus' rapakivi suites in South-Finland to get a clear understanding why some of the mega-crysts are 'like a cube of ice dissolving in a whiskey on the rocks!" However, the path to dissolving that round piece of the puzzle is not straight forward and includes many research areas of petrology and geochemistry.

People

Prof. Tapani O. Rämö

Dr. Aku Heinonen

Dipl.-Min. Radoslaw M. Michallik

 

Publications

Heinonen A., Kivisaari, H. & Michallik, R.M. 2019. High-aluminum orthopyroxene megacrysts (HAOM) in the Ahvenisto complex, SE Finland and the polybaric crystallization of massif-type anorthosites. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology (submitted).

Heinonen, A., Mänttäri, I., Rämö, O.T., Andersen, T. & Larjamo, K. 2017. Zircon as a proxy for the magmatic evolution of Proterozoic ferroan granites; the Wiborg rapakivi granite batholith, SE Finland. Journal of Petrology vol 58, issue 12, pp. 2493-2517. doi: 10.1093/petrology/egy014

Heinonen, A., Andersen, T., Rämö, O.T. & Whitehouse, M. 2015. The source of Proterozoic anorthosite and rapakivi granite magmatism: Evidence from combined in situ Hf–O isotopes of zircon in the Ahvenisto complex, southeastern Finland. Geological Society. Journal, vol. 172, no. 1, pp. 103-112. doi: 10.1144/jgs2014-013

Rämö, O.T., Turkki, V., Mänttäri, I., Heinonen, A., Larjamo, K.M. & Lahaye, Y. 2014. Age and isotopic fingerprints of some plutonic rocks in the Wiborg rapakivi granite batholith with special reference to the dark wiborgite of the Ristisaari Island. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Finland, vol 86, no. 2, pp. 71-91.

Although such generalized model is largely accepted, details on how these interactions take place are relatively poorly characterized. One of the major issues has been the lack of models that integrate mass and energy exchange, thermodynamics and geochemistry. The widely used assimilation-fractional crystallization (AFC) model does not provide any hint on whether its results are thermodynamically feasible or not. These limitations may significantly impact the mass balance of crustal and magma sources in the models, and thus obscure the constraints on the generation and identification of valuable metal deposits.

We propose to explore the petrologic and geochemical impact of magma-wallrock interaction at major intrusive complexes in, for example, Antarctica, United States, and Finland in a multidisciplinary study. Its central part is computational modeling using recently developed energy-constrained equations (Magma Chamber Simulator = MCS). The models add thermodynamic constraints for a multicomponent + multiphase magma body that crystallizes in contact with a crustal wallrock and is recharged with batches of fresh magma. The results of the models will be tested against existing and potentially new geochemical data and state-of-the-art wallrock partial melting experiments. In the experiments, the goal is to melt the wall rock alone, and to melt the wall rock together with the resident magma.

The outlined research plan is first of its kind, combines world-class expertise of different aspects of the issue, and is expected to provide unprecedented insight into the relative contributions of magma and crust to the formation of layered intrusions and associated ore deposits. The results should be of great interest to both academic and non-academic institutions and companies. An expected innovative outcome of the proposed project is that the results of research in the field of petrology and geochemistry are implemented in ore deposit models applicable to ore exploration. For example, mappings of “thermodynamically feasible” magma-wallrock pairs can potentially lead to new discoveries. The project is funded by the Academy of Finland.

More info in our blog: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/jsheinon/

People

https://blogs.helsinki.fi/jsheinon/personnel/

Publications

https://blogs.helsinki.fi/jsheinon/publications/