EXPERIENCE

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Geologist                                                            September 2019 - present   Geoalps Engineering SA (CH)

Geological consulting

 

Postdoctoral Fellow                                                             October 2017 - August 2020  Utah State University

Thermochronometric and textural signatures of fault damage zone microseismicity 

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GIS Consultant/Contractor                               Jun - August 2017   Università degli Studi di Roma Tre

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Design, compilation and development of an ArcGIS geodatabase for the GEMex international research project. The database was aimed at the structural, geophysical, tectonic and stratigraphic characterization of the Acoculco and Los Humeros geothermal fields in Mexico.

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Post-Doc Geoscientist                             February 2016 - March 2017 - Università degli Studi di Roma Tre

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Working in collaboration with the Norwegian consultancy company Kalkulo for our financer and client Statoil. The project concerned the structural, geophysical and stratigraphic characterization of back-arc basins of central and southern America. In this project, I had a leading role and I was responsible for managing work of two other researchers.

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EDUCATION

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PhD Structural Geology and Tectonics  January 2012- March 2015   Università degli Studi di Roma Tre

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The Doctoral position was a fully funded Marie Curie Action ITN fellowship.

PhD Thesis: Spatio-temporal evolution of intraplate strike-slip faulting: the Kuh-e-Faghan Fault, Central Iran.

The project studied the interplay between fault propagation, topographic growths and consequential erosion/exhumation and deposition along strike-slip fault systems in intraplate settings. Through the integration of structural tectono-stratigraphic and geomorphological field investigations with low- temperature thermochronology, my PhD project provided, a set of multidisciplinary field- and laboratory -based data on a previously unstudied strike- slip fault system in Central Iran that bear important new implications on: (i) understanding the propagation and spatio-temporal evolution of continental intraplate strike-slip fault systems and on (ii) the Neogene-Quaternary tectonic and kinematic evolution of the region

Supervisor: Prof. Federico Rossetti Co-Supervisor: Dr. Marta Della Seta

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MESci Geology (first Class)                                       September 2007 - July 2011 University of Liverpool

Combined Bachelor's/Master's program 

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Master’s thesis: Strain associated with Pluton Emplacement – A Key Study in the Tertiary Adamello Pluton, Italian Alps.

This project required extensive field data acquisition and a subsequent detailed strain markers analysis in conjunction with a comprehensive petrographic analysis using EBSD microscopy to constrain deformation mechanisms and the conditions during deformation.

Supervisor: Prof. Peter Kokelaar Co-Supervisor: Dr. Graham Potts

 

Bachelor's field mapping and dissertation project: Geological history of the Prince Albert area, Karoo, South Africa - Environmental and stratigraphic evolution.

The project consisted of mapping the geology of a forty kilometres square area

and collecting sufficient evidence to determine the geological history of the area. Subsequently the studies where compiled into a dissertation report.

Supervisor: Dr. Rufus Brunt

 

HONORS and AWARDS

2016               

Best poster of the session – Geodynamics and Paleogeography of Tethyan belts: from            convergence to exhumation – at the 88th congress of the Italian Geological Society (SGI), Naples, Italy.

2015               

Postdoctoral fellowship grant. CONICET (National Scientific and Technical Research Counci; Argentina), (Declined)

2012 - 2015    

INT (Initial Training Network) Marie Curie Actions fellow. This is one of the most prestigious and well-funded fellowship for early stage researchers in Europe. http://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/about-mca/actions/itn/index_en.htm

2009 - 2010    

University of Liverpool Attainment Scholarships, recipient of £1500 scholarship for an overall average of 70% or above for the 2009-2010 academic year.

2009               

Selected to carry out my Bachelor’s Field Mapping and Dissertation project, in the Karoo, South Africa by the STRAT Research Group, which financed the entire field campaign (37 days).

 

EXPERIENCE

Field experience

• Urumieh-Dokhtar magmatic and Mesozoic Sanandaj-Sirjan metamorphic belts, NW Iran, and Doruneh Fault System, Central Iran (2017) – Structural and tectonostratigraphic mapping; fault kinematic data acquisition; sampling for apatite (U-Th)/He and apatite fission-track thermochronometry; research collaboration with Meisam Tadayon and Federico Rossetti

• Kuh-e-Faghan Fault, central Iran (2012-2014) – Structural, tectonostratigraphic, and geomorphologic mapping; fault kinematic data acquisition; sampling unconsolidated fault rock for rotary shear friction experiments; sampling for apatite (U-Th)/He, hematite (U-Th)/He, apatite fission-track thermochronometry and OSL dating; PhD research.

• Amantea Basin, Calabria, Italy (2012) – Structural field investigation; fault kinematic data acquisition; sampling unconsolidated fault rock and deformation bands for rotary shear friction experiments and fabric analysis; PhD research.

• Lago Della Vacca pluton, Adamello, Italian Alps (2010) – Structural field investigation; microgranitoid strain marker data acquisition and sampling for EBSD microstructural analysis; MESci thesis research.

• Karoo Basin, South Africa (2009) – Geologic mapping and stratigraphic field investigation; BA field mapping and dissertation project.

University of Liverpool Field Camps (2008-2011)

Cantabria and Asturia, Spain; Geodynamics field class (2011)

Tenerife, Spain; Volcanic processes (2011)

The Wessex Basin, Dorset, UK; Basin analysis (2010)

Donegal, Ireland; Advanced field techniques (2009)

Cantabria, Spain; Field mapping camp (2008)

Pembrokeshire, UK; Introduction to field geology (2008)

 

Lab Experience

• Brown University Rock Deformation Lab, Providence (2018-present) – rotary shear friction experiments on hematite; Postdoctoral research (research collaboration with Greg Hirth, Alexis Ault).

• University of Arizona Noble Gas Laboratory, Tucson (2018-present) – Hematite, apatite, and zircon (U-Th)/He thermochronometry, Postdoctoral research (collaboration with Alexis Ault).

• Utah State University Microscopy Core Facility (2017-present) – Fabric, textural, and microstructural analysis of fault rock and hematite coated fault surfaces using SEM, EDS, EBSD, and TEM microscopy, Postdoctoral research (collaboration with Alexis Ault).

• Utah State University Mineral Microscopy and Separation Laboratory (2017-present) – selecting target apatite and zircons crystals and hematite aliquots for (U-Th)/He dating; Postdoctoral research (collaboration with Alexis Ault).

• Università degli Studi di Roma Tre Laboratory of Experimental Tectonics, Italy (2015) – analogue modelling of Arabia-Eurasia continental collision; a pilot study (collaboration with Claudio Faccenna, Francesca Funicello and Federico Rossetti).

• CNR Pisa, Italy (2013) – Sample processing and heavy mineral separation for apatite (U-Th)/He, fission-track thermochronometry; PhD research (collaboration with Maria Laura Balestrieri and Valerio Olivetti).

• University of Durham Rock Mechanics Laboratory, Durham, UK (2012-2013) – rotary shear friction experiments on calc-arenites and phyllosilicate fault gouges; PhD research (collaboration with Nicola de Paola).

• Università degli Studi di Roma Tre Academic Laboratory of Basin Analysis, Italy (2012) – whole sample and <2µm fraction clay mineralogy; PhD research.

• University of Liverpool Electron Microscopy Laboratory, Liverpool UK (2010-2011) – Microstructural analysis and CPO characterization using EBSD microscopy; MESci thesis research.

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COLLABORATIONS

Active

Prof. Greg Hirth (Brown University, USA)

Dr. Jonathan Caine (USGS, USA)

Dr. Alexis Ault (Utah State University, USA)

Dr. Valerio Olivetti (Padova University, Italy)

Prof. Federico Rossetti (Roma Tre, Italy)

Dr. Federico Lucci (Roma Tre, Italy)

Dr. Maria Laura Balestrieri (IGG-CNR, Italy)

Past

Dr. Nicola De Paola (Durham University)

Prof. Domenico Cosentino (Roma Tre)

Dr. Reza Noazem (Qazvin University, Iran)

Prof. Claudio Faccenna, (Roma Tre)

Dr. Gianluca Vignaroli (Roma Tre)

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PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Geological Society of America

American Geophysical Union

 

 

LANGUAGE SKILLS

English           Second Language

Italian             Mother Tongue

Spanish          Fluent

French            Basic

German          Basic

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