I graduated in geology in 1985 at Aberystwyth. Through a long-standing interest in mineralogy and ore deposits I have focussed much of my geological research towards the interplay between mineral deposits and regional geological processes through time. Click HERE to learn about one project I am working on - Alpine fissure-veins in North Wales' slate-belt.

I was trained in mineral exploration by the BGS and then spent time on a gold exploration project in the Scottish Dalradian, where a significant swarm of narrow but high-grade auriferous veins was assessed. More recently I have worked in the Dolgellau Gold-belt, North Wales, where geological controls on high-grade gold-shoots are the key to success.

One of my key research interests is in the relationship between mineralisation and deformation. This led in 1997 to my discovery that the gold-bearing veins of the Dolgellau area pre-date the regional Acadian deformation. They were for years believed to post-date it - a bit too much reliance on K-Ar dates! Click
HERE for an account of the geology of the Dolgellau Gold-belt. For a substantial bibliography of Welsh geology and mineralisation please click HERE. For a list of publications please click HERE.

Deformed Gold-belt vein, Friog, Gwynedd Tuff-turbidite bed carrying mineralised syn-tectonic brittle fractures in an otherwise argillaceous sequence, Cwmorthin, North Wales Thin section of Gold-belt vein quartz with typically severe grain-margin suturing due to deformation - copyright National Museums & Galleries of Wales
John S. Mason

Mineralogy
Conservation
Interpretation
Environmental
Severe Weather
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