Dr Will Brownscombe
Analytical Geochemist
Division: Imaging and Analysis Centre
Summary
I am an economic geologist who has studied at Oxford, CSM and RSM. I have been based at the Natural History Museum in London for six years, initially undertaking my PhD and then managing the ore deposits LA-ICP-MS facility. My current role is developing software for the rapid processing and handling of LA-ICP-MS data at the NHM for prospectivity vectoring and dating. While latterly transitioning into more technical geochemistry, I am also a keen field geologist and have carried out fieldwork in the UK, Europe, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Namibia, South Africa, Australia, Canada, Russia and most recently Uzbekistan.I have a personal interest in the development issues surrounding artisanal mining and I am a voracious consumer of global news
Qualifications
- PhD, Imperial College London, London, London, 2010 - 2015
- MSc Mining Geology, University of Exeter Cornwall Campus, Penryn, Penryn, 2009 - 2010
- MSci Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxford, 2005 - 2009
Degrees
Employment history
- Analytical Geochemist, Natural History Museum, London, Core Research Laboratories, United Kingdom, 2017 - ongoing
- Researcher (analytical software development), Natural History Museum, London, Core Research Laboratories, United Kingdom, 2016 - 2017
- LODE laboratory manager, Natural History Museum, London, Core Research Laboratories, United Kingdom, 2014 - 2015
- Research Assistant, Natural History Museum, London, Core Research Laboratories, United Kingdom, 2014 - 2015
Academic
Grants
Automated Mineral Analyser - Automated mineralogical analysis to underpin earth sciences
Role: Principal investigatorHerrington RJ
Co-investigator: Jones C
Funding: NERC
Total value £300,000 (to Museum £300,000)
Dates: 2019 - 2020
Committees
Member, Applied Mineralogy Group, 2016 - on going.
Memberships
Fellow, The Geological Society of London.
Reviewer / referee
Publications
Journal of Geochemical Exploration, (Journal), Anonymous peer review, 2017 - on going.
Ore Geology Reviews, (Journal), Anonymous peer review, 2016 - on going.
Publications
Prevec SA, Largatzis SA, Brownscombe W, Salge T (2021) PGE distribution in Merensky wide-reef facies of the Bushveld Complex, South Africa: Evidence for localized hydromagmatic control. The Canadian Mineralogist, 59 (6) : 1305 - 1338. doi: 10.3749/canmin.2100033
Zaccaria D, Vicentini N, Perna MG, Rosatelli G, Sharygin VV, Humphreys-Williams E, Brownscombe W, Stoppa F (null) Lamprophyre as the Source of Zircon in the Veneto Region, Italy. Minerals, 11 (10) : 1081 - 1081. doi: 10.3390/min11101081
Kemp V, Brownscombe W, Shortland A (2022) The investigation and provenance of glass vessel fragments attributed to the Tomb of Amenhotep II, KV35, Valley of the Kings. Archaeometry, 64 (1) : 147 - 160. doi: 10.1111/arcm.12687
Perna M, Zaccaria D, Rosatelli G, Stoppani F, Curti E, Spratt J, Humphreys-Williams E, Najorka J, Brownscombe W, Nestola F, Stoppa F (null) Dissolution-Repackaging of Hellandite-(Ce), Mottanaite-(Ce)/Ferri-Mottanaite-(Ce). Minerals, 11 (6) : 610 - 610. doi: 10.3390/min11060610
Drivenes K, Brownscombe W, Larsen RB, Seltmann R, Spratt J, Sørensen BE (2020) Classification and characterisation of magmatic-hydrothermal tourmaline by combining field observations and microanalytical techniques. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering 891 (1) : IOP Publishing : 012010 - 012010. doi: 10.1088/1757-899x/891/1/012010
Kemp V, Schmidt K, Brownscombe W, Soennecken K, Vieweger D, Häser J, Shortland A (2020) Dating and provenance of glass artefacts excavated from the ancient city of Tall Zirā‛a, Jordan. Archaeometry, 62 (6) : 1164 - 1181. doi: 10.1111/arcm.12588
Konopelko D, Biske YS, Kullerud K, Ganiev I, Seltmann R, Brownscombe W, Mirkamalov R, Wang B, Safonova I, Kotler P, Shatov V, Sun M, Wong J (2019) Early Carboniferous metamorphism of the Neoproterozoic South Tien Shan-Karakum basement: New geochronological results from Baisun and Kyzylkum, Uzbekistan. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 177 : 275 - 286. doi: 10.1016/j.jseaes.2019.03.025
Drivenes K, Brownscombe W, Larsen RB, Seltmann R, Spratt J, Sorensen BE (2018) COMBINING OPTICAL PROPERTIES, MINERAL CHEMISTRY, MICROTEXTURES, AND FIELD RELATIONS OF TOURMALINE TO TRACK THE MAGMATIC-HYDROTHERMAL TRANSITION. GSA Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA - 2018, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs Geological Society of America : doi: 10.1130/abs/2018am-323616
Drivenes K, Sorensen BE, Brownscombe W, Raanes MP, Seltmann R, Spratt J (2018) ZONED CASSITERITE FROM SW ENGLAND – AN EXAMPLE OF ORTHOROMBIC OR MONOCLINIC SNO2?. GSA Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA - 2018, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs Geological Society of America : doi: 10.1130/abs/2018am-323742
Twitchett RJ, Paulus C, Hughes ZE, Brownscombe W (2018) Giants in the hot tub? Sclerochronology of Pliocene brachiopods os southeast UK. Presented at 8th International Brachiopod Congress.
Brownscombe W, Jeffries TE (2017) New software for processing LA-ICP-MS data for mineral deposit applications. Applied Earth Science, 126 (2) : 45 - 46. doi: 10.1080/03717453.2017.1306235
Strekopytov S, Brownscombe W, Lapinee C, Sykes D, Spratt J, Jeffries TE, Jones CG (2017) Arsenic and mercury in bird feathers: Identification and quantification of inorganic pesticide residues in natural history collections using multiple analytical and imaging techniques. Microchemical Journal, 130 : 301 - 309. doi: 10.1016/j.microc.2016.10.009
Brownscombe W, Ihlenfeld C, Coppard J, Herrington R (2016) The geology and geochemistry of the Sakatti Cu-Ni-PGE deposit, N. Finland. Godel B, Barnes S, Gonzalez-Alvarez I, Fiorentini M, Le Vaillant M (Eds). 13th International Ni-Cu-PGE Symposium, Fremantle, Australia, 109 9 - 10 9 9Government of Western Australia :
Brownscombe W, Ihlenfeld C, Coppard J, Hartshorne C, Klatt S, Siikaluoma J, Herrington R (2015) Chapter 3.7 - The Sakatti Cu-Ni-PGE Sulfide Deposit in Northern Finland, In: Mineral Deposits of Finland, Maier W, Lahtinen R, O'Brien H (Eds). Elsevier : 211 - 252.
Brownscombe W, Herrington RJ, Wilkinson JJ, Berry AJ, Coppard J, Ihlenfeld C, Klatt S, Hartshorne C, Boyce AJ, Taylor RN (2013) Geochemistry of the Sakatti magmatic Cu-Ni-PGE deposit, northern Finland. MINERAL DEPOSIT RESEARCH FOR A HIGH-TECH WORLD, VOLS. 1-4 956 - +.
Contributed Publications
Brownscombe W, Ihlenfeld C, Coppard J, Herrington R (2016) The geology and geochemistry of the Sakatti Cu-Ni-PGE deposit, N. Finland. Godel B, Barnes S, Gonzalez-Alvarez I, Fiorentini M, Le Vaillant M (Eds). 13th International Ni-Cu-PGE Symposium, Fremantle, Australia, 109 9 - 10 9 9Government of Western Australia :
Supervision
Master's Joint supervisor to Westaway-Heaven G
Co supervisor(s): Brownscombe W
Fe-Cr Spinel as petrological and prospectivity indicators in serpentinized magmatic ore deposits
Imperial College London, London, London, United Kingdom
Master's Lead supervisor to Jillings K
Co supervisor(s): Brownscombe W
Origin of the hanging wall breccias at the Sakatti Ni-Cu-PGE deposit, Finland
Imperial College London, London, London, United Kingdom
Master's Lead supervisor to Hunter C
Co supervisor(s): Brownscombe W
Understanding the Controls on the Spatial Distribution of Platinum Group Elements (PGE) in Orthomagmatic Sulphides: Insights from Tomographic Reconstruction, Reflected Light and Electron Microscopy
Invited and keynote speaker
Invited speaker, The geology and geochemistry of the Sakatti Cu-Ni-PGE, N. Finland, 13th International Ni-Cu-PGE Symposium, Fremantle, Australia: 9/9/2016.
Invited speaker, Automated mineralogical SEM as a precursor to trace element analysis by Laser Ablation ICP-MS, The Society of Electron Microscopy Techniques Meeting: Society of Electron Microscopy Techniques, Natural History Museum, London, London, United Kingdom, 16/12/2015.