Katrin Steinthorsdottir

PhD Geological Sciences
graduate

As part of my PhD research, I am looking at carbon sequestration feasibility in serpentinite.

For my MSc thesis, I studied the formation and preservation of the minerals brucite and awaruite in serpentinite at the Baptiste Deposit and the surrounding Decar area, central British Columbia. Brucite is a primary mineral that can be used to sequester carbon dioxide. Awaruite is an economically attractive nickel alloy that could be mined for electric car batteries. Knowing the minerals distribution, abundances and correlation can help make carbon neutral or carbon negative nickel mining possible.

Teaching Assistantships:

EOSC 322 · Metamorphic PetrologyEOSC 111 · Laboratory Exploration of Planet Earth

Steinthorsdottir, K., Dipple, G.M., Cutts, J.A., Turvey, C.C., Milidragovic, D., and Peacock, S.M. (2022). Formation and preservation of brucite and awaruite in a serpentinized and tectonized mantle in central British Columbia: Implications for carbon mineralization and nickel mining. Journal of Petrology. 63, 1-25.

Cutts, J.A., Steinthorsdottir, K., Turvey, C., Dipple, G.M., Enkin, R.J., and Peacock, S.M. (2021). Deducing mineralogy of serpentinized and carbonated ultramafic rocks using physical properties with implications for carbon sequestration and subduction zone dynamics. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 22, e2021GC009989

Snæbjörnsdóttir, S.Ó., Steinthorsdóttir, K., Snorradóttir, S., Helgason, K. (2021). Protecting Our Climate by Turning CO2 Into Stone. Frontiers for Young Minds.

Steinthorsdottir, K., Cutts, J., Dipple, G., Milidragovic, D., and Jones, F. (2020). Origin and serpentinization of ultramafic rocks in dismembered ophiolite north of Trembleur Lake, central British Columbia: Geological Fieldwork 2019, British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, British Columbia Geological Survey Paper, v. 01, p. 49–58.