Dr Francesco Arboit is a geologic mapper, geochronologist and tectonist. He has undergraduate and graduate degrees in geology (BS and MS w/subsurface and hydrocarbon geology minor) from University of Padova (Italy).
He has received his PhD in Sciences from the University of Adelaide (Australia). Francesco's early career focused on using geochronological, geochemical coupled with field information to understand the Mesozoic history of SE Asia.
He's now widened his research area to the Arabia Peninsula, and Europe by combining U-Pb and trace element information from heavy minerals such as zircon, apatite, titanite, rutile and monazite (by Quadrupole LA-ICP-MS, SEM WDS-EDS-BSE-CL, Raman, MC-ICP-MS).
Francesco has worked for private petroleum consulting companies and academic institutions (University of Adelaide, Trinity College the University of Dublin) and he is co-leading the "provenance" modulus of a Khalifa University based project that aims to understand the post-Variscan evolution of the western European Variscides that led to the formation of the Paris Basin from the late Carboniferous to the late Triassic.
Francesco received the Dean's commendation for thesis excellence and the research medal Awards for best 3% Outstanding PhD student in 2016 from University of Adelaide for his thesis on the tectonic evolution of Thailand in the Mesozoic, and the Government of Ireland post-doctoral Award for his project on the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of Myanmar and the influence of the Himalayan belt on its depositional systems.
Tectonic characterization of the western domains of the upper Hercynian crust during the onset of the Paris Basin through the isotopic dating and geochemical analysis of heavy minerals from the earliest Carboniferous to the Triassic.
Timing and reasons of the Variscan belt collapse through the investigation of the Italian Southalpine amphibolitic basement.
We aim to combine geochronological data (U-Pb and Rb-Sr respectively on ignous zircon, calcite and mica), Lu-Hf zircon isotopic composition together with the petrography of the felsic units that intruded the oceanic rocks obducted over the eastern margin of the Arabian peninsula, to provider tighter constraints on the Cretaceous tectonic evolution of the study area.
My research involves applying geochronology and isotope geochemistry to various problems in the geosciences. My current research interests include isotopic dating of sedimentation and quantifying the timing and rates of tectonic processes such as orogenesis (mountain building) and exhumation. My tectonics research includes investigating exhumation mechanisms in orogenic and rift settings by the aid of thermochronological data, and investigating the timing and causes of orogenesis in ancient orogenic belts.
