Faculty
John Spray
Adjunct Professor
PDF., King’s College Earth Science
Email: john.spray@smu.ca
Overview:
John received his B.Sc. in Geology from the University of Cardiff (Wales), with a secondary focus in the two first years of the degree program on Metallurgy and Materials Science. He completed his PhD in the Department of Earth Sciences at Cambridge University (England), specializing in adiabatic shear zones associated with ophiolite complexes in the UK and the Eastern Mediterranean (Greece, Cyprus). He was awarded a four-year King’s College Earth Science Post-Doctoral Fellowship following completion of his PhD, where he worked in collaboration with the Western Mining Corporation in Western Australia on granite-greenstone belts, their associated metamorphism and gold mineralization in the Norseman-Kambalda area. Following the PDF he moved to Canada and joined the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of New Brunswick, where he has taught Field School, Mineralogy and Metamorphic Petrology. John is Director of the Planetary and Space Science Centre at the University of New Brunswick. He currently manages a research team comprising research scientists, engineers, postgraduate students and staff. He has supervised over 30 graduate students at the MSc and PhD levels.
Research Interests:
John focusses on high strain rate deformation processes, including high-speed frictional effects, hypervelocity impact and the formation and evolution of impact structures. This planetary research extends to lunar, martian and asteroid samples and understanding related shock effects. He also consults in the aerospace, space and defence sectors with respect to terminal ballistics, penetration mechanics, and protective materials development. He held a Canada Research Chair in Extreme Deformation and Planetary Materials from 2006-2018. He is a co-investigator on the science teams for the ongoing NASA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and the upcoming ESA ExoMars missions.
Selected Publications:
Spray, J.G., Gores, P.A.S., Kenkmann, T. and Poelchau, M.H. 2024. Experimental hypervelocity impact of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks: Reconstruction of crater shapes and volumes. International Journal of Impact Engineering 190: 104965.
McGregor, M., Spray, J.G. and McFarlane, C.R.M. 2024. Provenance constraints on the Late Triassic ejecta layer from Churchwood Quarry, SW England: An impactite suite from Manicouagan. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 59: https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.14172
Hopkins, R.G., Spray, J.G. and Walton, E.L. 2024. Pressure-temperature-time controls on shock vein formation within the Steen River impact structure. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 59, doi: 10.1111/maps.14168
Jaret, S.J., Rasbury, E.T., Reiners, P., J.G. Spray., Thompson, L.M., Hemming, S.R. and Thompson, M.S. 2023. Extreme isotopic heterogeneity in impact melt rocks: Implications for Martian meteorites. Geology 51: 295-299.
Gores, P.A.S. and Spray, J.G. 2022. Hypervelocity impact of anorthosite: Excavation, spallation and crater reconstruction. International Journal of Impact Engineering 160: 1-13.
O’Connell-Cooper, C.D., Thompson, L.M., Spray, J.G., Berger, J.A., Gellert, R., McCaig, M.A., VanBommel, S.J., Yen, A. 2022. Statistical analysis of APXS-derived chemistry of the clay-bearing Glen Torridon Region and Mount Sharp Group, Gale Crater, Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets) 127: 1-40.
Thompson, L.M., Spray, J.G., O’Connell-Cooper, C.D., Berger, J.A., Yen, A.S., Boyd, N., Gellert, R., McCraig, M.A., VanBommel, S.J. 2022. Alteration at the base of the Siccar Point unconformity and further evidence for an alkaline provenance at Gale crater: Exploration of the Mount Sharp group, Greenheugh pediment cap rock contact with APXS. Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets) 127: 1-30.
McFarlane, C.R.M. and Spray, J.G. 2022. The Los Angeles martian diabase: Phosphate U-Th-Pb geochronology and mantle source constraints. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 326: 166-179.
Spray, J.G. and Biren, M.B. 2021. Distinguishing friction- from shock-generated melt products in hypervelocity impact structures. Geological Society of America Special Papers 550: 147-170.
McGregor, M., Erickson, T.M., Spray, J.G. and Whitehouse, M.J. 2021. High-resolution EBSD and SIMS U-Pb geochronology of zircon, titanite, and apatite: Insights from the Lac La Moinerie impact structure, Canada. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 176: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-021-01828-y
Tschauner, O., Ma, C., Spray, J.G., Greenberg, E. and Prapenka, V.B. 2021. Stöfflerite in the hollandite structure: A new high-pressure polymorph of anorthite from martian meteorite NWA 856. American Mineralogist 106: 650-655.
Spray, J.G. 2010. Frictional melting processes in planetary materials: From hypervelocity impact to earthquakes. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 38: 221–54.