Mr Joe McNeil

Biography:

I am a third year postgraduate student in the School of Physical Sciences, funded by the STFC and Open University.

My research aims to improve our knowledge of the geology of Oxia Planum, an ancient region of Mars that has been selected as the landing site for the 2022 ExoMars rover, 'Rosalind Franklin'. It is crucial to understand the geological history of the landing site so that the scientific analyses conducted by the rover can be placed in a geological context. My work involves utilising remote sensing data acquired by satellites orbiting around Mars to gain insight into the depositional and erosional processes that have sculpted the landscape around Oxia Planum over the last 4.5 billion years. I am currently investigating the geomorphologies and distributions of a population of mesas, hills and plateaus that are scattered within the ExoMars 2022 landing ellipse.

I am an active member of both the Planetary Environments Research Group (SPS) and the Palaeoenvironmental Change Research Group (EEES).

Prior to embarking on a PhD with the Open University, I completed an MSc by Research with the Southeast Asia Research Group at Royal Holloway, University of London, where I conducted a successful multi-proxy sedimentary provenance study into the Oligocene sediments of the Central Myanmar Basin. Before this, I completed a BSc in Geology at Royal Holloway.

Journal Publications:

McNeil, J. D., Fawdon, P., Balme, M. R., & Coe, A. L. (in review). Mounds in the ExoMars Rover Landing Site: the Burial and Exhumation of Oxia Planum. Geophysical Research Letters

McNeil, J. D., Fawdon, P., Balme, M. R., & Coe, A. L. (2021). Morphology, morphometry and distribution of isolated landforms in southern Chryse Planitia, Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 126, e2020JE006775. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JE006775

McNeil, J. D., Gough, A., Hall, R., Keno Lünsdorf, N., Webb, M. & Feil, S. (2021). A multi-proxy provenance study of Eocene to Oligocene sandstones in the Salin Sub-basin, Myanmar. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2021.104825​

Webb, M., Gough, A., Vannucchi, P., Lünsdorf, N. K., McNeil, J. (2021) A switch from long distance Himalayan-derived to locally sourced provenance in the Plio-Pleistocene Nicobar Fan. Marine and Petroleum Geology, Vol. 125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2020.104874 

Conference Abstracts:

McNeil, J. D., Fawdon, P., Balme, M. R., & Coe, A. L. (2021). The geology of isolated landforms on the margin of Chryse Planitia, Mars. 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, The Woodlands, TX, USA (Virtual Meeting). Oral Presentation, March 2021, abstract.

McNeil, J. D., Fawdon, P., Balme, M. R., & Coe, A. L. (2021). Mounds in the ExoMars 2022 landing site. 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, The Woodlands, TX, USA (Virtual Meeting). Poster Presentation, March 2021, abstract.

McNeil, J. D., Fawdon, P., Balme, M. R., & Coe, A. L. (2020). The nature of remnant rounded mounds north of the ExoMars landing site. 2nd British Planetary Science Conference, University of Oxford. Poster Presentation, January 2020.

McNeil, J. D., Fawdon, P., Balme, M. R., & Coe, A. L. (2020). Morphology, Morphometry, and Distribution of Isolated Landforms on the Margin of Chryse Planitia, Mars. Europlanet Science Congress 2020, Virtual Meeting. Oral Presentation, September 2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2020-216.

Academic History:

PhD Student, The Open University | 2019 - present

MSc by Research (Earth Sciences), Royal Holloway, University of London | 2017 - 2018

BSc Geology (Hons), Royal Holloway, University of London | 2014 - 2017