Research Overview

Research:

I am interested in using sediment records to determine the tectonic, climatic, erosion and topographic history of a region. I utilise emerging and established provenance techniques, in particular isotopic fingerprinting and detrital geochronology and thermochronology, to advance the detrital approach and apply it to novel geological problems. In orogenic settings, my work is focused on the Himalaya, Tibet and the Pamirs. Here I use the sedimentary archive of material eroded from the mountain belt and preserved in adjacent sedimentary basins to better understand the inter-relationship between tectonics, erosion and sedimentation, to reconstruct hinterland tectonics and investigate mountain-building processes, and to constrain the proposed influence of Himalayan erosion on global climate and ocean geochemistry. Field work has taken me across much of Central Asia, as well as offshore to drill sediment core in the Bay of Bengal. Further afield, I have conducted research in West Antarctica, and North and East Africa, to investigate the evolution of major palaeodrainages in these regions, including the documentation of a transcontinental river system in Antarctica and determination of the initiation of the River Nile.

Teaching:

I teach on the following courses:

• Environmental Processes and systems (LEC 103)
• Natural Hazards (LEC 185 - module convenor)
• Environmental field course (LEC 270 - module convenor)
• Geoscience in practice (LEC 277 - module convenor).
• Planning independent research (LEC 507 - module convenor)

Roles:

• Director of Studies for the MSc in Environment and Development
• Senior Admissions Tutor for undergraduate Environmental and Earth Sciences degree programmes
• PGT dissertation organiser (LEC 505 - module convenor)