Earth Processes and Geohazards

We aim to minimise the damage caused by natural geological events and prevent artificial geohazards. To do this we study and forecast destructive phenomena and processes that impact human life, from earthquakes, tsunamis and landslides to rock stability in mines and how rock becomes weathered and eroded over time. 

We also dig deeper into how the Earth works, exploring:

• deep mantle structure;
• plate tectonics;
• geomagnetism;
• continental margins; and more.

We’re especially interested in how surface processes — tectonics, erosion, sedimentology — are influenced by Earth's changing climate and the active processes occuring within and beneath the planet's crust. This also extends to how hazardous events have impacted other bodies in the Solar System (for example, flooding on Mars, or meteorite impacts on the icy moons of Jupiter).

If you are interested in one of the projects listed below, we encourage you to contact the primary project supervisor or the alternative contact person for further information.

Current projects

Monitoring seismicity at volcanoes with geothermal prospects in Ethiopia [Info Sheet - Bastow Geothermal Prospects]

Supervisors: Dr Ian Bastow, Dr Derek Keir (School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton)

Simulating submarine slide tsunami inundation of the Shetland Islands [Info Sheet - Collins Shetlands]

Supervisors: Professor Gareth Collins, Professor Matthew Piggott, Professor Sue Dawson (Dundee)

New generation data assimilation and rapid response models for urban flooding [Info Sheet - Fang Flooding]

Supervisors: Dr Fangxin Fang, Professor Christopher Pain

Mapping thermal and compositional structure of cratons [Info Sheet - Goes Cratons]

Supervisors: Professor Saskia Goes, Dr Ian Bastow

Structure and Evolution of the African Plate from Geophysical Observations [Info Sheet - Goes Africa Joint Tomography]

Supervisors: Professor Saskia Goes, Dr Gareth Roberts

Earthquake Forecasting Using Machine Learning [Info sheet - Earthquake Forecasting]

Supervisors: Professor Saskia Goes,  Dr. Alexandra Renouard, Prof. Peter Stafford (Civil), Dr. Alex Whittaker

Fluid dynamics of magma reservoirs [Info Sheet - Jackson CFD]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Dr Haiyang Hu, Professor Jon Blundy (University of Oxford)

Rapid modelling of reactive flow using machine learning and dynamic mesh optimisation [Info Sheet - Jackson Reactive Flow]

Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Professor Chris Pain, Dr Claire Heaney

Exploring origin and composition of the lowermost mantle structures with machine learning methods and seismology [Info Sheet - Kim Lower Mantle Structures]

Supervisors: Dr Doyeon Kim, Dr Frederick Richards, Professor Ved Lekic (University of Maryland)

Testing the Geocentric Axial Dipole hypothesis: Palaeomagnetic analysis of the Westfjords lavas, Iceland. [Info sheet - Geocentric Axial Dipole]

Supervisors: Prof. Adrian Muxworthy, Dr. Elisa Piispa (University of Reykjavik) and Dr. Arne Døssing (DTU, Denmark)

Field and experimental determination of the role of low pressures (< 1GPa) on the fidelity of magnetic recording in rocks and meteorites [Info sheet - Magnetic Recording in Rocks and Meteorites]

Supervisors: Prof. Adrian Muxworthy, Prof. Tom Mitchell (UCL)

Determining ancient field intensities from chemical remanent magnetisations in rocks and meteorites [Info sheet - Ancient Field Intensities]

Supervisors: Prof. Adrian Muxworthy, Prof. Dominik Weiss, and Dr. David Heslop (ANU, Canberra)

Geophysical studies of the spreading structure of the Troodos Ophiolite, Cyprus [Info sheet - Troodos Ophiolite, Cyprus]

Supervisors: Prof. Adrian Muxworthy, Prof. Jenny Collier, and Simon Allerton (Cardiff)

Teleseismic full-waveform imaging of active volcanoes [Info Sheet - Paulatto TSFWI]

Supervisors: Dr Michele Paulatto, Dr Lluis Guasch, Professor James Hammond (Birkbeck University of London)

Integrating Geochemistry and Geophysics to Make Critical Metal Treasure Maps [Info Sheet - Richards Treasure Maps]

Supervisors: Dr Fred Richards, Dr Gareth Roberts, Professor Saskia Goes, Dr Mark Hoggard (Australian National University), Dr Karol Czarnota (Geoscience Australia)

Deciphering the influence of mantle dynamics on Cenozoic records of sea-level change [Info sheet - Deciphering the influence of mantle dynamics]

Supervisors: Dr Fred Richards, Gareth Roberts

Hot rocks in cold places: Quantifying mantle dynamic impacts on Antarctic Ice Sheet evolution [Info sheet - Hot rocks in cold places]

Supervisors: Dr Fred Richards

Mapping the Mantle Zoo: Integrating geodynamics, seismology and mineral physics to characterize Earth’s internal chemical reservoirs [Info sheet - Mapping the Mantle Zoo]

Supervisors: Dr Fred Richards, Prof Saskia Goes

Continental Uplift and Erosion From Drainage Patterns: Predicting Sedimentary Flux to Passive Margins  [Info Sheet - Roberts Drainage Patterns]

Supervisors: Dr Gareth Roberts and Professor Matthew Piggott

Hard Rock to Heavy Metal: Data and tools for geochemical baselines and chemical fluxes through landscapes [Info Sheet - Roberts Hard Rock to Heavy Metal]

Supervisors: Dr Gareth Roberts, Dr Yves Plancherel, Dr Alex Whittaker, Charles Gowing (British Geological Survey), Dr Alex Lipp (University of Oxford, Earth Sciences)

Histories of mantle convection: Constraints from Arabia's landscape [Info Sheet - Roberts Arabia]

Supervisors: Dr Gareth Roberts, Dr Alex Whittaker and Dylan Rood

Modeling landscape evolution through space and time [Info Sheet - Roberts Landscape Evolution]

Supervisors: Dr Gareth Roberts, Professor Matthew Piggott, Professor Gareth Collins and Dr Alex Whittaker

Exploring terrestrial geological evidence for past glaciation and volcanism in the Thwaites Glacier catchment, Antarctica [Info Sheet - Johnson Thwaites Glacier]

Supervisors: Joanne Johnson (British Antarctic Survey), Dr Dylan Rood, Associate Professor Brent Goehring (Tulane University), and Stephen Roberts (British Antarctic Survey)

Validating Earthquake Hazard Models For Critical Engineered Structures Using Geologic Data And Cosmogenic Isotopes [Info Sheet - Rood Earthquake Engineering]

Supervisors: Dr Dylan Rood, Dr John-Paul Latham and Dr Peter Stafford

Will climate change make coastal erosion rates faster? Comparing historic and Holocene cliff retreat rates using cosmogenic isotopes with numerical models [Info Sheet - Rood Coastal Erosion]

Supervisor: Dr Dylan Rood

Tectonics from topography in Central Greece: decoding the history of fault growth and landscape evolution in the Corinth Rift [Info Sheet - Whittaker Corinth Rift]

Supervisors: Dr Alex Whittaker, Dr Rebecca Bell

Tagmatism and Continental Breakup in the South Atlantic [Info Sheet - Collier Sosem]

Supervisors: Professor Jenny Collier, Tim Minshull (Univ. Southampton, UK), Marta PerezGussinye (Univ. Bremen, Germany)

Geological and geophysical investigation of the environmental evolution of the southern North Sea for offshore wind applications [Info Sheet - Bell Geo]

Supervisors: Dr Rebecca Bell; Prof. Gary Hampson, Dr. Alex Whittaker, Department of Earth Science and Engineering; Dr. Mark Vardy, SAND Geophysics; Dr. Margaret Stewart, BGS; Mr. Abdulqadir Cader, GeoTeric