Research Interests

My active research projects are broad and multi-disciplinary, involving collaboration with physicists, chemists, archaeologists, climatologists and geologists. Active research in Mexico combines paleoseismology, field mapping and 10Be cosmogenic nuclide dating to unravel the relationships between continental extension and landscape evolution along the Sierra San Pedro Martir escarpment in northern Baja. Work with Iranian colleagues in the Qazvin Plain, Iran, integrates mapping and OSL dating of alluvial sequences, paleoseismology and archaeology to determine the extent to which Holocene human migration patterns were influenced by climate change and/or large paleo-earthquakes. Work in East Timor is exploring the relationships between subduction zone geodynamics, surface uplift, oceanic circulation and climate change. Continued collaboration in Australia has focused on the relationships between intraplate neotectonism, Quaternary climate change, and the geomorphic evolution of the Australian continent. A new ANSTO-UM research grant will allow us to continue to study patterns of continental erosion across the extreme tectonic and climatic gradients of Australia. In New Zealand, we are focused on the interplay between fault activity and surface processes. Projects on the West Coast and Canterbury involve several post-graduate students at the University of Canterbury.