.jpg)
Assessing natural hazards from cause to consequence, including tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanism, landslides and impacts
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
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
Journey to the Core-Mantle Boundary Region: Uncovering Earth’s Hidden Structures through Seismology [Info Sheet - Kim Deep Earth]
Supervisors: Dr Doyeon Kim
Shaking Worlds: Exploring Planetary Quakes and Deep Interiors [Info Sheet - Kim Planetary]
Supervisors: Dr Doyeon Kim
Fundamentals of carbon dioxide storage by mineralisation to carbonate minerals [Info Sheet - Krevor CO2Mineralisation]
Supervisor: Prof Sam Krevor
Integrating Multimodal Very-High-Resolution Data for Ecosystem Intelligence and Natural Capital Monitoring [Info Sheet - Plancherel AI4UAV]
Supervisors: Dr Yves Plancherel, Matt Piggott
Magnetically fingerprinting urban particulate matter [Info Sheet - Muxworthy Magnetic ]
Supervisors: Prof. Adrian Muxworthy, Dr David Green (Public Health) and Prof. Wyn Williams (University of Edinburgh)
Modelling and predicting flotation froth stability [Info Sheet - Brito-Parada Froth Stability]
Supervisors: Dr Pablo Brito-Parada, Professor Stephen Neethling
Advancing Biodegradable Flotation Reagents: Evaluating Non-polar and Hybrid Oil Collectors Across Diverse Mineral Systems [Info Sheet - Brito Parada flotation reagents]
Supervisors: Dr Pablo Brito-Parada, Professor Stephen Neethling
C
Automated Crater Detection and Classification with Machine Learning [Info Sheet - Collins ACDC]
Supervisors: Prof Gareth Collins, Dr Ben Moseley, Dr Joel Davis
Decoding inner solar system bombardment from crater populations [Info Sheet - Collins Crater Scaling]
Supervisors: Prof Gareth Collins
Impact Processing of Planetary Crust [Info Sheet - Collins Impact Porosity]
Supervisors: Prof Gareth Collins, Mark Wieczorek (IPGP)
3D imaging of brain blood flow using ultrasound [Info Sheet - Cueto 3D Ultrasound Imaging Brain.pdf]
Supervisors: Dr Carlos Cueto, Dr Lluis Guasch, Dr Sophie Morse
Unlocking Carbon Storage Potential: Evaluating Offshore Basalts of the Southwest Atlantic Margin [Info Sheet Collier - Unlocking]
Supervisors: Professor Jenny Collier, John Armitage (Université Paris Cité, France)
F
Digital twin tools for decarbonisation management [Info Sheet - Fang digital twin]
Supervisors: Dr Fangxin Fang
New generation data assimilation and rapid response models for urban flooding [Info Sheet - Fang Flooding]
Supervisors: Dr Fangxin Fang, Professor Christopher Pain
Optimisation of sensor locations for observation of air flows/pollutions [Info Sheet - Fang Sensor]
Supervisors: Dr Fangxin Fang, Professor Christopher Pain
Rapid Response Modelling for Assessment of Pollution and Toxic Releases in Complex Urban Environments [Info Sheet - Fang ROM]
Supervisors: Dr Fangxin Fang, Professor Christopher Pain
G
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
Supervisors: Professor Saskia Goes, Dr Alexandra Renouard, Prof. Peter Stafford (Civil), Dr Alex Whittaker
H
Applying Dimensionality Reduction to Solutions on Finite Element Meshes with Autoencoders [Info Sheet - Heaney Autoencoders]
Supervisors: Dr Claire Heaney, Professor Christopher Pain
Large Scale AI Modelling for Environmental Flows [Info Sheet - Heaney Environmental Flows]
Supervisors: Dr Claire Heaney, Professor Christopher Pain
Simulation of geo-thermal wells with reduced order modelling and data assimilation [Info Sheet - Heaney ROM DA NORMS]
Supervisors: Dr Claire Heaney, Professor Christopher Pain, Professor Matthew Jackson
J
Modelling groundwater flow and heat transport in fractured aquifers with application to geothermal and underground thermal energy storage [Info Sheet - Jackson fractured heat]
Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Meissam Bahlali (Imperial), Carl Jacquemyn (Imperial), Ed Hough (British Geological Survey), Andres Gonzalez Quiros (British Geological Survey)
Electrokinetic enhanced in-situ resource utilisation (EK-ISRU) for green copper production [Info Sheet - Jackson EK-ISRU]
Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Dr Pablo Brito-Parada, Professor Stephen Neethling
From Source To Sink: Experimental and modelling constraints on copper mobilisation and deposition in sedimentary basins [Info Sheet - Wilkinson SedCu]
Supervisors: Professor Matthew Jackson, Professor Jamie Wilkinson
K
Simulating impacts onto Saturn’s icy moons and rings [Info Sheet - Kegerreis Ice Impacts]
Supervisors: Dr Jacob Kegerreis, Professor Gareth Collins, Dr Paul Estrada (NASA)
Simulating impacts onto Earth: from enabling early life to causing extinction [Info Sheet - Kegerreis Earth Impacts]
Supervisors: Dr Jacob Kegerreis, Professor Gareth Collins, Dr Vincent Eke (Durham University)
Monitoring Global groundwater change using seismic methods [Info Sheet - Kim Groundwater Seismology]
Supervisors: Dr Doyeon Kim, Professor Matthew Jackson
Journey to the Core-Mantle Boundary Region: Uncovering Earth’s Hidden Structures through Seismology [Info Sheet - Kim Deep Earth]
Supervisors: Dr Doyeon Kim
Shaking Worlds: Exploring Planetary Quakes and Deep Interiors [Info Sheet - Kim Planetary]
Supervisors: Dr Doyeon Kim
Fundamentals of carbon dioxide storage by mineralisation to carbonate minerals [Info Sheet - Krevor CO2Mineralisation]
Supervisor: Prof Sam Krevor
Reservoir characterisation and modelling of CO2 storage underground [Info Sheet - Krevor CO2StorageModelling]
Supervisor: Prof Sam Krevor
Global CO2 storage capacity: Modeling limitations of geography and injectivity [Info Sheet - Krevor CO2StorageCapacity]
Supervisor: Prof Sam Krevor
Assessing the sustainability of lithium brine extraction in high Andean salars [Info Sheet - Hughes BGS Lithium Brine Extraction]
Supervisors: Dr Andrew Hughes (British Geological Survey), Professor Anna Korre, Dr Evi Petavratzi (British Geological Survey)
Antarctic surface hydrology and sea-level rise [Info Sheet - Kingslake antarctic surface]
Supervisors: Dr Jonathan Kingslake
Subglacial geothermal heating and ice dynamics [Info Sheet - Kingslake Subglacial geothermal heating]
Supervisors: Dr Jonathan Kingslake , Dr Fred Richards
L
Modelling the physics of granular rock compaction for characterisation of flow in reservoirs [Info Sheet - Latham Compaction Modelling]
Supervisors: Dr John-Paul Latham, Dr Jiansheng Xiang, Professor Martin Blunt
M
Developing time-series InSAR for understanding changes to the ground surface, subsurface, biosphere and environment [Info Sheet - Mason EnvironmentalEO]
Supervisors: Dr Philippa Mason, Dr James Lawrence (Civil Engineering, Imperial College London), Professor Richard Ghail (Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway UK)
Understanding surface processes on Venus: in support of the EnVision mission [Info Sheet - Mason Surface Processes Venus]
Supervisors: Dr Philippa Mason, Professor Richard Ghail (Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway UK), Dr Gareth Roberts
Understanding the role of submarine groundwater discharge using geochemical tracers [Info Sheet - Mckenzie ]
Supervisors: Dr Tristan McKenzie
In Situ Metal Concentration Measurements in Biological Research [Info Sheet - Rehkamper imaging medical]
Supervisors: Dr Rebekah Moore, Professor Mark Rehkämper
Brain ultrasound imaging with diffusion-guided full-waveform inversion. Info Sheet - Moseley Brain ultrasound imaging ]
Supervisors: Dr Ben Moseley
Learning fast and generalizable climate models with neural differential equations [Moseley - generalizable climate models]
Supervisors: Dr Ben Moseley, Professor Christopher Pain
Learnable optimisation algorithms for inverse problems [Info Sheet - Moseley Inversion]
Supervisor: Dr Ben Moseley
Learning dynamics on manifolds with neural geodesic flows [Moseley Learning dynamics on manifolds]
Supervisor: Dr Ben Moseley
Multi-scale simulation with physics-informed neural networks [Moseley - Multi-scale simulation]
Supervisor: Dr Ben Moseley
The Rayleigh-Taylor instability and its impact on CO2 mixing in saline aquifers [Info Sheet - Muggeridge the rayleigh]
Supervisors: Prof Ann Muggeridge
The role of geological processes on long-term CO2 storage security in aquifers [Info Sheet - Muggeridge the role]
Supervisors: Prof Ann Muggeridge, Craig Smalley and Lidia Lonergan
Magnetically fingerprinting urban particulate matter [Info Sheet - Muxworthy Magnetic ]
Supervisors: Prof. Adrian Muxworthy, Dr David Green (Public Health) and Prof. Wyn Williams (University of Edinburgh)
An AI research assistant for palaeomagnetism: tool-augmented language models [Info Sheet - Muxworthy AI Paleo ]
Supervisors: Prof. Adrian Muxworthy, and Prof. David Heslop (ANU)
Testing the Geocentric Axial Dipole hypothesis at low latitude: full-vector records from Kenya and the Marquesas Islands [Info Sheet - Muxworthy Latitude ]
Supervisors: Prof. Adrian Muxworthy, and Prof. Conall Mac Niocaill (University of Oxford)
Magnetic fingerprints of earthquakes and meteorite impacts [Info Sheet - Muxworthy Mitchell ]
Supervisors: Prof. Adrian Muxworthy, and Prof. Tom Mitchell (UCL)
Determining ancient field intensities from chemical remanent magnetisations in rocks and meteorites [Info Sheet - Muxworthy Weiss Heslop ]
Supervisors: Prof. Adrian Muxworthy, Prof. Dominik Weiss and Prof. David Heslop (ANU)
Using the magnetic signature of former hydrocarbon-rich environments to test the suitability of carbon sequestration sites: a numerical approach [Info Sheet - Muxworthy Williams ]
Supervisors: Prof. Adrian Muxworthy, and Prof. Wyn Williams (University of Edinburgh)
Biomagnetic monitoring as an urban air quality assessment method [Info Sheet - Muxworthy Weiss Green ]
Supervisors: Prof. Adrian Muxworthy, Prof. Dominik Weiss and Dr David Green (Public Health)
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)
Mantle Dynamic Impacts on Cenozoic Sea-Level Evolution [Info Sheet - Richards mantle]
Supervisors: Dr Fred Richards
Mapping the Continental Hydrogen Kitchen [Info Sheet - Richards mapping]
Supervisors: Dr Fred Richards, Ann Muggeridge, Rebecca Bell, Valentin Laurent, and Michele Paulatto
Uncovering the impact of mantle dynamics on Cenozoic ocean circulation [Info Sheet - Richards uncovering]
Supervisors: Dr Fred Richards
Megathrust Earthquake Hazards and Coastal Erosion of the Cascadia Subduction Zone (Pacific Northwest, USA) [Info Sheet - Rood Megathrust]
Supervisors: Dr Dylan Rood, Dr. Martin Hurst (University of Glasgow); Dr. Devin McPhillips (U.S. Geological Survey); Dr. Anna Rood (Global Earthquake Model - GEM - Foundation)
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
Using cosmogenic radionuclide exposure ages to document late-Holocene spatial-temporal variability in Svalbard glaciers and their relationship to Arctic climate change [Info Sheet - Rood Svalbard]
Supervisor: Dr Dylan Rood, Dr. Anders Carlson Oregon Glacier Institute
Current projects in the Environmental Geochemistry Group for the Academic Year 2026/2027 [Info Sheet - Weiss PhD projects]
Supervisor: Professor Dominik Weiss
Characterising the Importance of Aseismic Creep and Slow Slip Events on Normal Faults [Info Sheet - Whittaker Slow slip]
Supervisor: Dr Alexander Whittaker, Dr Rebecca Bell, Dr Philippa Mason
Reconstructing erosion rates and sediment supply from mountain belts using palaeo-topographic and palaeo-hydrological constraints [Info Sheet - Whittaker PalaeoHydrology]
Supervisor: Dr Alexander Whittaker, Prof Gary Hampson, Dr Rhodri Jerrett (St Andrews)