Role
Stage One Tutor
Research student (PhD)
Qualifications & background
PhD, University of Plymouth, commenced 2004.
Project title: Reappraising the Volcanic Hazard Assessment for the North Island, New Zealand Using Cryptotephrostratigraphic Techniques.
Director of studies Prof. Rewi Newnham.
MRes Global Change, UoP, 2003
BSc (Hons) Earth Science, UoP, 2002
Professional membership
INQUA focus group on Tephrochronology and Volcanism (INTAV)
Quaternary Research Association
Australasian Quaternary Association
American Geophysical Union
Geological Society of America
Teaching interests
Stage one tutorials
Laboratory skills (GGX1101, GGX1102)
Stage 1 fieldwork (GGP1104)
Stage 1 and 2 statistics (GGX1003, GGX2003)
Global Environmental Variability (ENV5203)
Research interests
Cryptotephrostratigraphy, Late Holocene volcanism on the North Island, New Zealand, methods to detect cryptotephra in peat cores, taphonomy of tephra in peat and lake environments, geochemical fingerprinting of andesitic tephra, distal volcanic hazards
Grants & contracts
2007
Quaternary Research Association (QRA) travel award to attend the INQUA Congress,
Cairns
, July 2007, £600.
2007 Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC), UK, Radiocarbon dating allocation no. 1204.1006, £9880.
2006 Geological Society of America, student travel award, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, 22-25 October 2006, $200.
2005 The Royal Society, UK. Dudley Stamp Memorial Fund, assistance with fieldwork costs, £200.
2005 University of Waikato, New Zealand, Radiocarbon dating allocation, equivalent to £1000.
Publications
Gehrels, M.J., Newnham, R.M., Lowe, D.J., Wynne, S., Hazell, Z.J., Caseldine, C., 2007. Towards rapid assay of cryptotephra in peat cores: review and evaluation of various methods. Quaternary International (in press) (online 20 December 2006)
Gehrels, W.R., Marshall, W. A., Gehrels, M.J., Larsen, G., Kirby, J. R., Eiriksson, J., Heinemeier, J., Shimmield, T., 2006. Rapid sea-level rise in the North Atlantic Ocean since the first half of the nineteenth century. The Holocene 16, 948-964.
Gehrels, M.J., Lowe, D.J., Hazell, Z.J., Newnham, R.M., 2006. A continuous 5300-yr Holocene cryptotephrostratigraphic record from northern New Zealand and implications for tephrochronology and volcanic-hazard assessment. The Holocene 16, 173-187.
Conference contributions
Gehrels, M.J. Newnham, R.M., Lowe, D.J., Charman, D., Hall, V.A., Augustinus, P. 2008. An enhanced record of recent ash-fall events from northern New Zealand based on cryptotephra analysis. IAVCEI General Assembly, Iceland. 17 - 22 August 2008. Oral presentation.
Gehrels, M.J. Newnham, R.M., Lowe, D.J., Hall, V.A., Augustinus, P. 2007. Cryptotephrostratigraphic records from northern New Zealand for the last two millennia; XVII INQUA Congress, Cairns, Australia, 28 July-3 August. Oral Presentation.
Gehrels, M.J. Newnham, R.M. Lowe, D.J Hall, V.A. Augustinus, P. 2007. Enhancing the record of volcanic ash-fall events in northern New Zealand for palaeoenvironmental and archaeological applications. Quaternary Environments and Human Past. Quaternary Environments and Geoarchaeological Research Group at the University of Manchester. 20 June. Poster presentation.
Gehrels, M.J., Newnham, R.M., Lowe, D.J., and Hall, V.A., 2006, Enhancing the record of volcanic ash-fall events in New Zealand for palaeoenvironmental and archaeological applications. Session: Archaeological and Geoarchaeological Records of Natural and Human—Induced Disasters; Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 38, No. 7, p. 177. Geological Society of America, Philadelphia, 22-25 October 2006. Oral presentation.
Gehrels, M.J., 2006. The use of cryptotephrostratigraphy to enhance and extend the late Holocene tephra record for northern New Zealand. QRA, 5th International Postgraduate Symposium. University of Edinburgh. 29 August – 1 September. Oral presentation.
De Vleeschouwer F., Van Vliët-Lanoé B., Fagel N., Richter T., Boës X., Gehrels M., 2006.
High resolution petrography of impregnated peat columns containing tephras. Principle, applications and perspectives. Geologica Belgica meeting, Liège, Belgium, 7-8 September.
Gehrels, M.J., 2005. Developing a Holocene crypto-tephrostratigraphic record for the North Island, New Zealand. SCOTAV Field Conference and Workshop, Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada, 31 July – 8 August. Oral presentation.
Gehrels, W.R., Larsen, G., Gehrels, M.J. and Marshall, W.A., 2005. Tephrochronology as a tool for reconstructing Holocene sea-level changes: a case study from western Iceland. SCOTAV Field Conference and Workshop, Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada, 31 July – 8 August.
Gehrels, W.R., Marshall, W.A., Gehrels, M.J., Larsen, G., Kirby, J.R. and Eiriksson, J., 2005. Late Holocene relative sea-level history of western Iceland: possible influence of steric changes. Program and Abstracts, 2nd International Geoscience Programme Project 495 ‘QuaternaryOcean and Land Interaction. Climatic, Tectonic and Anthropogenic Influence’, Mutiara Carita-Banten, Sunda Strait, Indonesia, 25 September – 1 October, 20.
Gehrels, M.J., 2005. A crypto-tephrostratigraphic study of lakes and peat bogs in the Waikato Region, North Island, New Zealand.QRA, 4th International Postgraduate Symposium. School of Geography, University of Plymouth. 31 August - 2 September. Oral presentation.
Gehrels, W.R.,Marshall, W.A., Gehrels, M.J., Eiriksson, J. and Larsen, G., 2004. Relative sea-level changes in western Iceland. Bjerknes Centenary Conference, Bergen, Norway, 1-4 September, 150-151.
Reports & invited lectures
20th February 2006: Invited talk at the Unité de Recherche Argiles et Paléoclimats, University of Leige, Belgium
Conferences organised
The Quaternary Research Association's 4th International Postgraduate Symposium, hosted at the University of Plymouth 31st August - 2nd September 2005.
