Marine Geoscience

The world's oceans are contained in basins that have formed over millions of years by the motions of the tectonic plates.

These ocean basins, their origin, their evolution, their shape, their composition, their margins, and their geological processes strongly influence the overlying ocean, including its biology, chemistry, and physics. We undertake remote observational work, such as exploring the Pacific for submarine canyons larger than the Grand Canyon, hunting for hydrothermal vents in the sub-Antarctic Southern Ocean, and investigating how benthic ecology varies with changing coastal seafloor type. We delve into the deep past using sediment cores to understand changing conditions since the Last Glacial Maximum and use satellite data and modelling to investigate patterns among mid-ocean ridges, mantle plumes, and seafloor volcanism.