Professor Benjamin Kneller

Biography

BSc University of Sheffield 1981

Postgraduate Research Assistant, University of Aberdeen 1981-87

Post-doctoral Research Assistant, University of Sheffield, 1987-88

Post-doctoral Research Associate, University of Leeds, 1988-90

Post-doctoral Research Associate, University of Liverpool, 1990-91

Post-doctoral Research Fellow, University of Leeds, 1991-95

Lectuter, University of Leeds, 1995-2000

Senior Researcher, Institute for Crustal Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2000-2004

Reader, University of Aberdeen, 2004-2006

Professor, University of Aberdeen, 2006-2018, Emeritus 2019-present.

Visiting Professor, Zhejiang University, China, 2012-present

External Memberships

International Association of Sedimentologists

Geological Society of London

Research Overview

My research has spanned a range of fields in geology, from tectonics and high-grade metamorphic rocks in the 1980s (Ashcroft et al., 1984, Nature, 310, 760-762) to modern seafloor processes (Zhang et al., 2018, Geology, doi.org/10.1130/G45178.1), but has mainly focussed on deepwater depositional systems. 

Key publications include:

Wang, X., Kneller., B. & Sun, Q., 2023. Sediment waves control origins of submarine canyons. Geology, 51, 310-314.

Santa Catharina, A., Kneller, B.C., Marques, J.C., McArthur, A.D., Cevallos-Ferriz, S.R.S., Theurer, T., Kane, I.A. and Muirhead, D., 2022. Timing and causes of forest fire at the K–Pg boundary. Scientific reports, 12(1), pp.1-11

Liu, Q., Kneller, B., An, W. and Hu, X., 2021. Sedimentological responses to initial continental collision: Triggering of sand injection and onset of mass movement in a syn-collisional trench basin, Saga, southern Tibet. Journal of the Geological Society of London. 178(6)

Kneller, B., Bozetti, G, Callow, R., Dykstra, M., Hansen, L. Kane, I., Li, P., McArthur, A., Santa Catharina., A., dos Santos, T. and Thompson, T., 2020. Architecture, process and environmental diversity in a late Cretaceous slope channel system. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 90, 1-26.

Zhang. Y., Liu, Z., Zhao, Y., Colin, C., Zhang, X., Wang, M., Zhao, S. and Kneller, B., 2018. Long-term in situ observations on typhoon-triggered deep-sea turbidity currents. Geology. doi.org/10.1130/G45178.1

Kneller, B., Nasr-Azadani, M.M. & Meiburg, E. 2016. Long-range sediment transport in the world’s oceans by stably stratified turbidity currents. Journal of Geophysical Research, 121, 8608–8620. 

Kneller, B., Dykstra, M., Fairweather, L. and Milana, J-P., 2016, Mass-transport and slope accommodation: implications for turbidite sandstone reservoirs. AAPG Bulletin,100, 213–235. 

Meiburg M.E. & Kneller, B.C. 2010. Turbidity currents and their deposits. Annual Reviews of Fluid Mechanics, 42, 135-56

Kneller, B.C., Milana, J.P., Buckee^, C.M, & al Ja’aidi, O.S., 2004. Depositional Record of Deglaciation in a Paleofjord (Late Carboniferous of San Juan Province, Argentina); the Role of Catastrophic Sedimentation. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 116, 348-367. 

Kneller, B.C., 2003. The influence of flow parameters on turbidite slope channel architecture. Marine & Petroleum Geology, 20, 901-910. 

Kneller, B.C. & Buckee, C.M., 2000. The structure and fluid mechanics of turbidity currents; a review of some recent studies and their geological implications. Sedimentology,47, (Supplement 1), 62-94. 

Kneller, B.C., Bennett, S.J., & McCaffrey, W.D., 1999. Velocity structure, turbulence and fluid stresses in experimental gravity currents. Journal of Geophysical Research, Oceans. 104, C3, 5281-5291. 

Kneller, B.C., 1995.  Beyond the turbidite paradigm: physical models for deposition of turbidites and their implications for reservoir prediction. InHartley A.J. & Prosser D.J.Characterisation of Deep Marine Clastic SystemsGeological Society of London Special Publication No 94, 31-49. 

Kneller, B.C., 1991.  A foreland basin on the southern margin of Iapetus. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 148, 207-210. 

Current Research

Current and upcoming research collaborations include:

1. Far-field effects of the Chicxulub bolide impact, north-western Mexico (with Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico; Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil; University of Leeds; University of Manchester)

2. Typhoon-triggered turbidity currents, and the Pleistocene Holocene record of gravity current activity in the Gaoping Canyon, offshore Taiwan (with Tongji University, Shanghai)

3. The record of initial continental collision of India and Asia int the trench basin of southern Tibet (with Nanjing Universoty, China)

4. Architecture of deepwater systems in the Cretaceous fore-arc basin of Tibet, mainly the Albian-Coniacian Ngamring Formation (with Chengdu University of Technology, China)

5. Interaction of gravity currents with topography - a laboratory study (with Zhejiang University, China)

6. Origin of carbonate megabeds within siliciclastic deepwater systems (with Universidad Nacional de San Juan; Universidad do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Brasil).

Collaborations

In addition to the collaborations listed under Current Research I am a collaborator with Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.