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School of Geosciences

Professor Benjamin Kneller

Professor Benjamin Kneller
Professor Benjamin Kneller
Professor Benjamin Kneller

Emeritus Professor

About
Email Address
b.kneller@abdn.ac.uk
School/Department
School of Geosciences

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

Qualifications

  • PhD Geology 
    1988 - University of Aberdeen 

External Memberships

International Association of Sedimentologists

Geological Society of London

Research

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.

Supervision

I have supervised or co-supervised 36 PhD students, 27 as first supervisor. I currently (2021) co-supervise two PhD students in China.

Publications

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  • Physical, biological, geochemical and sedimentological controls on the ichnology of continental slope channel systems

    Callow, R. H. T., Kneller, B., Dykstra, M., McIlroy, D.
    Marine and Petroleum Geology, vol. 54, pp. 144-166
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Quantitative analysis of the geometry of submarine external levées

    Nakajima, T., Kneller, B. C.
    Sedimentology, vol. 60, no. 4, pp. 877-910
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Architecture and controlling factors of canyon fills on the shelf margin in the Qiongdongnan Basin, northern South China Sea

    He, Y., Xie, X., Kneller, B. C., Wang, Z., Li, X.
    Marine and Petroleum Geology, vol. 41, pp. 264-276
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Integrated ichnological and sedimentological analysis of a Late Cretaceous submarine channel-levee system: the Rosario Formation, Baja California, Mexico

    Callow, R. H. T., McIlroy, D., Kneller, B., Dykstra, M.
    Marine and Petroleum Geology, vol. 41, pp. 277-294
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Integrating modern seafloor and outcrop data in the analysis of slope channel architecture and fill

    Gamberi, F., Rovere, M., Dykstra, M., Kane, I. A., Kneller, B. C.
    Marine and Petroleum Geology, vol. 41, pp. 83-103
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Ichnology of late Cretaceous turbidites from the Rosario Formation, Baja California, Mexico

    Callow, R. H. T., McIlroy, D., Kneller, B., Dykstra, M.
    Ichnos, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 1-14
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Forward modeling of a deep water slope channel system, Baja, California

    Zhang, H., Kneller, B.
    Contributions to Journals: Conference Articles

  • Turbidity currents and powder snow avalanches

    Meiburg, E., McElwaine, J., Kneller, B.
    Handbook of Environmental Fluid Dynamics: Volume One: Overview and Fundamentals. Fernando, H. J. (ed.). Taylor & Francis, pp. 557-573, 17 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Submarine levees: form, process and reservoir prediction

    Kneller, B. C.
    AAPG Search and Discovery , 50707
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Bed-thickness and grain-size trends in a small-scale proglacial channel-levee system; the Carboniferous Jejenes Formation, Western Argentina: implications for turbidity current flow processes

    Dykstra, M., Kneller, B., Milana, J. P.
    Sedimentology, vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 605-622
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Deep-water sediment wave formation: linear stability analysis of coupled flow/bed interaction

    Lesshafft, L., Hall, B., Meiburg, E., Kneller, B. C.
    Journal of Fluid Mechanics, vol. 680, pp. 435-458
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Mass-transport deposits: combining outcrop studies and seismic forward modeling to understand lithofacies distributions, deformation, and their seismic expression

    Dykstra, M., Garyfalou, K., Kertznus, V., Kneller, B., Milana, J. P., Molinaro, M., Szuman, M., Thompson, P.
    SEPM Special Publication, vol. 96, pp. 293-310
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Submarine channel levee shape and sediment waves from physical experiments

    Kane, I. A., McCaffrey, W. D., Peakall, J., Kneller, B. C.
    Sedimentary Geology, vol. 223, no. 1-2, pp. 75-85
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Turbidity currents and their deposits

    Meiburg, E., Kneller, B.
    Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, vol. 42, pp. 135-156
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Architecture of a coarse-grained channel-levee system: the Rosario Formation, Baja California, Mexico

    Kane, I. A., Dykstra, M. L., Kneller, B. C., Tremblay, S., McCaffrey, W. D.
    Sedimentology, vol. 56, no. 7, pp. 2207-2234
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • External Controls on Deepwater Depositional Systems

    Kneller, B., McCaffrey, W., Martinsen, O.
    Vol. 92, SEPM, Tulsa, OK, USA. 402 pages
    Books and Reports: Books

  • Clinoform quantification for assessing the effects of external forcing on continental margin development

    Kertznus, V., Kneller, B.
    Basin Research, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 738-758
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • External controls on deep-water sedimentary systems: challenges and perspectives

    Kneller, B., Martinsen, O. J., McCaffrey, B.
    External Controls on Deep-Water Depositional Systems: Climate, Sea Level, and Sediment Flux. Kneller, B., Martinsen, O. J., McCaffrey, B. (eds.). SEPM, pp. 5-12
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Lateral accretion in a deep-marine channel complex: implications for channellized flow processes in turbidity currents

    Dykstra, M., Kneller, B.
    Sedimentology, vol. 56, no. 5, pp. 1411-1432
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • The shape of submarine levees: exponential or power law?

    Birman, V. K., Meiburg, E., Kneller, B.
    Journal of Fluid Mechanics, vol. 619, pp. 367-376
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Channel formation by turbidity currents: Navier-Stokes based linear stability analysis

    Hall, B., Meiburg, E., Kneller, B.
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings

  • Channel formation by turbidity current: Navier-Stokes-based linear stability analysis

    Hall, B., Meiburg, E., Kneller, B.
    Journal of Fluid Mechanics, vol. 615, pp. 185-210
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Anatomy of a submarine channel-levee: An example from Upper Cretaceous slope sediments, Rosario Formation, Baja California, Mexico

    Kane, I. A., Kneller, B. C., Dykstra, M., Kassem, A., McCaffrey, W. D.
    Marine and Petroleum Geology, vol. 24, no. 6-9, pp. 540-563
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • A high-resolution record of deep-water processes in a confined paleofjord, Quebrada de las Lajas, Argentina

    Dykstra, M., Kneller, B. C., Milana, J. P.
    Atlas of Deep-Water Outcrops. Studlick, J., Shew, R., Nilsen, T., Steffens, G. (eds.). American Association of Petroleum Geologists, pp. 42-44, 3 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Canyon San Fernando, Mexico: A Deep-water, Channel-levee Complex Exhibiting Evolution from Submarine Canyon — Confined to Unconfined

    Dykstra, M., Kneller, B. C.
    Atlas of Deep-Water Outcrops. Studlick, J., Shew, R., Nilsen, T., Steffens, G. (eds.). American Association of Petroleum Geologists, pp. 226-230, 5 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • The Peira Cava outlier of the Annot Sandstones, SE France

    Amy, L., McCaffrey, W. D., Kneller, B. C.
    Atlas of Deepwater Outcrops. Studlick, J., Shew, R., Nilsen, T., Steffens, G. (eds.). American Association of Petroleum Geologists, pp. 185-187
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Facies architecture of the Grès de Peïra Cava, SE France: Landward stacking patterns in ponded turbiditic basins

    Amy, L. A., Kneller, B. C., McCaffrey, W. D.
    Journal of the Geological Society , vol. 164, no. 1, pp. 143-162
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • A generic model for the filling of ponded turbidite basins: interpretation of the Grès de Peïra Cava

    Amy, L., Kneller, B. C., McCaffrey, W. D.
    Journal of the Geological Society , vol. 164, pp. 143-162
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Mass-transport as a fundamental control on deglacial and postglacial sedimentation; the Carboniferous Jejenes Fm., San Juan, Argentina

    Dykstra, M., Kneller, B. C., Milana, J. P.
    Geological Society of America Bulletin, vol. 118, pp. 913-937
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • High resolution simulations of particle-driven gravity currents

    Meiburg, E., Blanchette, F., Strauss, M., Kneller, B., Glinsky, M. E., Necker, F., Härtel, C., Kleiser, L.
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings

  • High-resolution numerical simulations of resuspending gravity currents: conditions for self-sustainment

    Blanchette, F., Strauss, M., Meiburg, E., Kneller, B. C., Glinsky, M.
    Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 110
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • A Depositional Record of Deglaciation in a Paleofjord (Late Carboniferous of San Juan Province, Argentina): the Role of Catastrophic Sedimentation

    Kneller, B. C., Milana, J. P., Buckee, C. M., Al Ja'aidi, O. S.
    Geological Society of America Bulletin, vol. 116, pp. 348-367
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • The influence of a lateral basin-slope upon the depositional patterns of natural and experimental turbidity currents

    Amy, L., Kneller, B. C., McCaffrey, W. D.
    Deep-Water Sedimentation in the Alpine Basin of SE France. Joseph, P., Lomas, S. (eds.). Geological Society of London, pp. 311-330, 19 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Experimental modeling of the spatial distribution of grain-size developed in a fill and spill mini-basin setting

    Brunt, R., McCaffrey, W. D., Kneller, B. C.
    Journal of Sedimentary Research, vol. 74, no. 3, pp. 438-446
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Factors influencing the deposit geometry of experimental turbidity currents: implications for sand-body architecture in confined basins

    Al Ja'aidi, O. S., McCaffrey, W. D., Kneller, B. C.
    Confined turbidite systems. Lomas, S., Joseph, P. (eds.). Geological Society of London Special Publication 222, pp. 45-58, 14 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Scale effects of non-uniformity on deposition from turbidity currents with reference to the Grès d'Annot of SE France

    McCaffrey, W. D., Kneller, B. C.
    In: Deep-Water Sedimentation in the Alpine Foreland Basin of SE France: New Perspectives on the Grès d'Annot (Eds. Jospeh,P.;Lomas,S. A.), Geological Society Of London Special Publications 221, pp. 301-310, 9 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • The interpretation of vertical sequences in turbidite beds: the influence of longitudinal flow structure

    Kneller, B. C., McCaffrey, W. D.
    Journal of Sedimentary Research, vol. 73, no. 5, pp. 706-713
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • The influence of flow parameters on turbidite slope channel architecture

    Kneller, B. C.
    Marine and Petroleum Geology, vol. 20, no. 6-8, pp. 901-910
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Prolific Deep Marine Slope Channels of the Nile Delta, Egypt

    Samuel, A., Raslan, S., Parsons, C., Kneller, B. C.
    AAPG Bulletin, vol. 87, pp. 541-560
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Turbidites

    Kneller, B. C.
    In: Encyclopaedia of sediments and sedimentary rocks (eds. Middleton,G. V.;Church,M. J.;Coniglio,M.;Hardie,L. A.;Longstaffe,F. J.), Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • A re-interpretation of a classical turbidite locality at San Clemente State Beach, California

    Camacho, H., Busby, C. J., Kneller, B. C.
    AAPG Bulletin, vol. 86, pp. 1543-1560
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Particulate gravity currents: perspectives

    Peakall, J., Felix, M., McCaffrey, W. D., Kneller, B. C.
    In: Particulate gravity currents, International Association of Sedimentologists (eds. McCaffrey,W. D.;Kneller,B. C.;Peakall,J.), Blackwell Sciences, Oxford, pp. 1-8, 7 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Process controls on the development of stratigraphic trap potential on the margins of confined turbidite systems, and aids to reservoir evaluation

    McCaffrey, W. D., Kneller, B. C.
    AAPG Bulletin, vol. 85, pp. 971-988
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Turbulence structure in steady, solute-driven gravity currents

    Buckee, C. M., Kneller, B. C., Peakall, J.
    In: Particulate Gravity Currents, (eds. McCaffrey,W. D.;Kneller,B. C.;Peakall,J.), Blackwell, Oxford,, pp. 173-188, 15 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Slumps, debris flows and sandy deep-water channel systems: implications for the application of sequence stratigraphy to deep water clastic sediments

    Cronin, B., Owen, D., Hartley, A., Kneller, B.
    Journal of the Geological Society , vol. 155, no. 3, pp. 429-432
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Excursion guide to the geology of the Aberdeen area ( Scotland).

    Trewin, N. H., Kneller, B. C., Gillen, C.
    Excursion guide to the geology of the Aberdeen area ( Scotland).. Scottish Academic Press Edinburgh/Geological Society of Aberdeen
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • The isotopic and structural age of the Aberdeen granite ( Scotland).

    Kneller, B. C., Aftalion, M.
    Journal of the Geological Society , vol. 144, no. 5, pp. 717-721
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Major shear zones and autochthonous Dalradian in the north-east Scottish Caledonides

    Ashcroft, W. A., Kneller, B. C., Leslie, A. G., Munro, M.
    Nature, vol. 310, no. 5980, pp. 760-762
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Amphibolite facies metamorphism in shear zones in the Buchan area of NE Scotland

    Kneller, B. C., Leslie, A. G.
    Journal of Metamorphic Geology, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 83-94
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
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