Biography
How and why sediment is deposited, the processes by which it consolidates and lithifies, and its micro- and macro-mineralogy fascinate me. I integrate data from global to sub-micro-scale, examining basin evolution, sediment provenance and its relationship to climate change including weathering and erosion and diagenesis. While focussing on understanding process, my research has a strong element of resource evaluation, and its contribution to the inventory of Earth resources.
For more than 25 years, the Sand Injection Research Group (SIRG) studied the natural injection of fluidised sand into actively propagating hydraulic fractures, and their influence on fluid migration and expulsion. This is significant for resource entrapment and recovery, and waste (nuclear, CO2) or resource (hydrogen, CH4) sequestration. Other research includes a) self-sufficient low C energy systems in rural environments, b) the origin, physical characterisation, and climatic significance of loessite, specifically associated with mass extinction events, c) modelling the effect of micro-scale granular features on rock physical characteristics, d) mineral-chemical stratigraphy.
Since 1992 I held the Chair in Production Geoscience (now Energy Geoscience). I am a former Director of MSc IPG and taught MSc IPG, OGEM & Oil & Gas Engineering, as well as level 1 and 4 UG courses. In 2015 I was awarded a Blaustein Professorship at Stanford University.
I was an elected Trustee of the Geological Society of London and served on various GSL committees. I served on senior committees in the AAPG and EAGE and I am an active member of the International Association of Sedimentology. I co-founded and was Chief Editor of Petroleum Geoscience (GSL/EAGE). As part of the Deepwater Horizon Trial between 2011 and 2014, I was engaged as an expert witness for the prosecution during which I was cross examined in court.