![Dr Alexander Brasier Dr Alexander Brasier](/img/200x200/staffpages/uploads/s10ab4/avatar/fjkHGt86NwTZEgk7o9VYniHk8ELwkJ6BVG8K5O1A.png)
Senior Lecturer
- About
-
- Email Address
- a.brasier@abdn.ac.uk
- Telephone Number
- +44 (0)1224 273449
- School/Department
- School of Geosciences
Biography
Senior Lecturer in Geology, University of Aberdeen, 2018 -
Lecturer in Geology, University of Aberdeen, 2014 - 2018
Tenure track postdoc, VU University Amsterdam, 2012 - 2014
Postdoc, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre / Glasgow University, 2009 - 2012
Stratigrapher, Neftex, 2007 - 2009
PhD, University of East Anglia School of Environmental Sciences, 2003 - 2007
International Exchange student, Queens University Ontario, Canada, 2001 - 2002
BSc Geology, University of Edinburgh, 1999 - 2003
Memberships and Affiliations
- Internal Memberships
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Honorary Museum Curator for Geology collections, University of Aberdeen
Examinations Officer for Geology 2018 - 2023
Academic Lead for Aberdeen Centre for Electron Microscopy, Analysis and Characterisation (ACEMAC): https://www.abdn.ac.uk/business-info/facilities-and-expertise/acemac-nano-scale-electron-microscopy-and-analysis-facility-846.php
Member of the Core Facilities / Research Facilities Working Group (2017 - )
Member of the Space Enhanced Teaching Working Group (2018); several Science Teaching Hub working groups (2019 onwards); Reimagining our Campus - Research and Innovation Working Group (2023 - ).
- External Memberships
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Chief Editor, Sedimentology (2021 - )
Member of the Bureau / Council of Management, International Association of Sedimentologists (2021 - )
Chair of the Organising Committee, 37th International Meeting of Sedimentology, IAS Aberdeen 2024 (2017 - 2024)
Associate Editor, Sedimentology (2017 - 2020)
External examiner for PhD theses, including Hannes Claes (KU Leuven, 2015), Matthew Warke (University of Manchester, 2017) and Ying Shields-Zhou (UCL, 2017); MRes thesis Stefania Schania (UEA, 2023).
Member of the board of the Scottish Microscopy Society (2021 - )
Prizes and Awards
2020 - 2021 - Funniest Lecturer Award (Aberdeen University Students Association / University of Aberdeen)
2018 - 2019 - Most Inspiring Lecturer Award (Aberdeen University Students Association / University of Aberdeen)
2020 Sun Shu Prize (International), International Association of Sedimentologists
- Research
-
Current Research
Stable isotope and elemental geochemistry combined with petrography (optical and electron microscopy) of carbonate rocks and sediments for palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, exploring connections between climate, biosphere and tectonics through all of Earth history, from the Quaternary to the Archaean.
Astrobiology and geobiology, including processes of microbe fossilisation and identification of ancient microbial fossils (see for example http://theconversation.com/the-hunt-for-life-on-mars-new-findings-on-rock-chimneys-could-hold-key-to-success-97998 and https://www.newscientist.com/article/2172262-these-eerie-rock-towers-may-have-been-built-by-microorganisms).
Diagenesis, particularly of carbonate rocks and sediments, distinguishing original from secondary (alteration) features.
Examining deposition and diagenesis of non-marine carbonates (microbial tufas, hot-spring travertines, soil calcretes and cave speleothems), including the impact of the arrival and diversification of vascular plants on these terrestrial carbonates, and on muddy Palaeozoic reefs. I do this using a combination of field techniques, petrography and (isotope and elemental) geochemistry. This work has both applied and academic relevance.
Collaborations
Numerous collaborators, including (but certainly not limited to):
Peir Pufahl (Queen's University, Ontario)
John Reijmer and Hubert Vonhof (VU University, Amsterdam / MPI Mainz)
Enrico Capezzuoli (University of Florence)
Mike Rogerson (Northumbria University)
Tony Fallick (SUERC), Tony Prave (St Andrews), Victor Melezhik (NGU), Dan Condon (BGS)
Anneleen Foubert and Eva de Boever (Universite de Fribourg, Switzerland)
Supervision
Supervisees
- MR CIAN MCAULEY
- MISS LUCY KERR
- Teaching
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Teaching Responsibilities
Undergraduate Teaching:
GL1005 The Earth through Geological Time (Palaeontology and Stratigraphy)
GL1505 Earth's Materials (Sedimentology)
GL2017 Earth's Life, Environments and Climate through Time (Course Coordinator)
GL2510 Introduction to Field Geology (Arran fieldtrip)
GL4031 Geochemistry and Geofluids (Thurso fieldtrip)
GL4033 Planetary Geology / Applied Geological Synthesis (Course Coordinator)
GL4532 Integrative Geology through Fieldwork
MSc Teaching:
GL5561 Earth and Planetary Surface and Internal Processes
GL5563 Astrobiology for Explorers (Course Coordinator)
GL5044 Applied sedimentology and structural geology
- Publications
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Page 1 of 3 Results 1 to 25 of 61
Exploring electron backscatter diffraction analysis as a tool for understanding stromatolite: Quantitative description of Cretaceous lacustrine stromatolite reveals formative processes and high-resolution climatic cycles
SedimentologyContributions to Journals: ArticlesRatification of the base of the ICS Geological Time Scale: the Global Standard Stratigraphic Age (GSSA) for the Hadean lower boundary
EPISODES: Journal of International Geoscience , vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 381-389Contributions to Journals: ArticlesDid evaporite cements and infiltrated silts assist preservation of reptile tracks in Permian desert sediments?
Sedimentary Geology, vol. 462, 106591Contributions to Journals: ArticlesSequence stratigraphical and palaeoenvironmental implications of Cenomanian–Santonian dinocyst assemblages from the Trans¬-Sahara epicontinental seaway: a multivariate statistical approach.
The Depositional Record, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 91-123Contributions to Journals: ArticlesSearching for Life in Hot Spring Carbonate Systems: Investigating Raman Spectra of Carotenoid-Bearing Organic Carbonaceous Inclusions from Travertines of Italy
Astrobiology, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 163-176Contributions to Journals: ArticlesIkaite formation in streams affected by steel waste leachate: first report and potential impact on contaminant dynamics
Chemical Geology, vol. 644, 121842Contributions to Journals: ArticlesInsights into the response of coral biomineralisation to environmental change from aragonite precipitations in vitro
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 364, pp. 184-194Contributions to Journals: ArticlesComposition of continental crust altered by the emergence of land plants
Nature Geoscience, vol. 15, pp. 735-740Contributions to Journals: ArticlesThe Steptoean Positive Carbon Isotope Excursion (SPICE), inorganic aragonite precipitation and seawater chemistry: Insights from the Middle - Late Cambrian Port au Port Group, Newfoundland
Depositional Record, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 502-523Contributions to Journals: ArticlesThe geomorphological distribution of subaqueous tufa columns within a hypersaline lake: Mono Lake, USA
Journal of Sedimentary Research, vol. 92, no. 6, pp. 530-545Contributions to Journals: ArticlesEffects of seawater pCO2 on the skeletal morphology of massive Porites spp. Corals
Marine Biology, vol. 169, no. 6, 73Contributions to Journals: ArticlesA template for an improved rock-based subdivision of the preCryogenian time scale
Journal of the Geological Society , vol. 179, no. 1, jgs2020-222Contributions to Journals: ArticlesLate Ediacaran life on land: desiccated microbial mats and large biofilm streamers
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 288, no. 1962, 20211875Contributions to Journals: ArticlesTowards a morphology diagram for terrestrial carbonates: evaluating the impact of carbonate supersaturation and alginic acid in calcite precipitate morphology
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 306, pp. 340-361Contributions to Journals: ArticlesObservations of reservoir quality alteration in proximity to igneous intrusions for two distinct sandstones units in Scotland
Marine and Petroleum Geology, vol. 129, 105071Contributions to Journals: ArticlesThe North West Highlands UNESCO Global Geopark: Oldest Fossils in Europe
Geoconservation Research, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 25-42Contributions to Journals: ArticlesDid the Benue Trough connect the Gulf of Guinea with the Tethys Ocean in the Cenomanian?: New evidence from the Palynostratigraphy of the Yola Sub-basin
Cretaceous Research, vol. 119, 104683Contributions to Journals: ArticlesSpotting alien life – how ‘microfossils’ could fool scientists
The ConversationContributions to Specialist Publications: ArticlesPetrological evidence supports the death mask model for the preservation of Ediacaran soft-bodied organisms in South Australia: Reply
Geology, vol. 47, no. 8, pp. E474-E474Contributions to Journals: Comments and Debates- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1130/G46519Y.1
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Detecting ancient life: Investigating the nature and origin of possible stromatolites and associated calcite from a one billion year old lake
Precambrian Research, vol. 328, pp. 309-320Contributions to Journals: ArticlesPetrological evidence supports the death mask model for the preservation of Ediacaran soft-bodied organisms in South Australia
Geology, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 215-218Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1130/G45918.1
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/13537/1/Liu_etal_EdiacaranPreservation_Geology_2019.pdf
- [ONLINE] View publication in Mendeley
- [ONLINE] https://abdn.pure.elsevier.com/en/en/researchoutput/petrological-evidence-supports-the-death-mask-model-for-the-preservation-of-ediacaran-softbodied-organisms-in-south-australia(9cabaf5d-e90c-47fb-91d9-8a78e88ff41d).html
Carbon isotopes, stratigraphy and environmental change: the Middle-Upper Cambrian Positive Excursion (SPICE) in Port-au-Port Group, Western Newfoundland, Canada
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, vol. 55, no. 11, pp. 1209-1222Contributions to Journals: ArticlesA microbial role in the construction of Mono Lake carbonate chimneys?
Geobiology, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 540-555Contributions to Journals: ArticlesThe hunt for life on Mars: new findings on rock 'chimneys' 'could hold key to success
The ConversationContributions to Specialist Publications: ArticlesWhat do we really know about early diagenesis of non-marine carbonates?
Sedimentary Geology, vol. 361, pp. 25-51Contributions to Journals: Articles