This event is part of the Women Advancing River Research series.
Abstract: This talk will examine the relative role of rivers in driving landscape
change over million year and longer time-scales. We will begin by examining how
we can best achieve this using a combination of selective environments and
landforms. We will focus on reading the geomorphology and sedimentology of
some of the oldest landscapes in the world whilst journeying through
predominantly arid environments using the field research of the author in key
field sites in Spain, Morocco and Chile. These examples will provide opportunity
to examine the factors that shape Quaternary and Miocene landscapes in the
near absence of (macro) vegetation. We will explore the geomorphological and
sedimentological signature stored within landforms such as alluvial fans and
river terraces and adjacent environments such as slopes and lakes. These
examples will enable us to consider how our understanding has developed in
terms of the way fluvial landscapes respond to external environmental changes
such as rapid base-level change and modification of sediment and water inputs.
Biography: Professor Anne Mather began her geoscience education in NZ
through exposure to amazing geomorphology as a small child. This sewed the
seed that lead to the study of a Joint Honours degree in Geography and Geology
at the university of Hull, followed by a PhD in Geology at the University of
Liverpool (after a brief excursion into the petroleum Industry). This dual
geomorphology and geology perspective has driven her research focus,
combining geology and geomorphology in the study of landscape processes
over long time-scales. After her PhD she lectured at Worcester University for two
years before joining the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
at the University of Plymouth in 1992. She joined University of Plymouth as a
Lecturer and progressed to Professor in 2016. Her research has applied the
tools of sedimentology and geomorphology to a range of geoscience challenges
addressing Quaternary landscape change in predominantly dryland and
tectonically active environments. A particular focus is how we can better quantify
palaeoevents (eg flood magnitude; rates of catchment change, drainage
reorganisation) using a combination of field and remote approaches to
landscape analysis.