Professor Kevin T. PICKERING

Kevin's Mug
Department of Geological Sciences
University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT

Tel. 00 44 (0)20-7679-1325
Tel. 00 44 (0)20-8977-1719
Fax 00 44 (0)207-388-7614
Mobile: 0771-180-7358

Email: ucfbktp@ucl.ac.uk

Higher Education

B.Sc. Hons Geology (University of Bristol, 1976)
D.Phil. Physical Sciences (University of Oxford, 1979)
P.G.C.E. (Physics & Chemistry (University of Exeter, 1981)

Employment History

2000- UCL (University College London) - Professor of Sedimentology & Stratigraphy
1994-2000UCL (University College London) - Reader in Sedimentology & Stratigraphy
1985-1993 University of Leicester - University Lecturer, Department of Geology
1993-1994 Reader in Sedimentology
1981-1985 University of London, Goldsmiths' College - Research Demonstrator, Department of Geology

Membership of Professional Bodies,
Offices Held

1983- Fellow of The Geological Society of London.
1976- Member, International Association of Sedimentologists.
1976- Member, Society of Economic Paleontologists & Mineralogists.
1987-90 Elected Member of Council of The Geological Society, London.
1989-92 Editorial Board of the Journal of the Geological Society, London.
1992- Advisory Editor of international journal The Island Arc Blackwell Scientific, Australia.
1996- Member, Geological Society of America.
1997- Member, Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain.

Research interests

My principal active research interests are in various aspects of Earth surface processes/marine sedimentology. In particular, I work mainly on many aspects of deep-marine clastic sedimentology – process, sediments and environments. My research history can be summarised as follows:

• Late Precambrian passive margin deep-water systems, Finnmark, Arctic Norway, and Arctic Russia.

• Late Jurassic (Kimmeridge-Volgian) sedimentation, sedimentary geochemistry, and tectonics in NE Scotland and the northern North Sea.

• Pleistocene sedimentation and sedimentary geochemistry, Mississippi Fan, Gulf of Mexico (DSDP Leg 96, Shipboard scientist, 1983).

• Lower Palaeozoic sedimentation and tectonics of the circum-Atlantic region, particularly the Ordovician-Silurian of central Newfoundland and the Quebec Appalachians.

• Tertiary continental molasse sedimentation and tectonics, Ladakh Himalaya, India.

• Neogene sedimentation, sedimentary geochemistry and tectonics of the Nankai accretionary prism (Shipboard scientist, ODP Leg 131, 1990), offshore Japan.

• Lower-Middle Jurassic shallow-marine Bridport Sands, southern England.

• Neogene sedimentation and tectonics of southeast Japan.

• Lower Palaeozoic geology, Alai Range, southern Tien Shan, Kyrghyzstan and Uzbekistan, SE Central Asia.

• Geochemistry (majors, traces and REE) and clay mineralogy of mudrocks.

• Sediment flux. Nature, magnitude and frequency of sediment delivery to deep sea. Dissembling the sedimentary signals in marine sediments.

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Future and current research can be summarised as follows:

DEEP-WATER SEDIMENTARY PROCESSES AND ENVIRONMENTS

This research is essentially field-based in ancient deep-marine sedimentary records, e.g. current active research programmes in the Paleogene of SE France (Grès d'Annot turbidite system), the Paleogene of the north-central Pyrenees (Ainsa Drilling Project), and the Neogene of SE Spain (Tabernas and Sorbas basins). An aim of this research is to understand the controls on particular stratal packages (architectural element analysis). A quantitative approach to architectural elements is currently being developed which will permit an objective comparison between systems at a variety of scales: the scheme will also provide statistical data on elements which can be used in object-based stochastic modelling of deep-water systems.

SEDIMENTARY SIGNALS in active-margin basins

This research is in collaboration with many workers, notably Prof. Asahiko Taira (Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Japan) and Dr. Wonn Soh (University of Kyushu, Fukuoka, Japan), and colleagues at UCL Department of Geological Sciences (Drs Jürgen Thurow and Ellen PLatzman). The aim of this research, in the Plio-Pleistocene Kazusa Group forearc-basin stratigraphy of Boso Peninsula, SE Japan, is to recognise and quantify the contribution of each sedimentary signal to the overall stratigraphic evolution of a clastic forearc basin. This approach requires continuous stratigraphic sections, ideally those which can be placed within an astronomically-tuned time-scale - as is the case for the Kazusa Group, SE Japan. The sedimentary signals obtained in this study will represent the product of a number of distinct processes. These include:

  1. Tectonic signal. This signal will result both from long-term tectonic processes (basin and hinterland-arc subsidence and uplift), and geologically instantaneous seismic events (earthquakes). The subsidence history will be derived from back-stripping techniques, using well-constrained water depths. Fission-track work will help constrain the overall erosion and denudation history of the hinterland arc. The basinal sedimentary signal created by earthquake (seismic) events and storm-related spill-over should be resolved by detailed petrographic, textural and palaeontological work.
  2. Volcanic activity signal. The Pliocene-Pleistocene Boso section records the volcanic activity of the northern part of Izu Bonin island arc, as well as the Honshu arc. The volcanic signal is preserved in the ash/tuff layers.
  3. Water-mass / palaeoceanographic signal. Microfossil assemblages, biomarkers and geochemical tracers provide evidence of accumulation under the dominance of the cold (Oyashio) or warm-water (Kuroshio) currents; differences in the stable isotopic values of the planktonic and benthic species can be used to infer changes in the location of these water masses.
  4. Eustatic sea-level signal. This signal can be recognised by producing an independent glacial-interglacial record for the Kazusa Group, based upon an ultra high-resolution d18O record (from the abundant planktonic foraminifera known to be present throughout the Kazusa Group) and by correlation with published open-ocean curves.
  5. Climate and provenance signal. Pollen assemblages, land plant biomarkers and clay-mineral assemblages all provide data about the sedimentary response to climate change and, in conjunction with the eustatic sea-level signal, provide the possibility of identifying regional from global climatic signals.

Irrespective of the sedimentary response to any driving mechanism (above), it has been proposed that deep-water turbidite bed thickness distributions, in the absence of significant bed amalgamation and erosion, ideally obey a power law distribution. An aspect of this research is to test the hypothesis of a power-law distribution using the long and continuous records of the turbiditic sedimentary layers throughout the Kazusa Group. We will also endeavour to account for any distribution/cyclicity in terms of a causal process by using geochemical, petrographic and faunal-floral data to finger-print the sediment provenance (e.g. direct fluvial input, shelf-spillover during storms, seismically-induced slope failure).

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PublicationsStudentsThe Ainsa Project


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