Projects
Find out more about our projects
EXCESS: the role of excess topography and peak ground acceleration on earthquake preconditioning of landslides
The EXCESS project will collect unprecedented data covering parts of the world susceptible to landslides. The project, led by the University of Plymouth, started in February 2024 and will run for three years. It is being funded through a grant of £778,812 from the Natural Environment Research Council.
Quake4D
The Quake4D project is funded by UK Research and Innovation as part of their Future Leaders Fellowship funding which has been awarded to Dr Zoë Mildon.
Quake4D is a four year project worth £1.1 million, that will unite geology, physics and computer modelling to develop new approaches to understanding and calculating earthquake hazard.
SENSUM: Smart SENSing of landscapes Undergoing hazardous hydrogeological Movement
SENSUM proposes a novel integrated approach for the management of hydrogeological hazards, leveraging advances in Wireless Sensor Net-works (WSNs) and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, microelectronics and machine learning to provide warnings of hazardous events and im-prove numerical models of their dynamics.
SENSUM is a £1.2 million project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) under its Constructing a Digital Environment programme.
The 3D anatomy of magma transport at fast-spreading ocean ridges
This NERC-funded project aims to discover how magma is transported during the construction of oceanic crust during seafloor spreading.
The project will combine magnetic fabric, paleomagnetic and geochemical methods and will develop a comprehensive model for the anatomy of the magma systems responsible for forming two-thirds of the Earth's surface, using the rock record to test and challenge current paradigms for seafloor spreading processes.
Tsunamigenic mass flows at Stromboli Volcano
Tsunamis generated by large mass flows, like large landslides and pyroclastic density currents (PDCs), constitute a lethal hazard in volcanic areas. This project aims to collect field data about recent events in Stromboli to accurately assess the process that triggered the tsunamis. By means of numerical simulations key parameters will be characterised that will help improve the early warning system and reduce the risk related to these unpredictable but extremely dangerous phenomena.
The project is funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council.
What was the North American climate like during the death of the dinosaurs?
The NERC-funded ‘Equable Earth’ project is trying to determine what temperatures were like across North America during the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary.Learn more about the project
NET: New technologies and participatory approaches for disaster resilience
The present project involves a multidisciplinary, international and diverse team who is working closely with local authorities and communities to incorporate digital field datasets and citizen science to enhance the knowledge of citizens about natural hazards, risk perception and post-disaster long term recovery and resilience patterns.
NET is funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering with the Frontiers of Development Seed funding Programme under the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).
Landscape evolution in New Zealand
Understanding how tectonics and climate interact to shape landscape change is a key challenge for geomorphologists.
This project is funded by the Leverhulme Trust and is a collaboration between Plymouth and the University of Victoria, Wellington, New Zealand.
Fossil earthquakes
Study examines causes of earthquakes originating deep below earth’s surface.
'The Geological Record of the Earthquake Cycle in the Lower Crust' project is funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council.
Oman drilling project
The project aims to answer scientific questions about the formation and modification of the oceanic crust and shallow mantle using drill core from the Oman ophiolite.
This is an international project co-funded by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP)
Landscape evolution and active tectonics in Western Turkey
Investigating the interactions between active tectonics and landscape evolution.
This project is funded by NERC facilities grant and the Geological Society of London.
Learn more about the project
Long term landscape evolution of the Moroccan High Atlas
A collaborative research effort aiming to understand the formation and development of the Moroccan Central High Atlas Mountains.
This project has been funded by the National Geographic, Royal Geographical Society and British Society for Geomorphology.
Project MAREST
Project MAREST (MARine Ecosystem Stability and Turnover) aims to investigate the long-term response of shallow-water marine communities to past sea-level and climate changes. By integrating sequence stratigraphy and palaeoecology (stratigraphic palaeobiology) with geochemical analytical methods, the faunal and environmental changes of the Jurassic Sundance Seaway (western United States) can be reconstructed.
Climate-related erosion of volcanic island landscapes, Cape Verde
Examines the Sahara Desert climate-related erosion of volcanic island landscapes using alluvial fan and river terrace landforms.
This project is a collaboration between Plymouth, SUERC (University of Glasgow), the University of Porto (Portugal) and Universidade Cabo Verde.
Carbonate clumped-isotopic constraints on marine temperatures during the Cretaceous
Despite the intensive study of Cretaceous marine temperatures using a variety of techniques, an equator–to-pole temperature profile for the Cretaceous greenhouse world remains poorly constrained.
We aim to address this significant gap in knowledge, building upon the pilot study of Price & Passey (2013).
