Position: Reader

Room: 305 Craig Mair

Phone: 01248 382894

E-mail: j.baas@bangor.ac.uk

Web: Google Scholar, ResearchGate

I am Reader in Fine Particle Dynamics in the School of Ocean Sciences, and specialise in the erosion, transport, and deposition of fine, cohesive sediment. I graduated from the University of Utrecht (the Netherlands) with a combined BSc/MSc in Sedimentary Geology in 1988. At the same university, I completed my PhD in Bedform Dynamics in 1993. Subsequently, I was Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Geomar Research Centre in Kiel, Germany (studying Late-Pleistocene climate signals in slope sediments from the North-Atlantic continental margin), at the University of Rouen, France (on resuspension processes in the Seine estuary and gravel mining in the English Channel), and at the University of Bergen, Norway (investigating grain orientations in turbidite deposits).

In 1998, I moved to the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds, where I started as a Marie Curie Research Fellow and then became a Senior Research Fellow. My research in Leeds included the physical properties of particulate density currents and their deposits and the dynamics of turbulence-modulated flows carrying cohesive clay particles. I took up my present post in Bangor in January 2007.

I am a process sedimentologist with more than 25 years of experience in sediment transport in fluvial, shallow marine, and deep-marine environments. My main fundamental and applied research interests include physical and biological cohesion in fine-grained sediment, the dynamics of sedimentary bedforms, and sediment gravity flows in the deep ocean, but my expertise also stretches to hydraulic engineering, palaeoclimatology, and mathematical modelling. I combine experimental research with field work to answer timely research questions, taking a blue-skies approach as well as collaborating with industry.

Research Area

Sediment Dynamics and Morphology

I teach a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules in geological oceanography, sedimentology, physical geography, and general research skills. 

In Bangor, I have supervised 9 PhD students (3 as lead supervisor).

Marijke de Vet: Turbulent-laminar transitions in flows laden with cohesive sediment  (Dorrell, Hull; Baas, Bangor), Funded by Turbidite Research Group, Leeds.

Megan Baker: Effect of clay type on sediment gravity flow dynamics (Baas, Bangor), Funded by StatOil.

Melissa Craig: Effect of cohesive biological polymers on sediment gravity flow dynamics (Amos, Adelaide; Baas, Bangor; Strachan, New Zealand), Funded by University of Adelaide.

Connor McCarron: Hiding-exposure effect on the transport of mixed sand-gravel (van Landeghem, Baas, Bangor), Funded by NERC.

Dougal Lichtman: Combined effects of hydrodynamics and cohesive clay on bedform morphology and migration on sand tidal flats (Thorne, Amoudry, NOC Liverpool; Baas, Bangor), Funded by NERC.

Julie Hope: The biological mediation of cohesive and non-­cohesive sediment dynamics (Paterson, USTAN; Baas, Bangor), Funded by NERC.

Xuxu Wu: Wave ripple development in mixed clay-sand (Parsons, Hull; Baas, Bangor), Funded by University of Hull.

Cai Ladd: Ecological resilience in a hydrological context: Interactions of biological and physical processes on patterns of saltmarsh erosion (Skov, Baas, Bangor), Funded by NERC.

Iris Verhagen: Flow-sediment interactions in turbidity currents moving over soft, muddy beds (Baas, Bangor; McCaffrey, Leeds), Funded by Turbidite Research Group, Leeds.

Current

Effect of clay type on sediment gravity flow dynamics. Funded by StatOil. Collaborators: Jaco H. Baas (Bangor), Ian Kane (Manchester), various (Statoil Bergen).

Wave-induced bedform dynamics in mixed cohesive-noncohesive sediments. Funded by 7th Framework Programme, European Union, Hydralab IV. Collaborators: Jaco H. Baas (Bangor), Joris Eggenhuisen, Gerben Ruessink (Utrecht), Matthieu Cartigny (Durham), Peter Thorne, Laurent Amoudry (NOC Liverpool), Dominique Mouaze (Caen).

Silt and very fine sand as main drivers of sediment deposition in submarine fans. Funded by TNA programme of EPOS Multi-Scale Laboratories. Collaborators: Jaco H. Baas, Megan Baker (Bangor), Joris Eggenhuisen (Utrecht), Lorna Strachan (Auckland, New Zealand), David Hodgson (Leeds).

Effect of ‘sticky’ biological polymers on the transport of sand and clay by underwater landslides. Funded by Santander Mobility Award. Collaborators: Jaco H. Baas (Bangor), Rafael Manica, Patricia Buffon (Porto Alegre, Brazil)

Validating a new model for particle suspension using laboratory flume experiments. Funded by Seed Funding Programme of UCD, Ireland. Collaborators: Lawrence Amy (UCD), Jaco H. Baas (Bangor), Rob Dorrell (Hull).

GEOSTICK: Morphodynamic Stickiness. Funded by European Research Council, Brussels. Collaborators: Daniel Parsons (Hull), Jaco H. Baas, Jonathan Malarkey (Bangor).

Turbulent-laminar transitions in flows laden with cohesive sediment. Funded by Turbidite Research Group, Leeds. Collaborators: Robert Dorrell (Durham), Daniel Parsons (Hull), Jaco H. Baas (Bangor), Bill McCaffrey (Leeds).

Completed

Experimental cohesive sediment gravity flows and their deposits. Funded by Universidade FRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil. Collaborators: Jaco H. Baas (Bangor), Rafael Manica (Porto Alegre).

Realistic sedimentary bedform prediction: Incorporating physical and biological cohesion (COHBED). Funded by NERC. Collaborators: Jaco H. Baas, Alan Davies, Jonathan Malarkey (Bangor), Peter Thorne (NOC Liverpool), Sarah Bass, Andrew Manning, Robert Schindler (Plymouth), Daniel Parsons (Hull), David Paterson (USTAN), Jeff Peakall (Leeds). 

The role of estuarine sediments as a reservoir for pathogenic micro-organisms. Funded by Welsh Water. Collaborators: Shelagh Malham, Colin Jago, Jaco H. Baas (Bangor)

Intrabed turbidity currents. Funded by Universidade FRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil. Collaborators: Jaco H. Baas (Bangor), Rafael Manica (Porto Alegre).

Framework for Ria Formosa water quality, aquaculture and resource development. Funded by 7th Framework Programme, European Union, COEXIST. Collaborators: various (Lisbon), Jaco H. Baas (Bangor).

Impacts of hydrological variability on material transfers through the river-estuary transition zone (RETZ). Funded by NERC. Collaborators: Colin Jago, Jaco H. Baas, Hilary Kennedy, Simon Neill (Bangor).

The environmental application of field-based ultrasonic Doppler velocimetry in sandy and muddy estuaries. Funded by CCCR. Collaborators: Colin Jago, Jaco H. Baas (Bangor).

Field observation and modelling of the sediment triad (FORMOST). Funded by NERC. Collaborators: Alan Davies, Jaco H. Baas, Colin Jago (Bangor), Laurent Amoudry, Alex Souza, Peter Thorne, Judith Wolfe (NOC Liverpool).