Dr Jaco Baas
Reader in Ocean Sciences

Contact info
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
- Published
Experimental constraints on shear mixing rates and processes: implications for the dilution of submarine debris flows
Talling, P. J., Peakall, J., Sparks, R. S., O'Cofaigh, C., Dowdeswell, J. A., Felix, M., Wynn, R. B., Baas, J. H., Hogg, A. J., Masson, D. G., Taylor, J. & Weaver, P. P., 1 Jan 2002, Glacier-Influenced Sedimentation on High-Latitude Continental Margins. 2002 ed. Geological Society Publishing House, p. 89-104Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
- Published
Reversed sediment wave migration in the Irish Sea, NW Europe: A reappraisal of the validity of geometry-based predictive modelling and assumptions
Van Landeghem, K. J., Baas, J. H., Mitchell, N., Wilcockson, D. & Wheeler, A. J., 15 Feb 2012, In: Marine Geology. 295-298, p. 95-112Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
5th International Conference on Marine & River Dune Dynamics (MARID), April 4th-6th, Caernarfon, UK
Van Landeghem, K., Garlan, T., Baas, J. H. & Van Landeghem, K. J. (Editor), 4 Apr 2016, Unknown Publisher.Research output: Book/Report › Book
- Accepted/In press
Softgrounds: Substrates controlled by sediment gravity flows and the evolution of deep-water trace fossils
Wang, Y., Wignall, P. B., Peakall, J., Baas, J. & Poulton, S. W., 10 Mar 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: The Geological Society Special Publications.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Marine redox dynamics and biotic response to the mid-Silurian Ireviken Extinction Event in a mid-shelf setting
Wang, Y., Wignall, P. B., Xiong, Y., Loydell, D. K., Peakall, J., Baas, J. H., Mills, B. J. W. & Poulton, S. W., 10 May 2024, In: Journal of the Geological Society. 181, 4, jgs2023-155.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Concepts and applications of fluvial sedimentology: Towards interdisciplinary analysis of process and product.
Weltje, G. J., Hoogendoorn, R. M., Marriott, S. B. & Baas, J. H., 15 Nov 2007, In: Sedimentary Geology. 202, 1-2, p. 1-4Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Distinguishing microbially induced sedimentary structures from fluid-induced interfacial deformation structures (MISS versus FIDS)
Wignall, P. B., Peakall, J., Best, J. & Baas, J., 7 Mar 2025, In: The Geological Society Special Publications. 556, 1Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Discontinuity in Equilibrium Wave–Current Ripple Size and Shape and Deep cleaning associated with Cohesive Sand–Clay Beds
Wu, X., Fernández, R., Baas, J., Malarkey, J. & Parsons, D. R., Sept 2022, In: Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface. 127, 9, p. e2022JF006771 e2022JF006771.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Wave ripple development on mixed clay–sand substrates: Effects of clay winnowing and armoring
Wu, X., Baas, J. H., Parsons, D. R., Eggenhuisen, J., Amoudry, L., Cartigny, M., McLelland, S., Mouazé, D. & Ruessink, G., Nov 2018, In: Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface. 123, 11, p. 2784-2801 35 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Influence of cohesive clay on wave–current ripple dynamics captured in a 3D phase diagram
Xuxu, W., Malarkey, J., Fernández, R., Baas, J., Pollard, E. & Parsons, D., 30 Jan 2024, In: Earth Surface Dynamics. 12, p. 231-247Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Fine sediment in mixed sand-silt environments impact bedform geometry by altering sediment mobility
de Lange, S. L., Niesten, I., van de Veen, S. H. J., Baas, J., Lammers, J., Waldschlaeger, K., Boelee, D. & Hoitink, A. J. F., Jul 2024, In: Water Resources Research. 60, 7, e2024WR037065.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Streamwise turbulence modulation in non-uniform open-channel clay suspension flows
de Vet, M. G. W., Fernandez, R., Baas, J. H., McCaffrey, W. D. & Dorrell, R. M., Aug 2023, In: Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface. 128, 8, e2022JF006781.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- E-pub ahead of print
Integrating transitional-flow signatures into hybrid event beds: Implications for hybrid flow evolution on a submarine lobe fringe
Łapcik, P. & Baas, J., 4 Sept 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Journal of Sedimentary Research.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review