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
The role of biophysical cohesion on subaqueous bed form size
Parsons, D. R., Schindler, R. J., Hope, J. A., Malarkey, J., Baas, J. H., Peakall, J., Manning, A. L., Ye, L., Simmons, S., Paterson, D. M., Aspden, R. J., Bass, S. J., Davies, A. G., Lichtman, I. D. & Thorne, P. D., 28 Jan 2016, In: Geophysical Research Letters. 43, p. 1566-1573Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Thresholds of intrabed flow and other interactions of turbidity currents with soft muddy substrates
Baas, J., Manica, R., Puhl, E. & Borges, A. L. D. O., 1 Dec 2016, In: Sedimentology. 63, 7, p. 2002-2036Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Turbulence modulation behind ripples and dunes in clay-laden currents.
Baas, J. H. & Best, J. L., 1 Jan 2004.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
- Published
Turbulence modulation in clay-laden flows over ripples and dunes.
Baas, J. H. & Best, J. L., 1 Jan 2005.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
- Published
Turbulence modulation in clay-rich flows: Implications for depositional process and bed form geometry.
Baas, J. H. & Best, J. L., 1 Jan 2005.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
- Published
Turbulence modulation in clay-rich sediment-laden flows and some implications for sediment deposition.
Baas, J. H. & Best, J. L., 1 Jan 2002, In: Journal of Sedimentary Research. 72, 3, p. 336-340Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Turbulence modulation in high-concentration clay-rich flows and the possible origin of “massive” sand beds.
Baas, J. H. & Best, J. L., 1 Jan 2000, p. 6-7.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
- Published
Turbulence-modulated clay-laden flow over flat beds, ripple and dunes.
Baas, J. H. & Best, J. L., 1 Jan 2005.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
- Accepted/In press
Using mixed-clay sediment gravity flow rheology as an indicator for flow velocity and run-out distance
Baker, M., Baas, J., Malarkey, J. & Silva Jacinto, R., 10 Jul 2024, (Accepted/In press) Particulate Gravity Currents in the Environment. American Geophysical UnionResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
- Published
Visualizing the flow fields of sediment-laden density currents.
Peakall, J., Best, J. L., Baas, J. H. & Al-Musallami, Z., 1 Jan 2000.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
- 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
Wave ripples in mixtures of cohesive clay and cohesionless sand: Preliminary results
Baas, J. H., Westlake, A., Eggenhuisen, J., Amoudry, L., Cartigny, M., Coultish, N., McLelland, S., Mouazé, D., Murphy, B., Parsons, D., Rosewell, K., Ruessink, G., Schrijvershof, R., Wu, X. & Ye, L., 1 Jul 2014.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
- Published
When is a clay-laden current turbulent, transitional or laminar? A new stability diagram based on flow dynamics and clay concentration.
Baas, J. H., Best, J. L., Peakall, J. & Wang, M., 1 Jan 2005.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper