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

Sediment Dynamics and Morphology

  1. Published

    Sole marks reveal deep-marine depositional process and environment: implications for flow transformation and hybrid event bed models

    Baas, J., Tracey, N. D. & Peakall, J., 4 Oct 2021, In: Journal of Sedimentary Research. 91, 9, p. 986–1009

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  2. Published

    EZ-ROSE: a computer program for equal-area circular histograms and statistical analysis of two-dimensional vectorial data.

    Baas, J. H., 1 Mar 2000, In: Computers and Geosciences. 26, 2, p. 153-166

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  3. Published

    Duration of deposition from decelerating high-density turbidity currents.

    Baas, J. H., Van Dam, R. L. & Storms, J. E., 1 Oct 2000, In: Sedimentary Geology. 136, 1-2, p. 71-88

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  4. Published

    Coupling between suspended sediment distribution and turbulence structure in a laboratory turbidity current.

    Baas, J. H., McCaffrey, W. D., Haughton, P. D. & Choux, C., 1 Jan 2005, In: Journal of Geophysical Research - Oceans. 110, c11, p. C11015

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  5. Published

    Earth Science Editorial.

    Baas, J. H., 1 Jul 2002, In: Annals of the Marie Curie Fellowships. 2, p. 34

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  6. 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. 336-340

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  7. Published

    The dynamics of turbulent, transitional and laminar clay-laden flow over a fixed current ripple.

    Baas, J. H. & Best, J. L., 1 Jun 2008, In: Sedimentology. 55, 3, p. 635-66

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  8. Published

    Comparing the transitional behaviour of kaolinite and bentonite suspension flows

    Baas, J., Best, J. L. & Peakall, J., Oct 2016, In: Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. 41, 13, p. 1911-1921

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  9. Published

    Experimental model for turbulence modulation in natural clay-laden flows.

    Baas, J. H., Best, J. L., Peakall, J. & Wang, M., 1 Jan 2006.

    Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

  10. Published

    Can sedimentological flows with small amounts of clay particles form massive sandstone beds?

    Baas, J. H. & Best, J. L., 1 Jan 2001.

    Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

  11. Published

    Current- and Wave-Generated Bedforms on Mixed Sand–Clay Intertidal Flats: A New Bedform Phase Diagram and Implications for Bed Roughness and Preservation Potential

    Baas, J., Malarkey, J., Lichtman, I. D., Amoudry, L. O., Thorne, P., Hope, J. A., Peakall, J., Paterson, D. M., Bass, S., Cooke, R. D., Manning, A. J., Parsons, D. & Ye, L., 3 Nov 2021, In: Frontiers Earth Science. 9, 747567.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  12. Published

    Grain fabric control on directional permeability in deep-marine sandstones.

    Baas, J. H., McCaffrey, W. D., Hailwood, E. & Kay, M., 1 Jan 2006.

    Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

  13. 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 conferencePaper

  14. Published

    Conditions for formation of massive turbiditic sandstones by primary depositional processes.

    Baas, J. H., 1 Apr 2004, In: Sedimentary Geology. 166, 3-4, p. 292-310

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  15. Published

    Depositional processes, bedform development and hybrid bed formation in rapidly decelerated cohesive (mud–sand) sediment flows

    Baas, J. H., Best, J. L. & Peakall, J., 1 Dec 2011, In: Sedimentology. 58, 7, p. 1953-1987

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  16. Published
  17. Published

    Bedform development in mixed sand–mud: The contrasting role of cohesive forces in flow and bed

    Baas, J. H., Davies, A. G. & Malarkey, J., 15 Jan 2013, In: Geomorphology. 182, p. 19-32

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  18. Published
  19. 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 conferencePaper

  20. Published

    Earth Science Editorial.

    Baas, J. H., 1 Feb 2004, In: Annals of the Marie Curie Fellowships. 3, p. 42

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  21. Published

    Flow dynamics and depositional properties of cohesive mixed sand-mud currents with transient turbulent behaviour.

    Baas, J. H., Best, J. L., Peakall, J., McCaffrey, B. & Wang, M., 1 Jan 2006.

    Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

  22. Published

    Can vertical stacking of low-angle bedforms produce rhythmic bedding in slurry flow deposits.

    Baas, J. H., Best, J. L. & Peakall, J., 1 Jan 2006.

    Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

  23. Published

    Directional petrological characterisation of deep-marine sandstones using grain fabric and permeability anisotropy: methodologies, theory, application and suggestions for integration.

    Baas, J. H., Hailwood, E. A., McCaffrey, W. D., Kay, M. & Jones, R., 1 May 2007, In: Earth Science Reviews. 82, 1-2, p. 101-142

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  24. Published

    The Deep-Water Architecture Knowledge Base: Towards objective comparison of deep-marine sedimentary systems.

    Baas, J. H., McCaffrey, W. D. & Knipe, R. J., 1 Nov 2005, In: Petroleum Geoscience. 11, 4, p. 309-320

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  25. Published

    Ripple formation induced by biogenic mounds – Comment

    Baas, J. H. & Best, J. L., 15 Aug 2000, In: Marine Geology. 168, 1-4, p. 145-151

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review