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
- Article › Research › Peer-reviewed
- Published
A phase diagram for turbulent, transitional and laminar clay suspension flows.
Baas, J. H., Best, J. L., Peakall, J. & Wang, M., 1 Mar 2009, In: Journal of Sedimentary Research. 79, 3-4, p. 162-183Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
An integrated process-based model of flutes and tool marks in deep-water environments: implications for palaeohydraulics, the Bouma sequence, and hybrid event beds
Peakall, J., Best, J., Baas, J. H., Hodgson, D. M., Clare, M. A., Talling, P. J., Dorrell, R. M. & Lee, D. R., Jun 2020, In: Sedimentology. 67, 4, p. 1601-1666 66 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- 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. 19-32Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Bedform migration in a mixed sand and cohesive clay intertidal environment and implications for bed material transport predictions
Lichtman, I. D., Baas, J. H., Amoudry, L. O., Thorne, P. D., Malarkey, J., Hope, J. A., Peakall, J., Paterson, D. M., Bass, S. J., Cooke, R. D., Manning, A. J., Davies, A. G., Parsons, D. R. & Ye, L., 15 Aug 2018, In: Geomorphology. 315, p. 17-32 66 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Biomediation of submarine sediment gravity flow dynamics
Craig, M., Baas, J. H., Amos, K. J., Strachan, L. J., Manning, A. J., Paterson, D. M., Hope, J. A., Nodder, S. D. & Baker, M. L., Jan 2020, In: Geology. 48, 1, p. 72-76Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Blood, lead and spheres: a hindered settling equation for sedimentologists based on metadata analysis
Baas, J. H., Baker, M. L., Buffon, P., Strachan, L. J., Bostock, H. C., Hodgson, D. M., Eggenhuisen, J. T. & Spychala, Y. T., Jun 2022, In: The Depositional Record. 8, 2, p. 603-615 13 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- E-pub ahead of print
Coming to light: How effective are sediment gravity flows in removing fine suspended carbonate from reefs?
Baas, J., Hewitt, W., Lokier, S. & Hendry, J., 27 Nov 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: The Depositional Record.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- 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. 1911-1921Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Comparison of spatio-temporal evolution of experimental particulate gravity flows at two different initial concentrations, based on velocity, grain size and density data.
Choux, C. M., Baas, J. H., McCaffrey, W. D. & Haughton, P. D., 1 Aug 2005, In: Sedimentary Geology. 179, 1-2, p. 49-69Research 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
Conditions for formation of massive turbiditic sandstones by primary depositional processes.
Baas, J. H., 1 Apr 2004, In: Sedimentary Geology. 166, 3-4, p. 292-310Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- 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. C11015Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- 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 journal › Article › peer-review
- 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. 1953-1987Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Deposits of depletive high-density turbidity currents: a flume analogue of bed geometry, structure and texture.
Baas, J. H., Van Kesteren, W. & Postma, G., 1 Oct 2004, In: Sedimentology. 51, 5, p. 1053-1088Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- 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. 101-142Research 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
- Accepted/In press
Distinguishing microbially induced sedimentary structures from fluid-induced interfacial deformation structures (MISS versus FIDS)
Wignall, P. B., Peakall, J., Best, J. & Baas, J., 4 Mar 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: The Geological Society Special Publications.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Does sand promote or hinder the mobility of cohesive sediment gravity flows?
Baker, M. L. & Baas, J., Feb 2023, In: Sedimentology. 70, 4, p. 1110-1130 21 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- 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. 71-88Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Dynamics and deposition of sediment-bearing multi-pulsed flows and geological implication
Ho, V. L., Dorrell, R. M., Keevil, G., Thomas, R. E., Burns, A. D., Baas, J. H. & McCaffrey, W. D., Nov 2019, In: Journal of Sedimentary Research. 89, 11, p. 1127-1139Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- 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. 153-166Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Earth Science Editorial.
Baas, J. H., 1 Feb 2004, In: Annals of the Marie Curie Fellowships. 3, p. 42Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Earth Science Editorial.
Baas, J. H., 1 Jul 2002, In: Annals of the Marie Curie Fellowships. 2, p. 34Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Effect of Bed Clay on Surface Water-Wave Reconstruction from Ripples
Malarkey, J., Pollard, E., Fernández, R., Xuxu, W., Baas, J. & Parsons, D., 28 Dec 2024, In: Scientific Reports. 14, 1, p. 30688 30688.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review