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
- Paper › Research › Not peer-reviewed
- 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
- Article › Research
- Published
On the origin of chevron marks and striated grooves, and their use in predicting mud bed rheology
McGowan, D., Salian, A., Baas, J., Peakall, J. & Best, J., Feb 2024, Sedimentology, 71, 2, p. 687-708 22 p.Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article
- Other contribution › Research › Not peer-reviewed
- Published
Confined Turbidite Systems, by S.A. Lomas & P. Joseph
Baas, J. H., 1 Jan 2004, Unknown.Research output: Other contribution
- Published
Fine Sediment Dynamics in the Marine Environment, by J.C. Winterwerp & C. Kranenberg
Baas, J. H. & Felix, M., 1 Jan 2003, Unknown.Research output: Other contribution
- Published
Handbook of Clay Science, by F. Bergaya, B.K.G. Theng & G. Lagaly - Book Review
Baas, J. H., 1 Mar 2007, Unknown.Research output: Other contribution
- Published
Introduction to the Physics of Cohesive Sediment Dynamics in the Marine Environment, by J.C.Winterwerp & C. Van Kesteren
Baas, J. H., 1 Sept 2005, Unknown.Research output: Other contribution
- Published
Muddy Coasts of the World: Processes, Deposits and Function, by T. Healy, Y. Wang & J.-A. Healy
Baas, J. H., 1 Jan 2003, Unknown.Research output: Other contribution
- Published
Physical Processes in Earth and Environmental Sciences, by M. Leeder & M. Pérez-Arlucea
Baas, J. H., 1 Sept 2006, Unknown.Research output: Other contribution
- Published
Submarine Mass Movements and their Consequences, by J. Locat, & J. Mienert
Baas, J. H. & Strachan, L., 1 May 2005, Unknown.Research output: Other contribution
- Book › Research › Not peer-reviewed
- 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
- Commissioned report › Research › Not peer-reviewed
- Published
Experimental Research on Hydraulics and Depositional Mechanisms of High-Density Turbidity Currents.
Baas, J. H., 1 Jan 2000, 2000 ed. Unknown.Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report
- Published
Sand Deposition from High-Density Turbidity Currents: Implications for the Emplacement Mode, Internal Structure, Texture and Geometry of Deep-Water Massive Sandstone Beds.
Baas, J. H., 1 Jan 2001, 2001 ed. Unknown.Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report