Mr Jesse Zondervan

Research interests

PhD Project Title: Tectonic and climatic controls on Quaternary fluvial landscape development in NW Africa

Work on river catchments in the Moroccan Atlas Mountains, with a focus on geomorphology and neotectonics. In September I explored the Ouarzazate region with Dr Martin Stokes and Professor Anne Mather. In particular, I will be using river terraces and OSL dating techniques to understand river response in tectonically active regions.

The project, Quantifying landscape response to tectonics and climate using river terraces in the Atlas Mountains, central Morocco includes updates on ResearchGate.

My PhD is part of an ongoing effort to understand landscape evolution in the High Atlas Mountains by Dr Martin Stokes, Prof Anne Mather and Dr Sarah Boulton: 

Long term landscape evolution of the Moroccan High Atlas

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Investigating landscape response to active faulting:

I worked with Dr. Alex Whittaker, Dr. Rebecca Bell, Stephen Watkins and Sam Brooke at Imperial. I'm trained as a geologist and my background is in erosion and sedimentation, fluvial geomorphology, structural geology, climate and tectonics. My MSci project Investigating landscape response to active faulting, Southern Gulf of Corinth, Central Greece is what got me interested in the PhD project.

This dissertation was awarded the BSRG Award for Undergraduate Sedimentology.

Other research

Population dynamics and environment in South America

Another active project I contribute to is one with Dr Crystal McMichael and Dr Suzette Flantua at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). 

Collecting a complete radiocarbon database and using statistical analysis and modelling to determine the interaction between environment and population dynamics. 

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Palynology of Lake George

I've also done a project with  Dr. Janelle Stevenson  and  Professor Brad Pillans  at the Australian National University (ANU) on the palynology of Lake George, which hosts the longest paleoenvironmental record in Australia. Feel free to check my report Palynology of Lake George -A review of palynology, Lake George and regional & global Quaternary comparisons and the start of palynological analysis of a new Lake George core.

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Preserved fossil coral heads as indicators of Holocene high sea level

I'm still waiting for some paleoreef samples to be dated at the Australian National University, as I collected these on an undergraduate project with Dr Bradley Opdyke. This research,  Preserved fossil coral heads as indicators of Holocene high sea level on One Tree Island  goes into sea level records and isostatic adjustment models.

Grants & contracts

2018 Geological Remote Sensing Group Student Award