Gernon
About
I am a Professor of Earth Science at the University of Southampton and formerly a Fellow of the Turing Institute, the United Kingdom’s national institute for data science and artifical intelligence. My research explores the controls on Earth surface evolution over geologic time. This includes the effects of tectonic, volcanic, sedimentary, and metamorphic processes; their interactions, and how these shape the climate state over different timescales. I established the Earth Intelligence Laboratory (EILAB) to exploit the untapped potential of novel, interdisciplinary, and data-driven approaches in the Earth and environmental sciences. EILAB tackles big, challenging questions about the evolution of the Earth's atmosphere, oceans, cryosphere, and biosphere. We also use data-driven approaches to find innovative solutions to the complex challenges facing society today.
PROJECTS
More information about selected active research projects
FIELDWORK
See the locations we work on across the globe
CONTACT US
Get in touch to find out more about our exciting research and opportunities
TEAM
Current and former PhDs and Postdocs in my Group
COLLABORATORS
Active international collaborations
IN THE NEWS
A selection of news stories featuring the Gernon Lab
TEAM
Over the past twelve years, I have supervised 17 PhD students (fourteen to completion and three in progress), six of these as lead supervisor, and 4 PDRAs. Over the same period, I have supervised over 20 MSci research projects, with approximately half of these leading to high-quality publications in leading international journals, for example, Nature (2), Nature Geoscience, Geology and Geophysical Research Letters.
Current Ph.D. students:
Aspen Sartin
Geology of Ice-Ages & Paleoclimate Modelling
Aspen Sartin
Paleoclimate & Ocean Biogeochemistry
Jessica Rawlings
Kimberlite geochemistry
Recently Completed Ph.D. students:
Rhiannon Rees
Volcanology & geochemistry
Now at Environment Agency
Emma Watts
Volcanology & geochemistry
Now at Swansea University
Emma Horn
Volcanology & geochemistry
Now at University of Oxford
Postdoctoral Researchers:
Dr Thea Hincks
Machine learning
Dr Jack Longman
Global geochemical cycles
Dr Hayley Manners
Organic geochemistry
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Dr Thea Hincks is currently working on NERC project, Environmental tipping points during supercontinent breakup (Gernon PI, NE/R004978/1), and the Turing Institute project, Machine learning of seismicity induced by hydraulic fracturing (Gernon PI).
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Dr Hayley Manners (now a Lecturer at Plymouth University) worked on NERC project, The role of marine diagenesis of tephra in the carbon cycle (Gernon Co-I, NE/K00543X/1)
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Dr Jack Longman (now at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg) worked on NERC project, The role of marine diagenesis of tephra in the carbon cycle (Gernon Co-I, NE/K00543X/1)
Completed Ph.D. students:
Contact the lab to find out about current opportunities
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Dr Holly Elliott, 2011-2015 (now Lecturer of Economic Geology at the University of Derby)
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Dr Melanie Siegburg, 2015-2019 (now a geologist with the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Germany)
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Dr Stuart Hatter, 2013-2017 (Research Fellow at Montserrat Volcano Observatory, and now a geologist at Badley Ashton)
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Dr Finnigan Illsley-Kemp, 2015-2018 (now Postdoctoral Fellow in Volcano Geodynamics, Victoria University of Wellington)
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Dr Tim Hughes, 2012-2016 (now Software Engineer, Riskaware)
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Dr John Emeana, 2012-2016 (now Director, Crown Analytics Ltd)
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Dr Maya Coussens, 2012-2016 (now Logistics Coordinator)
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Dr Michael Clare, 2012-2016 (now Marine Geoscientist, NOCS)
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Dr Melis Cevatoglu, 2011-2015 (now a Senior Geophysicist)
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Dr James Davey, 2015-2019 (now a consultant at SRK)
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Dr Ben Callow, 2016-2020 (now Postdoctoral Researcher at Ghent University)
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Dr Emma Horn, 2019-2023 (now Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Oxford)
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Dr Emma Watts, 2019-2023 (now Postdoctoral Researcher at Swansea University)
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Dr Rhiannon Rees, 2020-2024 (now environmental analyst at UK Environment Agency)
STUDY LOCATIONS
I have carried out extensive geological fieldwork in sixteen countries over six continents, and cumulatively spent over two years in the field collecting data. Click on the green symbols above to see some of the results of this work, and see my CV for a more comprehensive list of field locations.
COLLABORATORS
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Neoproterozoic glacial origin of the Great Unconformity (Dr Brenhin Keller, USA).
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Snowball Earth and the geology of Cryogenian glaciations (Prof Paul Hoffman, Harvard).
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Orbital forcing on Snowball Earth (Dr Ross Mitchell, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing).
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Environmental tipping points during supercontinent breakup (Dr Andrew Merdith, University of Adelaide, Australia).
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Drivers of global riverine suspended sediment fluxes in a warming world (Dr Julian Leyland and Steve Darby, Thea Hincks, Southampton).
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Earth and Moon impact flux over geologic time (Dr Bill Bottke, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), USA).
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Tectonic forcing of global chemical weathering in the Phanerozoic (Prof Eelco Rohling, ANU Canberra).
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Bayesian Networks and Model Learning for seismicity and climate applications (Prof Roger Cooke, Resources for the Future, Washington DC), with Dr Thea Hincks and Prof Willy Aspinall.
