Professor Alex Maltman

Professor
n/a Photograph of Professor Alex Maltman.

Contact

Email: ajm@aber.ac.uk
Office: C8
Phone: +44 (0)1970 622 655
Fax: +44 (0)1970 622 659

Teaching Areas

Modules Taught

Module coordinator for:

  • Planet Earth (EA11510)

Contributes to:

  • Rocks And Minerals (EA11610)
  • The Earth In Space And Time (EA11810)
  • Oceanography And Marine Geology (EA21510)
  • Earth Resources (EA22520)

Biography

In 2004 I decided to take early retirement. However, I agreed to continue to deliver the popular introductory module “Planet Earth”.

Over 30-odd years, my research career touched on a wide range of geological matters and took me all over the world. Much of it centred on how geological sediments (sands, silts, clays, etc.) respond to stresses and strains. Sediment deformation arises in engineered situations such as landfill linings and in a range of natural environments such as unstable slopes (especially on the seafloor), beneath ice sheets, and at the ocean trenches where Earth’s plates are colliding. This latter situation led to my twenty year involvement with the international Ocean Drilling Program, and my investigating the deep ocean floor around the Pacific and Caribbean.

Since retirement my research has shifted to a long standing interest: the supposed influence of vineyard geology on wine. The idea is much hyped but, in my opinion, over- exaggerated. Reasons for this include the obvious misunderstandings of geology by most wine writers and so my current project is to prepare a book tentatively entitled “Geology and Wine”.

Recent publications include:

“The Geological Deformation of Sediments”, 1994, Chapman & Hall/ Springer, 362 p.

“Deformation of Glacial Materials”, 2000, edited by A.J. Maltman, B. Hubbard and M.J. Hambrey. Geological Society Special Publication 176, 344p.

“Subsurface Sediment Mobilization”, 2003, edited by P. Van Rensbergen, R.R. Hillis, A.J. Maltman and C.K. Morley. Geological Society Special Publication 216522 p.

Despite all this technical geology, much my most successful recent publication (2003) has been the little article in Geology Today, 19, 22-29 : “Wine, beer and whisky: the role of Geology”. This single article has lead to my giving lectures all over the U.K., as well as Ireland, France, and several places in the U.S.A.

Staff Publications

Peer Reviewed Book Chapters & Journal Articles

2006

  1. Etienne JL, Jansson KN, Glasser NF, Hambrey MJ, Davies JR, Waters RA, Maltman AJ, Wilby PR. 2006. Palaeoenvironmental interpretation of an ice-contact glacial lake succession: an example from the late Devensian of southwest Wales, UK. Quaternary Science Reviews, 25: 739-762.