Professor Nick Pearce

Professor
BSc in Geology with Geochemistry (University of Manchester)
PhD (University of Durham) Photograph of Professor Nick Pearce.

Contact

Email: njp@aber.ac.uk
Office: E21c
Phone: +44 (0)1970 622 599
Fax: +44 (0)1970 622 659

Responsibilities

  • Programme Coordinator for Earth and Environmental Science Degrees
  • Teaching and Learning Committee
  • Laser safety officer

Teaching Areas

Modules Taught

Module coordinator for:

  • Earth Materials I: Introduction To Geochemistry (EA22310)
  • Earth Materials II: Practicals In Geochemistry (EA22410)
  • Techniques In Environmental Geochemistry (EAM2120)
  • Geochemistry Of The Primary And Secondary Environments (EAM1520)

Contributes to:

  • Rocks and Minerals (EA11610)
  • Fieldwork For Environmental Earth Science (EA21720)
  • Earth Resources (EA22520)
  • Professional Skills For Geoscientists (EA22910)
  • Oceanography and Marine Geology (EA30520)

Research

Group Affiliation

Research Interests

Tephra studies in the eastern Mediterranean, New Zealand, Indonesia (Toba), Western USA (Yellowstone, Mt St Helens), Yukon/Alaska and Southern Chile. Development of laser ablation ICP-MS methods for tephra analysis. Mine drainage remediation. Environmental geochemistry.

Current PhD Students

  • Ros Mathews (with IBERS)
  • Erin (Catherine) Martin-Jones

Biography

Professor Nick Pearce graduated with a BSc in Geology with Geochemistry from the University of Manchester, and followed this with a PhD at the University of Durham on the petrogenesis of the mid Proterozoic alkaline Gardar dyke swarm from South Greenland. He worked in Aberystwyth as a temporary lecturer in geology in the late 1980s and early 1990s before a brief spell as Senior Geologist at the Countryside Council for Wales. He returned permanently to a lecturing post Aberystwyth in 1994 and has since perused research interests in the trace element analysis and correlation of tephra deposits, metal mine remediation and environmental geochemistry.

Staff Publications

Peer Reviewed Book Chapters & Journal Articles

2011

  1. Smith V.C., Isaia, R. and  Pearce N.J.G. 2011 Tephrostratigraphy of post-15 kyr Campi Flegrei eruptions: implications for eruption history and chronostratigraphic markers Quaternary Science Reviews 30, 3638-3660. DOI
  2. Abbott P.M, Davies S,M., Austin W.E.N., Pearce N.J.G., Hibbert F.D. 2011. Identification of cryptotephra horizons in a North East Atlantic marine record spanning Marine Isotope Stages 4 and 5a (~60,000 – 82,000 ka b2k) Quaternary International, 246, 177-189. DOI
  3. Pearce N.J.G., Perkins W.T. Westgate J.A. and Wade S.C. 2011. Trace element microanalysis by laser ablation ICP-MS: the quest for comprehensive chemical characterisation of single sub-10um volcanic glass shards. Quaternary International, 246, 57-81 DOI
  4. Smith V.C, Pearce N.J.G., Matthews N.E., Durant A.J., Petraglia M., Haslam M., Lane C.S 2011 Chemically fingerprinting volcanic ash from Toba using biotite compositions Quaternary International, 246, 97-104. DOI
  5. Westgate, J.A., Pearce, N.J.G., Perkins, W.T., Shane, P. and Preece, S.J. 2011 Lead isotope ratios of volcanic glass by laser ablation inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry: Application to Miocene tephra beds in Montana, USA and adjacent areas. Quaternary International, 246, 82-96 DOI
  6. Jensen B.J.L., Preece S.J., Lamothe M., Pearce N.J.G., Froese D.G., Westgate J.A., Schaefere J., and Begét J.2011 The Variegated (VT) tephra: a new regional marker for middle to late Marine Isotope Stage 5 across Yukon and Alaska. Quaternary International, 246,  312-323. DOI
  7. Lowe, D.J. Davies, S.M., Moriwaki, H., Pearce, N.J.G. and Suzuki, T. 2011 Enhancing tephrochronology and its application (INTREPID project): Hiroshi Machida commemorative volume: Preface. Quaternary International, 246, 1-5 DOI
  8. Preece S.J., Westgate J.A., Froese D.G., Pearce N.J.G. and Perkins W.T. 2011. A catalogue of late Cenozoic tephra beds in the Klondike goldfields and adjacent areas, Yukon. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 48, 1386-1418 DOI
  9. Bearcock JM, Perkins WT, Pearce NJG. 2011. Laboratory studies using naturally occurring "green rust" to aid metal mine water remediation. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 190: 466-473. DOI
  10. Bevins RE, Pearce NJG, Ixer RA. 2011. Stonehenge rhyolitic bluestone sources and the application of zircon chemistry as a new tool for provenancing rhyolitic lithics. Journal of Archaeological Science, 38: 605-622. DOI
  11. Preece SJ, Pearce NJG, Westgate JA, Froese DG, Jensen BJL, Perkins WT. 2011. Old Crow Tephra across eastern Beringia: a single cataclysmic eruption at the close of Marine Isotope Stage 6. Quaternary Science Reviews, 30: 2069-2090. DOI
  12. Preece SJ, Westgate JA, Froese DG, Pearce NJG, Perkins WT. 2011. A catalogue of late Cenozoic tephra beds in the Klondike goldfields and adjacent areas, Yukon Territory. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 48: 1386-1418. DOI
  13. Warrender R, Pearce NJG, Perkins WT, Florence KM, Brown AR, Sapsford DJ, Bowell RJ, Dey M. 2011. Field Trials of Low-cost Reactive Media for the Passive Treatment of Circum-neutral Metal Mine Drainage in Mid-Wales, UK. Mine Water and the Environment, 30: 82-89. DOI

2009

  1. Pattan JN, Pearce NJG. 2009. Bottom water oxygenation history in southeastern Arabian Sea during the past 140 ka: Results from redox-sensitive elements. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology , 280: 396-405. DOI
  2. Bichler M, Pearce NJG, Steinhauser G, Sterba JH. 2009. More than just a convoluted table? Discussion of "Mediterranean tephra stratigraphy revisited: Results from a long terrestrial sequence on Lesvos Island, Greece" by Margari et al. [J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 163 (2007), 34-54]. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 181: 247-250. DOI
  3. Kuehn SC, Froese DG, Carrara PE, Foit FF, Pearce NJG, Rotheisler P. 2009. Major- and trace-element characterization, expanded distribution, and a new chronology for the latest Pleistocene Glacier Peak tephras in western North America. Quaternary Research, 71: 201-216. DOI
  4. Westgate JA, Preece SJ, Froese DG, Telka AM, Storer JE, Pearce NJG, Enkin RJ, Jackson LE, LeBarge W, Perkins WT. 2009. Gold Run tephra: a Middle Pleistocene stratigraphic and paleoenvironmental marker across west-central Yukon Territory, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 46: 465-478. DOI

2008

  1. Westgate JA, Preece SJ, Froese DG, Pearce NJG, Roberts RG, Demuro M, Hart WK, Perkins WT. 2008. Changing ideas on the identity and stratigraphic significance of the Sheep Creek tephra beds in Alaska and the Yukon Territory, northwestern North America. Quaternary International, 178(1): 183-209. DOI
  2. Denton JS, Pearce NJG. 2008. Comment on "A synchronized dating of three Greenland ice cores throughout the Holocene" by B. M. Vinther et al.: No Minoan tephra in the 1642 B.C. layer of the GRIP ice core. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 113(D4): D04303. DOI
  3. Pearce NJG, Bendall CA, Westgate JA. 2008. Comment on “Some numerical considerations in the geochemical analysis of distal microtephra” by A.M. Pollard, S.P.E. Blockley and C.S. Lane. Applied Geochemistry, 23(5): 1353-1364. DOI
  4. Pearce NJG, Alloway BV, Westgate JA. 2008. Mid-Pleistocene silicic tephra beds in the Auckland region, New Zealand: Their correlation and origins based on the trace element analyses of single glass shards. Quaternary International, 178(1): 16-43. DOI

2007

  1. Pearce NJG, Denton JS, Perkins WT, Westgate JA, Alloway BV. 2007. Correlation and characterisation of individual glass shards from tephra deposits using trace element laser ablation ICP-MS analyses: current status and future potential. Journal of Quaternary Science, 22: 721-736.

2006

  1. Pearce NJG, Mann VL. 2006. Trace metal variations in the shells of Ensis siliqua record pollution and environmental conditions in the sea to the west of mainland Britain. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 52: 739-755.
  2. Carter T, Poupeau G, Bressy C, Pearce NJG. 2006. A new programme of obsidian characterization at Catalhoyuk, Turkey. Journal of Archaeological Science, 33: 893-909.
  3. Perkins WT, Hartley S, Pearce NJG, Dinelli E, Edyvean R, Sandlands L. 2006. Bioadsorption in remediation of metal mine drainage: The use of dealginated seaweed in the BIOMAN project. Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta, 70: A482-A482.

2005

  1. Pattan JN, Pearce NJG, Mislankar PG. 2005. Constraints in using Cerium-anomaly of bulk sediments as an indicator of paleo bottom water redox environment: A case study from the Central Indian Ocean Basin. Chemical Geology, 221: 260-278.
  2. Carter T, Poupeau G, Bressy C, Pearce NJG. 2005. From chemistry to consumption: towards a history of obsidian use at Çatalhöyük through a programme of inter-laboratory trace-elemental characterization. Changing Materialities at Çatalhöyük: Reports from the 1995-1999 Seasons, : 285-306 and 553-557.