Professor Thomas Wagner
Professor of Earth System Science

Background

Joined the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at Newcastle in 2005 as new Professor of Earth System Sciences as part of the Geochemistry Group. His area of teaching includes fundamentals of sedimentary organic matter, reconstruction of paleoclimate and paleoceanography based on geochemical and isotopic proxies, global biogeochemical cycles, petroleum source rock formation, and renewable energies. His research interests covers a variety of aspects addressing the role and functioning of carbon and nutrients in the atmosphere-land-ocean system as primary drivers of environmental and climate change and energy resource under modern and past greenhouse conditions. Key research themes include (1) Anoxic oceans and (2) Soils, Nutrient Cycling, and Hydrology in Continental Watersheds under current and past greenhouse climate conditions.

Roles and Responsibilites

Director of Post Graduate Research Board of Studies (PGR BoS)
School representative on Committee of Heads of University Geoscience Departments (CHUGD)

Qualifications

Habilitation in Geology (Bremen, Germany, 2000)
PhD in Marine Geosciences (Kiel University, Germany, 1993)
Diploma in Geology (Heidelberg, Germany, 1989)

Memberships

Member of the European Association of Organic Geochemists (EAOG)
Member of the Geological Society of America (GSA)
Member of the American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Industrial Experience

Good connections with petroleum industry complement and extend research on Past Anoxic Oceans. Currently, four active PhD research programs (2 at Newcastle, 2 in Bochum, Germany)  to study unconventional source rocks (oil shale) in Jordan in partnership with Shell.

Research Interests

Broad research themes include (1) Anoxic oceans and (2) Soils, Nutrient Cycling, and Hydrology in Continental Watersheds under current and past greenhouse climate conditions, with a general regional focus on the low latitudes (subtropics and tropics). With a focus on organic carbon production, cycling and burial from continental sources to marine sinks his research directly links with biogeochemical cycles, hydrology and catchment evolution, soils, organo-mineral relationships, ocean redox, (molecular) proxy development and application, and large scale controls on oil source rock formation at orbital time scales. The latter aspect directly connects to petroleum industries, with active research partnerships in unconventional petroleum. More recently he engaged in integrated research of tropical rainforests, combining hydroclimate monitoring with soil and water geochemistry to demonstrate the vulnerability of the forest and the forest-savannah boundaries to land use and climate change.

Current Work

Wagner’s work lies in understanding controls and feedback mechanisms associated with short- and long-term environmental change, and their interaction with dynamic terrestrial and marine carbon systems. To date, major achievements have been made in assessing the role and functioning of Land-Ocean Interaction as a primary driver of carbon and nutrient export and (paleo-)oceanographic change. High resolution inorganic, organic and isotopic records mainly from marine sediments are used to calibrate and develop a quantitative understanding of the rates and mechanisms that have caused climate and environmental change as a consequence of processes governing ocean redox conditions, land ocean interaction, carbon export and burial fluxes, hydrocarbon source rock formation and long-term plate tectonics. Specifically, the source-sink relationships of terrestrial carbon have been addressed in detail using a combination of marine and terrestrial evidence.

Future Research

In a larger context his research aims at contributing to an improved ecosystem-based management of the Earth‘s Surface by development of balanced (global) concepts between use and sustainability. More specific he empathizes his research efforts on "Carbon as a primary driver of (microbial) Ecosystems, Environmental Change and Energy Resource". The overall research is process-oriented and structured in four, closely interrelated principal research themes:
(1) Carbon and nutrients – from continental sources to marine sinks
(2) The microbial biosphere - life sustained in diverse environments
(3) Petroleum Systems – understanding black shale formation and optimising hydrocarbon production from novel sources
(4) Coal – realising the potential of coal as a natural resource with a global future

The integrated programme not only intends to stimulate and catalyse collaborative research at Newcastle and beyond but also points out opportunities and visions how existing expertise in coal geology and mining in the region may be refocused.

Research Roles

Principal investigator and Co-investigator in various international research acticities. Previously, Wagner he was holder of the prestigious Heisenberg-Fellowship of the German Science Foundation (DFG). This enabled him to spend extended periods of time working at three world-leading institutions: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), and the University of Bremen (where he has worked as Assistant Professor since 1994). He has used the Heisenberg Fellowship to develop a network of research, training, and postgraduate student exchange between these institutions.

Since 1994, Professor Wagner has a success track in acquisition of research funding from national (DFG and ODP/IODP) to international (US-NSF) levels and co-ordinated cross-disciplinary and multi-institutional research at national, European, and international level.

Postgraduate Supervision

  1. Suha Aqleh (1st supervisor, co-supervision S. Poulton, Ncl, in preparation 2015).  Inorganic geochemistry of upper Cretaceous oils shale in Jordan. Industry project funded by JOSCO-Shell
  2. Mohammad Alaween (1st supervisor, co-supervision M. Jones and H. Talbot, Ncl, in preparation 2015). Organic geochemistry of upper Cretaceous oils shale in Jordan. Industry project funded by JOSCO-Shell
  3. Jasmine Black (co-supervision with G. Abbott (1st), in preparation 2015). Effects of climate and land use change on soil organic matter (SOM) carbon dynamics and turnover at forest boundaries.
  4. Samantha Boyes (co-supervision G. Parkin (1st), R. Gaulton, Ncl, in preparation 2014). Effects of climate and land use change on soil organic matter (SOM) carbon dynamics and turnover at forest boundaries.
  5. Ryan Pereira (1st supervisor, co-supervision G. Parkin, Ncl, in preparation 2013). The dynamic variability of organic matter and nutrients in a changing tropical rainforest: Iwokrama, Guyana.
  6. Gareth Izon (co-supervision with A. Cohen (1st), OU Milton Keynes, and Simon Poulton, in preparation 2012). How extensive were Cretaceouys Oceanic Anoxic Events? An integrated Mo-isotope and organic geochemical study.
  7. Vesna Tripkovic (submitted Oct. 2011, co-supervision with G. Parkin (1st) and H. Fowler, Ncl). Assessment of the impact of future climate variability on groundwater resources.
  8. Wiebke Kallweit (submitted Oct. 2011, co-supervision with M. Zabel (1st), EUROPROX Post Graduate School Bremen Germany). Terrigenous climate signals in deep-sea sediments: Assessment and quantification of alteration processes on primary signals.
  9. Eniola, Bunmi (2011, completed). Dynamics of tropical African climate and marine sedimentation during major climate transitions.
  10. Chun Zhu (2010, completed; co-supervision with R. Pancost at School of Chemistry, Bristol) Constraints on the source character, physical pathway and chemical transform of the terrestrial biomarkers in river-sea system and the implication for proxies utilization.
  11. Weijers, J. (2007, completed;  co-supervision with J. Sinninghe Damste, Stefan Schouten at Royal NIOZ, Nl). Development, evaluation and application of organic geochemical tracers for terrestrial carbon input into the marine environment.

Esteem Indicators

Chair of the International Iwokrama Science Committee, International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development, Guyana (since 2009)
Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award Holder (2005-2011)
Heisenberg Fellow of the German Science Foundation (2002-2005)
Member of NERC Peer Review College (2008 - )
Member of UK ECORD-Industrial Liaison Panel (2008 - )
Member of Korean WCU KOSEF Review Panel (2008-2009)

Funding (UK)

  1. Shell Jordan industry contract, 2010-14. Shell Jordan Oil Shale Research Programm (4 PhD projects). Collaboration: Bochum, Germany, Shell Rijkswik, Shell Jordan (JOSCO); Funding: USD 880k in total, £251k for Ncl (PI Wagner)
  2. Leverhume Trust, 2011-2014. High resolution, multi-molecular records of environmental change of the past 135,000 years from ancient Lake Ohrid, Albania and Macedonia. Collaboration: PI Wolff – Liverpool University, Funding: £12.5k for Ncl
  3. Royal Society Wolfson Laboratory Refurbishment (2010-2011). £90K

Funding (international collaborations)

  1. Australian Research Council, 2011-2013; Carbon sequestration by mineral surface area as a feedback to climate warming in a greenhouse ocean. Collaboration: Kennedy/Chittleborough (AUS), Mayer (USA). Funding: AUD 440k total, £16.5k for Ncl
  2. German Science Foundation 2009-2012. Climate-Ocean interactions in the eastern subtropical Cretaceous Atlantic: Integrating long-term and punctuated Late Aptian to Early Albian climate records from the Mazagan Plateau (DSDP Site 545). Collaboration: Hofmann (Cologne), Herrle (Frankfurt). Funding: Euro 250K to Cologne 
  3. Interamerican Development Bank (IDB)  - SECCI Program, 2011-2012. Climate Change research at Iwokrama International Rainforest Centre, Phase 2. Collaboration: Iwokrama Research Center. Funding: USD 385 for science to Iwokrama

Recently completed funding

  • NERC (2008-2011). Novel biohopanoid markers as tracers of methane emission and oxidation events in the Quaternary ocean. PI Wagner, Co-I Talbot. Funding: £377k
  • Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award (2005-2011).  Carbon as driver of environmental change and energy resource in Earth systems. PI Wagner. Funding: £149k
  • Royal Society, Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Award (2007-2010). Light stable isotope techniques (d13C and dD/H) at molecular level: pushing analytical boundaries for environmental and climate-related applications. PI Wagner. Funding: £90K

Postgraduate Teaching

CEG8622 Sedimentary organic matter (100% module leader)
CEG8627 Petroleum Geology of the Wessex Basin (100% module leader)
CIV8537 Climate Change: Earth Systems, Future Scenarios, Threats (lecturer)
CIV8533 Climate Change: Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation (lecturer)