Staff Profile

Profile

I’m a carbonate sedimentologist/geochemist interested in the sustainable development of the onshore and offshore (UK) subsurface for future energy systems (e.g. hydrogen storage, geothermal) and achieving a net-zero society. As part of my research we have developed coupled geological-chemical-mechanical models to predict seal integrity and reservoir quality. Considerable experience in using both lab experiments and modern analogues (e.g. deltas, modern microbial mats) to develop geological depositional models. 

Associate Dean for Post Graduate Education, SAgE Faculty - Providing strategic leadership in developing innovative approaches to postgraduate education, enhancing employability, and ensuring our postgraduate taught portfolio is fit for purpose.

Background

I obtained my degree in Earth Sciences from the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam followed by an M.Sc. in  Sedimentary and structural geology, basin analysis and surface processes. My PhD at the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (Texel, The Netherlands) focused on the impact of diagenesis on deep water coral mound formation along the NE Atlantic continental margin (Permanent link to Phd thesis). After a postdoctoral position at the University of Edinburgh on carbonate rocktyping and diagenesis using pore network models I started my lectureship at Newcastle University in March 2013.

Memberships 

Member of the European Geosciences Union (EGU)

Fellow of the Geological Society of London

Research interests

I'm a member of the Earth, Ocean and Planetary Science (EOPS) Research group. Research interests range from microbe-mineral interactions and biofilms to the impact of organic material on the geomechanical properties of rocks and developing novel techniques to simultaneously obtain spatial and molecular information from fossil rock surfaces.

Current and previous research projects

2021-2024 EPSRC iCASE award with BP; The geomicrobiology of hydrogen storage in geological materials, grant value £80k, Co-I

2020-2024 NERC Assessing the feasibility of large-scale hydrogen storage in salt caverns on the UKCS using 3D seismic data, grant value £75k, Co-I

2017-2021 Petroleum Technology Development Fund; Impact of hydrocarbon emplacement on carbonate diagenesis, grant value £75k, PI

2016-2020 NERC with BGS (British Geological Survey) CASE award funded projects; Geochemical mapping of critical organic properties across Carboniferous basins, grant value £160k, PI

2015-2017 Industry funded project (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company); Understanding ancient petroleum carbonate systems; carbonate precipitation in Abu Dhabi microbial mats as a modern analogue, project value £325k, Co-I

2014-2018 SAgE (Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering) funded project; the role of microbes in the early lithification of sabkha sediments, grant value £80k, PI

2012-2016 Industry funded project (Petroleum Development Oman); a petroleum geochemical approach to understanding the Natih and Tuwaiq petroleum systems of North Oman, project value £74k, Co-I

Since my appointment at Newcastle University I have used my enthusiasm and drive to deliver the best possible experience for our students. I have brought new thinking, innovation and effective practice into the development, delivery and management of not only the Earth Science programmes, but activities across the SAgE Faculty and University. Due to limitations on in-person teaching, I redesigned all fieldtrips to online-only virtual fieldtrips or have an online component before in-person teaching. I developed a reflective assessment component in which students recognised the benefits and the limitations of virtual fieldwork. The bespoke innovative, technology-led virtual fieldtrip was received well by students.

Modules

MAR8091/841 - Introduction to Offshore Subsea and Pipeline Engineering - Geoscience for OSP Engineers

CEG1602 - The Geosphere (module leader) - Introducing geological processes and skills to Earth and Environmental Science students

CEG2608 -Basin Analysis Fieldtrip - International fieldtrip providing Earth Science students with field skills

CEG3608 - Geological Field Mapping (module leader) - Provide students experience in field mapping of geological formations and structures. 

• Purvis G, Sano N, van der Land C, Barlow A, Cumpson P, Gray N, Lopez-Capel E. A comparison of the molecular composition of plant and fungal structuralbiopolymer standards with the organic material in early cretaceous OntongJava Plateau Tuff. Chemical Geology 2021, 565, 120078.
• Paul A, Lokier SW, Sherry A, Lessa Andrade L, Court WM, van der Land C, Dutton KE, Head IM. Erosion-initiated stromatolite and thrombolite formation in a present-day coastal sabkha setting. Sedimentology 2021, 68(1), 382-401.
• McGhee C, Muhammed D, Simon N, Acikalin S, Utley JEP, Griffiths J, Wooldridge L, Verhagen ITE, van der Land C, Worden RH. Stratigraphy and sedimentary evolution of a modern macro-tidal incised valley: An analogue for reservoir facies and architecture. Sedimentology 2021, 69(2), 696-723.
• Fender T, Rouainia M, van Der Land C, Jones DM, Mastalerz M, Hennisen JAI, Graham SP, Wagner T. Geomechanical properties of coal macerals; measurements applicable to modelling swelling of coal seams during CO₂ sequestration. International Journal of Coal Geology 2020, 228, 103528.
• Fender T, van der Land C, Rouainia M, Graham SP, Jones DM, Vane CH, Wagner T. The Assessment of Organic Matter Young's Modulus Distribution with Depositional Environment and Maturity. Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth 2020, 125(12), e2020JB020435.
• Purvis G, Sano N, van der Land C, Barlow A, Lopez-Capel E, Cumpson P, Hood J, Sheriff J, Gray N. Combining thermal hydrolysis and methylation-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to characterise complex organic assemblages in geological material. MethodsX 2019, 6, 2646-2655.
• Zindorf M, März C, Wagner T, Gulick S, Strauss H, Benowitz J, Jaeger JM, Schnetger B, Childress L, LeVay L, Van der Land C, La Rosa M. Deep Sulfate-Methane-Transition and sediment diagenesis in the Gulf of Alaska (IODP Site U1417). Marine Geology 2019, 417, 105986.
• Purvis G, van der Land C, Sano N, Cockell C, Barlow A, Cumpson P, Lopez-Capel E, Gray N. The organic stratigraphy of Ontong Java Plateau Tuff correlated with the depth‐related presence and absence of putative microbial alteration structures. Geobiology 2019, 17(3), 281-293.
• Lokier SW, Andrade LL, Court WM, Dutton KE, Head IM, Van Der Land C, Paul A, Sherry A. A new model for the formation of microbial polygons in a coastal sabkha setting. The Depositional Record 2017, 3(2), 201-208.
• Purvis G, Gray N, Sano N, Barlow A, Cockell C, Abbott GD, van der Land C, Cumpson P. Decontamination of geological samples by gas cluster ion beam etching or ultra violet/ozone. Chemical Geology 2017, 466, 256-262.
• Arculus RJ, Ishizuka O, Bogus KA, Gurnis M, Hickey-Vargas R, Aljahdali MH, Bandini-Maeder AN, Barth AP, Brandl PA, Drab L, do Monte Guerra R, Hamada M, Jiang F, Kanayama K, Kender S, Kusano Y, Li H, Loudin LC, Maffione M, Marsaglia KM, McCarty A, Meffre S, Morris A, Neuhaus M, Savov IP, Sena C, Tepley FJ, van der Land C, Yogodzinski GM, Zhang Z. Reply to 'Unclear causes for subduction'. Nature Geoscience 2016, 9, 338-339.
• Arculus RJ, Ishizuka O, Bogus KA, Gurnis M, Hickey-Vargas R, Aljahdali MH, Bandini-Maeder AN, Barth AP, Brandl PA, Drab L, do Monte Guerra R, Hamada M, Jiang F, Kanayama K, Kender S, Kusano Y, Li H, Loudin LC, Maffione M, Marsaglia KM, McCarty A, Meffre S, Morris A, Neuhaus M, Savov IP, Sena C, Tepley FJ, van der Land C, Yogodzinski GM, Zhang Z. A record of spontaneous subduction initiation in the Izu–Bonin–Mariana arc. Nature Geosciences 2015, 8, 728-733.
• van der Land C, Eisele M, Mienis F, de Haas H, Hebbeln D, Reijmer JJG, van Weering TCE. Carbonate mound development in contrasting settings on the Irish margin. Deep-Sea Research. Part 2: Topical Studies in Oceanography 2014, 99, 297-306.
• Mangione A, Lewis H, Geiger S, Van Der Land C, Wood R, Couples G. Synthetic diagenesis - The key to carbonate systems in basin modelling. First Break 2014, 32(6), 151-152.
• van der Land C, Wood R, Wu K, van Dijke MIJ, Jiang Z, Couples G, Corbett PWM. Modelling the permeability evolution of carbonate rocks. Marine and Petroleum Geology 2013, 48, 1-7.
• Mienis F, de Stigter H, de Haas H, van der Land C, van Weering TCE. Hydrodynamic conditions in a cold-water coral mound area on the Renard Ridge, southern Gulf of Cadiz. Journal of Marine Systems 2012, 96-97, 61-71.
• van der Land C. Impact of diagenesis of carbonate mound formation. Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 2011.
• van der Land C, Mienis F, de Haas H, de Stigter HC, Swennen R, Reijmer JJG, van Weering TCE. Paleo-redox fronts and their formation in carbonate mound sediments from the Rockall Trough. Marine Geology 2011, 284(1-4), 86-95.
• van der Land C, Mienis F, de Haas H, Frank N, Swennen R, van Weering TCE. Diagenetic processes in carbonate mound sediments at the south-west Rockall Trough margin. Sedimentology 2010, 57(3), 912-931.
• de Haas H, Mienis F, Frank N, Richter T, Steinacher R, de Stigter HC, van der Land C, van Weering TCE. Morphology and sedimentology of (clustered) cold-water coral mounds at the south Rockall Trough margins, NE Atlantic Ocean. Facies 2009, 55(1), 1-26.
• Mienis F, van der Land C, de Stigter HC, van der Vorstenbosch M, deHaas H, Richter T, van Weering TCE. Sediment accumulation on a cold-water carbonate mound at the Southwest Rockall Trough margin. Marine Geology 2009, 256(1-2), 40-50.
• Frank N, Ricard E, Lutringer-Paquet A, van der Land C, Colin C, Blamart D, Foubert A, van Rooij D, Henriet JP, de Haas H, van Weering TCE. The Holocene occurrence of cold water corals in the NE Atlantic: Implications for coral carbonate mound evolution. Marine Geology 2009, 266(1-4), 129-142.
• de Haas H, de Stigter HC, Epping E, Kuzub N, Mienis F, Richter T, Starkov K, Tokarev M, van der Land C, van Weering TCE, Verhagen I. Carbonate mounds, cold water corals and seepage processes in the gulf of cadiz; moundforce and microsystems progress. In: Geo-marine Research along European Continental Margins. 2007.