Dr. Alex Simms, UCSB, will be presenting:
The Santa Barbara Channel is situated along a tectonically active margin that experiences a Mediterranean climate whose mountains to the north are underlain by relatively weak rocks. Relying on a dataset of over 100 sediment cores collected over the past decade we review what the isolated, but thick successions of Quaternary sediments, record about the dynamic environmental processes operating along the Channel. These Quaternary records reveal a dynamic history of hyperpycnal flows on the shelf, storm and tsunami breaches along the coast, and regions of tectonic uplift and subsidence that span the region. We discuss what these processes mean for both understanding how sedimentary dispersal systems behave as well as the local hazards to our beloved home.
A native of Oklahoma, Alex Simms received his PhD from Rice University. After a 5-year stint teaching at his undergraduate alma mater, Oklahoma State University, he moved to UCSB in 2010 where he is currently a full professor. His teaching and research interests lies within sedimentary processes and deposits with a focus on Quaternary Coastal Systems. He has published over 90 journal articles and book chapters and supervised over 30 graduate students. He was a Fulbright Fellow at Durham University in the UK and has studied the coastal deposits of Texas, California, Antarctica, and more recently Scotland.
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