School of Earth and Environment
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Nigel Mountney Dr Nigel Mountney

Senior Lecturer: Sedimentology

Telephone number: +44(0) 113 34 35249
Email address: n.p.mountney@leeds.ac.uk
Room: 8.16 in SCR

Fluvial Research Group

Biography

My research expertise lies in the fields of sedimentology, stratigraphy and basin analysis, with emphasis on the study of non-marine clastic successions and their complex evolution within a variety of tectonic basin settings and under the influence of a variety of climatic regimes. I specialise in the development of models for the prediction and quantification of stratigraphic architectures (e.g. Mountney, 2006a,b; Mountney and Jagger, 2004; Mountney and Thompson, 2002) and have considerable experience in the joint application of subsurface and outcrop sedimentological data for the development of models to predict fluid flow in hydrocarbon reservoirs, to assist in the search for new hydrocarbon fields, and to enhance the recovery potential of existing fields (e.g. Howell and Mountney, 1997; 2001). I have been PI or Co-I on over 30 separate awards made by a range of research councils and charitable sponsors including the NERC, the Royal Society, the Nuffield Foundation, the European Science Foundation and Earthwatch, as well as from major industrial sponsors including Shell, Conoco, Exxon-Mobil, BG, E.On-Ruhrgas, StatoilHydro, RWE, Arco, Talisman, Cal Energy, Ichron and the Namibian Government. I am a member of the Sedimentology Research Group, which undertakes a broad range of research into modern and ancient surface processes using field-based, subsurface, experimental and theoretical approaches, and I am an active member of the Centre for integrated Petroleum Engineering and Geoscience at Leeds. Research output has been published in over 30 journal articles and forms the basis of invited contributions to 3 book chapters (e.g. Mountney, 2005, 2006a). In addition, I have co-authored Sedimentary Structures (Collinson et al. 2006), a research-based text book, and given numerous invited keynote addresses at international conferences. In 2005 I received the British Sedimentological Research Group award for Outstanding Contribution to Published Research in Any Field of Sedimentology, one of only two awards made annually by the national body representing sedimentary research.

Publications

  • Ghazi, S; Mountney, NP (2011) Petrography and provenance of the Early Permian Fluvial Warchha Sandstone, Salt Range, Pakistan, SEDIMENT GEOL, 233, pp.88-110. doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2010.10.013
  • Duller, RA; Mountney, NP; Russell, AJ (2010) PARTICLE FABRIC AND SEDIMENTATION OF STRUCTURELESS SAND, SOUTHERN ICELAND, J SEDIMENT RES, 80, pp.562-577. doi:10.2110/jsr.2010.055
  • Russell, A; Duller, R; Mountney, N (2010) Volcanogenic glacier outburst floods (jökulhlaups) from Mýrdalsjökull: impacts on proglacial environments, In: Kruger; J; Schomacker; A; Kjaer; H, K (Ed) The Mýrdalsjökull Ice Cap, Iceland: Glacial Processes, Sediments and Landforms on an Active Volcano, Developments in Quaternary Sciences , 13, Elsevier, pp.181-207.
  • Ghazi, S; Mountney, NP (2010) Subsurface lithofacies analysis of the fluvial Early Permian Warchha Sandstone, Potwar Basin, Pakistan, Journal of the Geological Society of India, 76, pp.505-517.
  • Jordan, OD; Mountney, NP (2010) Styles of interaction between aeolian, fluvial and shallow marine environments in the Pennsylvanian to Permian lower Cutler beds, south-east Utah, USA, SEDIMENTOLOGY, 57, pp.1357-1385. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3091.2010.01148.x
  • Cain, SA; Mountney, NP (2009) Spatial and temporal evolution of a terminal fluvial fan system: the Permian Organ Rock Formation, South-east Utah, USA, SEDIMENTOLOGY, 56, pp.1774-1800. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3091.2009.01057.x
  • Mountney, N (2009) Improving student understanding of complex spatial-temporal relationships in earth sciences using computer animation and visualization, Planet, 22, pp.72-77.
  • Ghazi, S; Mountney, NP (2009) Facies and architectural element analysis of a meandering fluvial succession: The Permian Warchha Sandstone, Salt Range, Pakistan, SEDIMENT GEOL, 221, pp.99-126. doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2009.08.002
  • Mountney, N; Russell, J (2009) Aeolian dune field development in a water table-controlled system: Skeiðarársandur, southern Iceland, Sedimentology, 56, pp.2107-2131. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3091.2009.01072.x
  • Duller, RA; Mountney, NP; Russell, AJ; Cassidy, NC (2008) Architectural analysis of a volcaniclastic jokulhlaup deposit, southern Iceland: sedimentary evidence for supercritical flow, SEDIMENTOLOGY, 55, pp.939-964. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3091.2007.00931.x
  • Mountney, NP; Russell, AJ (2006) Coastal aeolian dune development, Solheimasandur, southern Iceland, SEDIMENT GEOL, 192, pp.167-181. doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2006.04.004
  • Collinson, JC; Mountney, NP; Thompson, DB (2006) Sedimentary Structures, 3, Terra Publications, Harpenden, England, pp.292p.
  • Mountney, NP (2006) Periodic accumulation and destruction of aeolian erg sequences in the Permian Cedar Mesa Sandstone, White Canyon, southern Utah, USA, SEDIMENTOLOGY, 53, pp.789-823. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3091.2006.00793.x
  • Mountney, NP (2006) Eolian Facies Models, In: Posamentier, H; Walker, RG (Ed) Facies Models Revisited, Memoir , 84, SEPM, pp.19-83.
  • Mountney, NP (2005) Deserts, In: Selley; C, R; Cocks; M, LR; Plimer; R, I (Ed) Encyclopedia of Geology, 4, Elsevier, Oxford, pp.539-549.
  • Mountney, NP (2004) The sedimentary signature of desert systems and their response to environmental change, Geology Today, 20, pp.101-106.
  • Mountney, NP; Russell, AJ (2004) Sedimentology of cold-climate aeolian sandsheet deposits in the Askja region of northeast Iceland, SEDIMENT GEOL, 166, pp.223-244. doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2003.12.007
  • Mountney, NP; Jagger, A (2004) Stratigraphic evolution of an aeolian erg margin system: the Permian Cedar Mesa Sandstone, SE Utah, USA, SEDIMENTOLOGY, 51, pp.713-743. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3091.2004.00646.x
  • Jerram, DA; Mountney, NP; Howell, JA; Stollhofen, H (2002) The Fossilised Desert: Recent developments in our understanding of the Lower Cretaceous deposits in the Huab Basin, NW Namibia, In: (Ed) Communications of the Geological Survey of Namibia, 12, Communications of the Geological Survey of Namibia, pp.269-278.
  • Mountney, NP; Thompson, DB (2002) Stratigraphic evolution and preservation of aeolian dune and damp/wet interdune strata: an example from the Triassic Helsby Sandstone Formation, Cheshire Basin, UK, SEDIMENTOLOGY, 49, pp.805-833.
  • Howell, JA; Mountney, NP (2001) Aeolian grain flow architecture: hard data for reservoir models and implications for red bed sequence stratigraphy, Petroleum Geoscience, 7, pp.51-56.
  • Jerram, DA; Mountney, NP; Howell, JA; Long, D; Stollhofen, H (2000) Death of a sand sea: an active aeolian erg systematically buried by the Etendeka flood basalts of NW Namibia, Journal of the Geological Society, 157, pp.513-516.
  • Mountney, NP; Howell, JA (2000) Aeolian architecture, bedform climbing and preservation space in the Cretaceous Etjo Formation, NW Namibia, Sedimentology, 47, pp.825-849.
  • Jerram, DA; Mountney, NP; Holzforster, F; Stollhofen, H (1999) Internal stratigraphic relationships in the Etendeka Group in the Huab Basin, NW Namibia: understanding the onset of flood volcanism, Journal of Geodynamics, 28, pp.393-418.
  • Mountney, NP; Howell, JA; Flint, S; Jerram, DA (1999) Relating eolian bounding-surface geometries to the bed forms that generated them: Etjo Formation, Cretaceous, Namibia, Geology, 27, pp.159-162.
  • Jerram, DA; Mountney, NP; Stollhofen, H (1999) Facies architecture of the Etjo Sandstone Formation and its interaction with the Basal Etendeka Flood Basalts of NW Namibia: Implications for offshore prospectivity, In: Cameron; N; Bate; R; Clure; V (Ed) Oil and gas habitats of the South Atlantic region, Special Publication , 153, Geological Society, London, pp.367-380.
  • Mountney, NP; Howell, JA; Flint, S; Jerram, DA (1999) Climate, sediment supply and tectonics as controls on the deposition and preservation of the aeolian-fluvial Etjo Sandstone Formation, Namibia, Journal of the Geological Society, 156, pp.771-777.
  • Mountney, NP; Howell, JA; Flint, S; Jerram, DA (1998) Aeolian and alluvial deposition within the Mesozoic Etjo Sandstone Formation, northwest Namibia, Journal of African Earth Sciences, 27, pp.175-192.
  • Jerram, DA; Mountney, NP; Howell, JA; Stollhofen, H; Lorenz, V (1998) Stratigraphical evolution of the Etendeka Group in the Huab Basin, northwest Namibia, Journal of African Earth Sciences, 27, pp.119-120.
  • Mountney, NP (1997) Dynamic equilibrium within ocean trenches: A useful analytical tool?, Geology, 25, pp.151-154.
  • Sinclair, HD; Juranov, SG; Georgiev, G; Byrne, P; Mountney, NP (1997) The Balkan Thrust wedge and foreland basin of eastern Bulgaria: Structural and stratigraphic development, In: Robinson, AG (Ed) Regional and Petroleum Geology of the Black Sea and surrounding region, Memoir , 68, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, pp.91-114.
  • Mountney, NP; Westbrook, GK (1997) Quantitative analysis of Miocene to Recent forearc basin evolution along the Colombian convergent margin, Basin Research, 9, pp.177-196.
  • Howell, JA; Mountney, NP (1997) Climatic cyclicity and accommodation space in arid to semi-arid depositional systems: an example from the Rotliegend Group of the UK southern North Sea, In: Ziegler; K; Turner; P; Daines; R, S (Ed) Petroleum geology of the southern North Sea: Future potential, Special Publication , 123, Geological Society of London, pp.63-86.
  • Mountney, NP; Westbrook, GK (1996) Modelling sedimentation in ocean trenches: The Nankai Trough from 1 Ma to the present, Basin Research, 8, pp.85-101.