Geography, Geology and the Environment

Biography:

I graduated from Keele in 2010 with an undergraduate MGeoscience degree in geology with physical geography.  I am currently beginning the third year of my PhD, studying late Holocene relative sea-level change in the Dyfi estuary, west Wales, UK.

Positions & Affiliations:

• The Royal Geographical Society with Institute of British Geographer (RGS IBG): Postgraduate Fellow
• The Quaternary Research Association (QRA)
• The North Staffordshire Group of the Geologists’ Association (NSGGA)
• The American Geophysical Union (AGU)
• International Association of Sedimentologists (IAS)
• Geography Ambassador for the Royal Geographical Society (RGS IBG)

Grants:

• Quaternary Research Association (QRA): New Research Workers’ Award 2011 (£530)
• Keele Postgraduate Association Bursary 2011 (£190)

Awards:

• Ian Harmer Memorial Prize 2008 (Keele University)

My research aims to reconstruct the first record of late Holocene relative sea-level change from the Dyfi estuary, west Wales, UK. My research involves using a combination of litho- and biostratigraphical (diatoms) techniques, alongside geophysics (Electrical Resistance Tomography (ERT)) and X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), to better understand the spatial and temporal distribution of the Holocene coastal sedimentary sequence. My work also involves the collection of modern salt-marsh surface samples, containing diatoms and associated environmental information, and the use of multivariate statistical methods, with the ultimate aim of developing a diatom-based transfer function to be used as a predictive tool for the reconstruction of past sea-level change in the estuary. I am supervised by Dr Katie Szkornik, Dr Alix Cage, Dr Nigel Cassidy and Professor Roland Gehrels (University of Plymouth). I am a member of the Research Institute for the Environment, Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics (EPSAM)

Abstracts & Publications

• Ross, K.L.A. and Szkornik, K. (2011) Holocene salt-marsh stratigraphy and coastal evolution of the Dyfi Estuary, west Wales, UK. Quaternary Research Association, 16^th Annual International Postgraduate Symposium. Oral Presentation.
• Szkornik, K., Ross, K.L.A., Marshall, W.A. and Cassidy, N.J. (2011) Holocene salt-marsh stratigraphy and coastal evolution of the Dyfi Estuary, west Wales, UK. All at Sea? Coastal environments: An holistic appraisal. Oral Presentation.
• Ross, K.L.A. (2012) Developing a tool for evaluating environmental evolution in the Dyfi estuary, west Wales: geophysical, sedimentological and microfaunal methods. EPSAM Fest, Keele University. Poster.
• Ross, K.L.A. (2012) Diatoms in the Dyfi estuary, west Wales: developing a tool for the reconstruction of Holocene sea-level change.  Quaternary Newsletter, no. 128.