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Patrick Sharrocks

Patrick Sharrocks

  • Email: eepsha@leeds.ac.uk
  • Thesis title: Processes beneath the Great Wave: improved understanding of tsunami geohazards using advances in deep-sea sedimentology.
  • Supervisors: Professor Jeff Peakall, Professor Natasha Barlow, Prof David Hodgson. Dr Hajime Naruse (Kyoto University), Dr. Mike Clare (University of Southampton)

Profile

I am a PhD student in the sedimentology research group interested in the sedimentary processes of tsunamis. Previously i completed an integrated master degree in Natural Sciences Specialising in Environment at the University of York. For my masters project i simulated the effect of the Storeega tsunami on Mesolithic communities in Northumberland using a numerical model with Dr Jon Hill, now published in JQS https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jqs.3586. 

My PhD examines the sedimentary processes that occur within and beneath a tsunami. Currently our main source of information on tsunamis is from sediment deposits, however, very little knowledge of an event is extracted from these deposits other than rough estimations of wave height and run-up extents. This project aims to take recent advances in deep sea sedimentology and apply them to tsunami deposits through use of tsunami sediment cores from different locations potentially including Tonga and the Shetlands. Initially the project will analyse videos of modern events e.g. the Tohoku-oki 2011 tsunami to interpret how the flow rheology changes over the inundation area and assess the implications for tsunami hazard assessment. Later in the project, a global literature synthesis of sedimentary deposits in lakes and lagoons will aim to identify features that enable a differentiation to be made between storms and tsunami deposits. Fieldwork and lab analysis will be undertaken on sedimentary deposits from sites in Scotland from the Storegga tsunami and Tonga from the 2022 Hunga-Tonga tsunami. This will be complemented by tsunami modelling at the site in Scotland. 

I am funded by the NERC PANORAMA DTP. 

Research interests

  • Tsunamis
  • Geohazards
  • Quaternary Science
  • Sedimentology
  • Palaeoenvironments and environmental change

Qualifications

  • MSci Natural Sciences Specialising in Environment. University of York.

Research groups and institutes

  • Institute of Applied Geoscience
  • Sedimentology