JCU > Research Portfolio > A/Prof Eric Roberts

About

My primary research focuses on reconstructing the geologic histories of important vertebrate fossil-bearing continental deposits. My research involves sedimentary facies and provenance analysis (heavy mineral geochronology), coupled with taphonomy, ichnology and geochronology. A key aspect of my research is to provide geologic context to the vertebrate and hominin faunas preserved within these basins and karst settings. This holistic approach to sedimentology is critical to testing a variety of hypotheses related to past environments and climates, uplift and drainage histories, palaeobiogeography, and extinction and evolution of vertebrate and plant communities.

I also maintain close links with industry on a varitety of projects ranging from diamond exploration to petroleum geology to helium exploration.

My primary research themes include:

1) geological characterisation & dating of vertebrate records, including hominins, from rift deposits of the East African Rift System & karst systems of South Africa (e.g. Rising Star Cave)

2) Geological and palaeontological investigation of Jurassic & Cretaceous basins throughout Gondwana (esp., Australia; Africa; Antarctica).

3) Stratigraphy, palaeontology & high-precision geochronology of Upper Cretaceous dinosaur-bearing strata of Western Interior Basin, North America (esp., Kaiparowits Basin, Utah).

4) Industry-linked research collaboration in economic geology and exploration.

****I am always seeking students interested in conducting PhD research that integrate tectonic, sedimentologic (detrital geochronology) and palaeontologic data for reconstructing Mesozoic-Cenozoic sedimentary basins in Australia, China, North America, and Africa. James Cook University offers competitive PhD scholarships to well-qualified applicants. Please email me for details (eric.roberts@jcu.edu.au).****

Go to my research group website for more information. http://www.gravelmonkeys.org

Teaching

EA2110: Introduction to Sedimentology (Level 2; TSV)
EA3110: Sedimentology and Stratigraphy (Level 3; CNS & TSV)
EA3120: The Fossil Record: Dinosaurs and Vertebrates Through Time (Level 3; TSV)
EA3650: Sedimentary Environments and Energy Resources (Level 3; TSV)
EA5120: The Fossil Record: Dinosaurs and Vertebrates Through Time (Level 5; TSV)
EA5650: Sedimentary Environments and Energy Resources (Level 5; TSV)
EV1005: Environmental Processes and Global Change (Level 1; CNS & TSV)

Experience

2001 to 2005 - PhD, University of Utah
1997 to 1999 - MSc, University of Montana
1992 to 1996 - BA, Cornell College

Research Disciplines

Socio-Economic Objectives

Honours

Awards

2017 - James Cook University Excellence Award for Research (awarded to the entire Geosciences Group at JCU)
2015 - James Cook University Excellence Award for Research

Other

Associate Editor, Frontiers in Earth Sciences
Editorial Board Member, Scientific Data
Associate Editor, GSA Bulletin
Associate Editor, Palaios

Publications

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

Wiersma J, Roberts E and Dirks P (2020) Formation of mud clast breccias and the process of sedimentary autobrecciation in the hominin-bearing (Homo naledi) Rising Star Cave system, South Africa. Sedimentology, 67 (2), pp. 897-919, DOI:10.1111/sed.12666.
Blackburn D, Paluh D, Krone I, Roberts E, Stanley E and Stevens N (2019) The earliest fossil of the African clawed frog (Genus Xenopus) from Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Herpetology, 53 (2), pp. 125-130, DOI:10.1670/18-139.
O'Connor P, Krause D, Stevens N, Groenke J, Macphee R, Kalthoff D and Roberts E (2019) A new mammal from the Turonian-Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) Galula Formation, southwestern Tanzania. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 64 (1), pp. 65-84, DOI:10.4202/app.00568.2018.
Owusu Agyemang P, Roberts E, Downie B and Sertich J (2019) Sedimentary provenance and maximum depositional age analysis of the Cretaceous? Lapur and Muruanachok sandstones (Turkana Grits), Turkana Basin, Kenya. Geological Magazine, 156 (8), pp. 1334-1356, DOI:10.1017/S0016756818000663.
Owusu Agyemang P, Roberts E, Bussert R, Evans D and Müller J (2019) U-Pb detrital zircon constraints on the depositional age and provenance of the dinosaur-bearing Upper Cretaceous Wadi Milk formation of Sudan. Cretaceous Research, 97, pp. 52-72, DOI:10.1016/j.cretres.2019.01.005.
Todd C, Roberts E, Knutsen E, Rozefelds A, Huang H and Spandler C (2019) Refined age and geological context of two of Australia’s most important Jurassic vertebrate taxa (Rhoetosaurus brownei and Siderops kehli), Queensland. Gondwana Research, 76, pp. 19-25, DOI:10.1016/j.gr.2019.05.008.
Epa Y, Stigall A, Roberts E, O'Brien H and Stevens N (2018) Morphological diversification of ampullariid gastropods (Nsungwe Formation, late Oligocene, Rukwa Rift Basin, Tanania) is coincident with onset of East African rifting. Papers in Palaeontology, 4 (3), pp. 327-348, DOI:10.1002/spp2.1108.
Hagen C, Roberts E, Sullivan C, Liu J, Wang Y, Owusu Agyemang P and Xu X (2018) Taphonomy, age and paleobiogeography of the enigmatic taxon Lotosaurus adentus (Archosauria: Poposauroidea) from the Middle Triassic Badong Formation, Hunan, China. Palaios, 33 (3), pp. 106-124, DOI:10.2110/palo.2017.084.
Jadoon Q, Roberts E, Henderson R, Blenkinsop T and Wust R (2018) Mineralogical variability of the Permian Roseneath and Murteree Shales from the Cooper Basin, Australia: implications for shale properties and hydrocarbon extraction. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 165, pp. 850-872, DOI:10.1016/j.petrol.2017.12.022.
McCartney J, Roberts E, Tapanila L and O'Leary M (2018) Large palaeophiid and nigerophiid snakes from Paleogene Trans-Saharan Seaway deposits of Mali. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 63 (2), pp. 207-220, DOI:10.4202/app.00442.2017.
Müller J, Roberts E, Naylor E and Stevens N (2018) A fossil Gekkotan (Squamata) from the Late Oligocene Nsungwe Formation, Rukwa Rift Basin, Tanzania. Journal of Herpetology, 52 (2), pp. 223-227, DOI:10.1670/17-123.
Widlansky S, Clyde W, O'connor P, Roberts E and Stevens N (2018) Paleomagnetism of the Cretaceous Galula Formation and implications for vertebrate evolution. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 139, pp. 403-420, DOI:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2017.11.029.

More: ResearchOnline@JCU stores 89+ research outputs authored by A/Prof Eric Roberts from 2004 onwards.

Current Funding

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Australian Research Council - Discovery - Projects

Jurassic Arc? Reconstructing the Lost World of Eastern Australia

Indicative Funding: $284,390 over 3 years
Summary: This project aims to resolve a long-standing enigma about the geological formation of the Great Artesian Basin ? Australia?s most important onshore reservoir for groundwater and hydrocarbon resources. Specifically, the project will integrate sedimentological and geochemical studies to investigate the geodynamic configuration of Eastern Australia during the Jurassic Period of basin formation. The intended outcomes are an improved understanding of the evolution of the Australian continent and better knowledge of the formation of intercontinental sedimentary basins, which includes better assessment of their potential to contain hydrocarbon resources.
Investigators: Carl Spandler, Eric Roberts, Anthony Kemp and Bob Henderson (College of Science & Engineering and The University of Western Australia)
Keywords: Jurassic; Great Artesian Basin; Zircon; Tectonics

De Beers Group Services Pty Ltd - Contract Research

Understanding the Stratigraphy, age, and provenance of the diamondiferous Calonda Formation in North-Eastern Angola: Implications for regional magmatism and paleo fluvial drainage evolution

Indicative Funding: $68,000
Summary: The pilot research, based on four Calonda Formation Core Samples, has identified a suite of unexpected Permian-Late Cretaceous magmatic detrital zircon populations, which have the potential to improve our understanding of the age and provenance of the Calonda Formation, as well as the tectonic history of this region. The pilot research identified a suite of Cretaceous detrital zircons that form three discrete age clusters, which we hypothesis may have been produced during kimberlite or other alkaline volcanism; perhaps synchronously with deposition of the Calonda Formation or other Cretaceous cover sequences. However, due to the small number of grains discovered in the pilot study and lack of systematic sampling, robust conclusions cannot be drawn at present. However, the results demonstrate that it should be possible to significantly refine the age of these sedimentary sequences, including the Calonda Formation, through detrital zircon geochronology, as well as to study the geochemistry of these grains to better understand the regional tectonics of this area during the Cretaceous, possibly including better dating of the timing of kimberlite volcanism.
Investigators: Eric Roberts and Prince Owusu Agyemang (College of Science & Engineering)
Keywords: Angola; Detrital Zircon; Sedimentology; Diamond

Leakey Foundation - Research Grant

Dating hominin fossils in the East African Rift, Malawi

Indicative Funding: $25,787
Summary: This project will use detrital zircon geochronology to date the Paranthropus boisei and Homo rudolfenisis hominin fossils from the northern Malawi Rift. These fossils are remarkable, as they represent a co-occurrence of these two species in southwestern Africa, the meeting point for endemic faunas of both southern and eastern Africa. The location of the fossils in the volcanic East African Rift System is a perfect depositional setting in which to apply detrital zircon geochronology to precisely date P. boisei and H. rudolfensis, to test hypotheses about faunal exchange between the two 'cradles' of humankind, in south and east Africa.
Investigators: Hannah Hilbert-Wolf, Eric Roberts, Timothy Bromage and Friedmann Schrenk (College of Science & Engineering, New York University and Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitat)
Keywords: Hominin; Sedimentology; Geochronology; Geology; Malawi; Palaeoanthropology

Supervision

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

Cenozoic Seismic Stratigraphy of the Great Barrier Reef (PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
Structure and stratigraphy of the Oobagooma Sub-Basin, Northwest Shelf, Western Australia (PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
Reconstructing the Mesozoic of Eastern Australia, with emphasis on establishing the tectonic evolution, geochronology and sedimentary provenance of its basins. (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
Cave sedimentation processes in the Homo naledi-bearing Rising Star Cave, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
Paleoenvironmental and Paleoclimatic Analysis of Selected Cretaceous, Oligocene and Miocene Palesols from the Rukwa Rift Basin, Tanzania (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
Bentonite Tephrostratigraphy and High-Precision Geochronology of Richly Fossiliferous Upper Cretaceous Continental Strata in the Western Interior Basin, North America (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
Spatial modelling of saucer scallop distributions within the southeast Queensland scallop fishery. (PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
Understanding the Genesis and Patterns of Cave Fill across the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
Revealing the Enigmatic Alkaline Volcanism of the Rukwa Rift through Weather Resistant Minerals and their Inclusions (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
Establishing a Tectonic Framework for the Cretaceous break-up of Eastern Gondwana: Insights from Papua New Guinea and Offshore Geology of the Coral and Tasman Seas. (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
The sedimentary evolution of Permian to Cretaceous basins in Queensland, Australia: insights from lithostratigraphy, U-Pb zircon geochronology, sedimentary facies, and provenance analysis (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)

Completed

Integrating paleoseismic studies with geochronology and thermochronology to understand the timing of rifting, volcanism and uplift in the Rukwa Rift Basin, Tanzania (2016, PhD , Primary Advisor)
Sedimentology and stratigraphy of the late Cenozoic lake beds succession, Rukwa Rift Basin, Tanzania: implications for hydrocarbon prospectivity (2017, PhD , Primary Advisor)
Mesozoic detrital zircon provenance of Central Africa: implications for Jurassic-Cretaceous tectonics, paleogeography and landscape evolution (2019, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
Unconventional shale gas reservoir characterization and modelling of the Permian Roseneath and Murteree shales in the Cooper Basin, Australia (2016, PhD , Primary Advisor)
Reflected in the soil: Site formation processes as an index of social and environmental change at the site of Ban Non Wat, NE Thailand (2016, Masters , Secondary Advisor)

Collaboration

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.