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; CNS & TSV)
• EA2900: Introductory Field Geology (Level 2; TSV)
• EA3110: Sedimentology and Stratigraphy (Level 3; CNS & TSV)
• EA3120: The Fossil Record: Dinosaurs and Vertebrates Through Time (Level 3; TSV)
• EA3400: Ore Deposits and Critical Mineral Exploration (Level 3; TSV)
• EA3640: Advanced Environmental and Marine Geoscience Technologies and Applications (Level 3; TSV)
• EA3650: Energy Resources and Basin Analysis (Level 3; TSV)
• EA5120: The Fossil Record: Dinosaurs and Vertebrates Through Time (Level 5; TSV)
• EA5640: Advanced Marine Geoscience Technologies and Applications (Level 5; TSV)
• EA5650: Energy Resources and Basin Analysis (Level 5; TSV)

Experience

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

Research Disciplines

• Geology (3705)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Expanding knowledge (2801)

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

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

• Forster C, de Klerk W, Poole K, Chinsamy-Turan A, Roberts E and Ross C (in press) Iyuku raathi, a new iguanodontian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Kirkwood Formation, South Africa. The Anatomical Record,
• Beveridge T, Roberts E, Ramezani J, Titus A, Eaton J, Irmis R and Sertich J (2022) Refined geochronology and revised stratigraphic nomenclature of the Upper Cretaceous Wahweap Formation, Utah, U.S.A. and the age of early Campanian vertebrates from southern Laramidia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 591.
• Foley E, Roberts E, Henderson R, Todd C, Knutsen E and Spandler C (2022) Middle Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous stratigraphy of the northern Great Australian Superbasin: insights from maximum depositional age constraints from the U–Pb detrital zircon record. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 69 (7). pp. 929-952
• Foley E, Roberts E and Knutsen E (2022) Deciphering Late Cretaceous palaeo-river catchments in eastern Australia: recognition of distinct northern and southern drainage basins. Basin Research, 34 (2). pp. 590-617
• Henderson R, Foley E and Roberts E (2022) Jurassic tectonics of northeastern Gondwana: evidence from the detrital zircon record of the Nambour Basin. Journal of the Geological Society, 179 (6).
• Henderson R, Spandler C, Foley E, Kemp A, Roberts E and Fisher C (2022) Early cretaceous tectonic setting of eastern Australia: Evidence from the subduction-related Morton Igneous Association of Southeast Queensland. Lithos, 410.
• Lawrence L, Spandler C, Hilbert-Wolf H, Mtelela C, Stevens N, O'connor P and Roberts E (2022) Radiogenic isotope record of magma genesis and lithospheric geodynamics of the Rukwa Rift Basin, Tanzania, from mid Mesozoic to present. Chemical Geology, 608.
• Orr T, Wurster C, Roberts E, Singleton R, Stevens N and O'Connor P (2022) Paleoatmospheric CO2 oscillations through a cool middle/Late Cretaceous recorded from pedogenic carbonates in Africa. Cretaceous Research, 135.
• Ramezani J, Beveridge T, Rogers R, Eberth D and Roberts E (2022) Calibrating the zenith of dinosaur diversity in the Campanian of the Western Interior Basin by CA-ID-TIMS U-Pb geochronology. Scientific Reports, 12.
• Stevens N, O'Connor P, Mtelela C and Roberts E (2022) Macroscelideans (Myohyracinae and Rhynchocyoninae) from the late Oligocene Nsungwe formation of the Rukwa Rift Basin, southwestern Tanzania. Historical Biology, 34 (4). pp. 604-610
• Todd C, Roberts E and Charles A (2022) A revised Permian-Triassic stratigraphic framework for the north-eastern Galilee Basin, Queensland, Australia, and definition of a new Middle-Upper Triassic sedimentary unit. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 69 (1). pp. 113-134
• Tucker R, Hyland E, Gates T, King M, Roberts E, Foley E, Berndt D, Hanta R, Khansubha S, Aswasereelert W and Zanno L (2022) Age, depositional history, and paleoclimatic setting of Early Cretaceous dinosaur assemblages from the Sao Khua Formation (Khorat Group), Thailand. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 601.

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 116+ research outputs authored by Prof Eric Roberts from 2004 onwards.

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

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

• Provenance, Sedimentology and Geomorphology of Coastal Dune Fields in Queensland (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Refining Tephrostratigraphic approaches in Deep Time through Glass Melt Inclusion and Isotopic Fingerprinting of Heavy Mineral Separates in Heavy Minerals (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Understanding the geologic connection between Cape York and Zealandia: Insights from the Laura Basin (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Using experiments to constrain stable isotope fractionation in banded iron formations (PhD , Advisor Mentor)
• Understanding the Genesis and Patterns of Cave Fill across the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• 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)
• Vertebrate Palaeontology of the Early-Late Triassic Succession in Central Queensland (PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
• Jurassic Arc? Reconstructing the Lost World of Eastern Australia (PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
• Investigating Global REE ion adsorption deposits to understand their genesis: Investigating trace element and REE stable isotope systematics. (PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
• Spatial modelling of saucer scallop distributions within the southeast Queensland scallop fishery. (PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
• Shelf-edge Stratigraphy of the Central Great Barrier Reef (PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)

Completed

• Mesozoic detrital zircon provenance of Central Africa: implications for Jurassic-Cretaceous tectonics, paleogeography and landscape evolution (2019, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• The sedimentary evolution of Permian to Cretaceous basins in Queensland, Australia: insights from lithostratigraphy, U–Pb zircon geochronology, sedimentary facies, and provenance analysis (2020, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Cave sedimentation processes in the Homo naledi-bearing Rising Star Cave, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa (2021, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Geochemistry and origin of explosive alkaline volcanism in the early Rukwa Rift, southwestern Tanzania (2021, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Seismic stratigraphy and igneous units of the Canning Basin, Northwest Shelf, Australia (2022, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Bentonite geochronology and tephrostratigraphy for litho- and chronostratigraphic refinement of fossiliferous Campanian strata in western North America (2022, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Sedimentology, stratigraphy, and tectonic reconstruction of the northern Great Australian Superbasin (2022, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Paleoclimate and paleoenvironment reconstruction of paleosols spanning the Lower to Upper Cretaceous from the Rukwa Rift Basin, Tanzania (2023, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)

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.