UCD School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Policy

Scoil na Tíreolaíochta, na Pleanála agus Polasaí Comhshaoil UCD

Dr Jonathan N Turner BSc MSc PhD

Contact Details

Title	Lecturer
Address	School of Geog, Planning & Env Policy Newman Building Belfield Dublin 4
Telephone:	Ext. 8175
Email:	ei.dcu@renrut.nahtanoj

Biography:

I am a Lecturer in Physical Geography and Head of Teaching and Learning in the School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Policy. I currently teach courses on Earth Systems (Level 1), Fluvial Geomorphology (Level 2) and River Catchment Management (Level 3), and will be on sabbatical research leave from January to August 2013.

My research interests lie in the fields of River Science, Geomorphology and Environmental Change.

I am co-PI on the SILTFLUX project - Monitoring Suspended Sediment Fluxes in Irish Rivers - which is funded by the EPA STRIVE Programme (Siltflux.com). I am also undertaking research on river channel change in Irish catchments during the last 200 years, to explore concepts of geomorphic resilience and sensitivity in the context of contemporary river catchment management objectives.

I am Director of the GPEP Itrax Core Scanner platform, which was acquired under HEA funding in 2009 (http://www.ucd.ie/gpep/research/researchfacilities/corescanner/). Much of my research now centres on the application of this facility, alongside other complementary palaeoenvironmental proxies, to answer research questions related to environmental change and reconstruction. These collaborative projects range from research in deep marine contexts to shallow floodplain environments and more recently rock cores. This year I became Scientist-in-Charge of the INFER (Innovations in Fluvial Environmental Research) project, funded under the Marie-Cure IEF scheme. This research with Dr. Anna Jones and project partners in UCD aims to (i) develop methods for flood reconstruction using XRF element ratios and (ii) new approaches for the rapid assessment of floodplain contamination in metal-mined river catchments.

Research Interests

application of high resolution chemostratigraphy for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction
suspended sediment fluxes and catchment sediment dynamics
palaeoenvironmental of the Late-Glacial to Holocene transition in Ireland using limnological archives
flood reconstruction using XRF elemental ratios
reconstruction of heavy metal pollution histories in metal-mined catchments for environmental management
reconstruction of flood histories using radiocarbon dates
river channel resilience and sensitivity

Research Projects

Sponsor : EC Framework
Title : Innovations in Fluvial Environmental Research: Core Scanning of Flooding and Contaminant Histories (INFER)
Start Date / End Date : 01-JUN-12 / 01-JUN-14

Sponsor : Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Title : SILTFLUX
Start Date / End Date : 01-MAR-11 / 28-FEB-15

Sponsor : University College Dublin (UCD)
Title : Scoring project and feasibility study for an irish database of radiocarbon dates
Start Date / End Date : 01-JUN-07 / 01-DEC-08

Sponsor : University College Dublin (UCD)
Title : Percussion Drilling Set for Soil and Sediment Sampling
Start Date / End Date : 01-JUN-07 / 01-DEC-08

Current Postgraduate Students

Barry O Shaughnessy, Prof Dip in Education - Thesis Supervisor

Book Chapters

Lewis, H. Gallagher, C., Davis, S.R., Turner, J., Foster, G., Brown, A.G., van Breda, W., Mulrooney, G., Guinan, L., Brady, C., and Meehan, R. ; (2012) 'Developing a model of landscape evolution and land use history of the River Boyne' In: Excavations at Knowth Volume 6. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. [Details]

Davis, S.R., Lewis, H., Foster, G., Turner, J., O'Donnell, L., Collins, B., McClatchie, M. and McCormick, F.; (2012) 'Environmental evidence from Knowth' In: Excavations at Knowth Volume 6. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. [Details]

Turner, J.N., Brewer, P.A., Macklin M.G., Hudson-Edwards, K.A., Coulthard, T.J., Howard, A.J., Jamieson, H.E. ; (2002) 'Heavy metal and As transport under low and high flows in the Río Guadiamar, three years after the Aznalcóllar tailings dam failure: implications for river recovery and management' In: J.M. García-Ruiz, J.A.A. Jones and J. Arnáez (eds). Environmental Change and Water Sustainability. Zaragoza: Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología. [Details]

Peer Reviewed Journals

Turner, J.N., Macklin, M.G., Jones, A.J. and Lewis, H.; (2010) 'New perspectives on Holocene flooding in Ireland using meta-analysis of fluvial radiocarbon dates'. Catena, 82 (3):193-190. [DOI] [Details]

Ciszewski, D. and Turner JN.; (2009) 'Storage of sediment-associated heavy metals along the channelized Odra River, Poland'. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 34 (4):558-572. [Details]

Turner, JN., Brewer, PA., Macklin, MG.; (2008) 'Fluvial-controlled metal and As mobilisation, dispersal and storage in the Rio Guadiamar, SW Spain and its implications for long-term contaminant fluxes to the Donana wetlands'. Science of the Total Environment, 394 (1):144-161.

[Details]

Hudson-Edwards, KA., Miller, JR., Preston, D., Lechler, PJ., Macklin, MG., Miners. JS., Turner, JN.; (2003) 'Effects of heavy metal pollution in the Pilcomayo river system, Bolivia, on resident human populations'. Journal De Physique Iv, 107 :637-640. [Details]

Hudson-Edwards, KA., Macklin, MG., Jamieson, HE., Brewer, PA., Coulthard, TJ., Howard, AJ., Turner, JN. ; (2003) 'The impact of tailings dam spills and clean-up operations on sediment and water quality in river systems: the Rios Agrio-Guadiamar, Aznalcollar, Spain'. Applied Geochemistry, 18 (2):221-239.

[Details]

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Conference Publications

Davis, S.R. and Turner, J.N.; (2008) The Itrax Core Scanner IAI Conference 2008 [oral presentation] [Details]

J.N. Turner, S. Davis, C. Langdon, R. Scaife, N. Holmes, M. Leng, G. Mulrooney, T. Cummins, H. Lewis, C. Gallagher; (2010) A multiproxy (pollen, stable isotope, chironomid and µXRF) record for the Late Glacial to Holocene transition from Thomastown Bog, Ireland European Geosciences Union 2010 [Details]

JN Turner, AF Jones, MG Macklin and H Lewis; (2010) Reconstructing Holocene fluvial activity in Ireland using alluvial 14C dates European Geosciences Union, 2010 [Details]

JN Turner and X Monteys; (2010) XRF reproducibility using the Itrax: a marine sediment perspective ITRAX 2010 Applications, innovations and future developments [Details]

Holmes, N., Warren, G. Davis, S. and Turner J; (2010) Developing quantitative records of past climate and environment in Ireland: a palaeoecological, sedimentological and archaeological approach European Geosciences Union [Details]

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Published Reports

Davis, S., Megarry, W., Brady, C., Barton, K., Lewis, H., Mulrooney, G., Cummins, T., Guinan, L., Turner, J., Gallagher, C. and Meehan, R. With a contribution by Jordan, J.; (2010) Boyne Valley Landscapes Project. Phase III Final Report. UCD and Heritage Council, Dublin. [Details]

Lewis, H., Gallagher, C., Davis, S., Turner, J., Foster, G., Courtney, L., Goucher, K., Scaife, R., Langdon, C., Holmes, N., Mulrooney, G., Allen, M.J., Brady, C., Guinan, L., Brown, A., Cummins, T. and Meehan, R. With Contributions by K. Barton, D. Lennon and Beta Analytic Inc. ; (2009) An integrated, comprehensive GIS model of landscape evolution and land use history in the River Boyne valley. Phase II Report 2009. The Heritage Council, Online.

[Details]

Reports

Davis, S.R., Megarry, W., Brady, C., Cummins, T., Guinan, L., Meehan, R., Lewis, H., Turner, J., Brown, A.G.and Gallagher, C.; (2010) Boyne Landscapes Project - interim report to the Heritage Council. Reports [Details]

Lewis, H., Davis, S., Gallagher, C., Turner, J., Guinan, L., Brady, C., Brown, A., Meehan, R. and Cummins, T.; (2009) An integrated, comprehensive GIS model of landscape evolution and land use history in the River Boyne valley: phase II: interim report 2009. Reports [Details]

Lewis, H., Gallagher, C., van Breda, W., Mulrooney, G., Davis, S., Meehan, R., Turner, J., Brown, A., Guinan, L. and Brady, C., with a contribution by Beta Analytic Inc.; (2008) An integrated comprehensive GIS model of landscape and land-use history in the Boyne river valley and its catchment. Final report to the Heritage Council. Reports

[Details]

Lewis, H., van Breda, W., Mulrooney, G., Davis, S., Gallagher, C., Turner, J. and Brown, A.; (2008) An integrated comprehensive GIS model of landscape and land-use history in the River Boyne Valley and its catchment. Second interim report to the Heritage Council. Reports [Details]

GC Foster, JN Turner, C Gallagher and H Lewis (2010) Digital elevation model based geomorphological mapping in the lower River Boyne valley, Ireland European Geosciences Union, 2010 [Details]
Turner, JN. and Monteys, X.; (2009) Ireland's First ITRAX: a marine sediment prospective 52nd Irish Geological Research Meeting Trinity College Dublin, [Details]
Brewer, P.A., Macklin, M.G., Turner, J.N., and Hudson-Edwards, K.A. ; (2003) Geomorphological and geochemical adjustments of the Rio Guadiamar following the 1998 Aznalcollar tailings dam failure Proceedings of the International Symposium on major challenges in tailings dams [Details]
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