Gerald R. Dickens
Gerald R. Dickens is Professor of Earth Science at Trinity College Dublin, and is a researcher into the history of the world’s oceans, with respect to the changing patterns of their geology, chemistry and biology.[1]
'Jerry' Dickens's degrees are a PhD from the University of Michigan in Oceanography (1996), M.S. from the University of Michigan in Oceanography (1993), and a B.S. from the University of California, Davis 1989. Dickens is a Science Editor for the journal Geology, published by the Geological Society of America, but also has been past Editor in Chief of Paleoceanography.[2] In 2013 and 2017 he became a fellow of the Geological Society of America[3] and the American Geophysical Union.
Dickens was Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Earth Sciences at James Cook University in Australia from 1997 to 2001.[4] He was appointed an associate professor at Rice University in August 2001, becoming a full Professor in June 2008.[2] In 2003 Dickens received the 2002/2003 Distinguished Lecturer Award from the Joint Oceanographic Institutions,[5] and in 2008 the Distinguished Lecturer Award of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG).[2]
Dickens was interviewed for the BBC's Horizon documentary series in 2002 in a programme called 'The Day the Earth Nearly Died'.[6][7] He was also interviewed on the History Channel's 'Mega Disasters' which focused on eruptions of methane gas deep in the ocean. The one-hour programme aired on October 9 and 10 2008.[8] In the interview Dickens claimed that Methane had been identified as a cause for catastrophic disasters at the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, about 55 million years ago.[9] From 2005 to 2010, he served as Master of Martel College at Rice University.
Selected publications
Dickens has authored or co-authored over 90 scientific papers including:
- Dickens, G.R. "The riddle of the clays." Nature Geoscience, 1 (2008): 86-88.
- Dickens, G.R. "Methane release from gas hydrates." Fire in the Ice, Summer (2008): 9-12.
- Dickens, G.R. & J.M. Francis "Comment: A case for a comet impact trigger for the Paleocene/Eocene thermal maximum and carbon isotope excursion." Earth and Planetary Science Letters (2004).
- Fielding, C.R., J.D. Trueman, Dickens, G.R., *M. Page "Response of a major river system to the last glacial cycle: geomorphology and internal architecture of the ancestral Burdekin River across the Great Barrier Reef shelf, northeast Australia." International Association of Sedimentologists Special Publication (2004).(In Press)
- Dickens, G.R. "Rethinking the global carbon cycle with a large, dynamic and microbially mediated gas hydrate capacitor." Earth and Planetary Science Letters (Frontiers), 213 (2003): 169-182.
- Dickens, G.R., D. Schroeder, K.U. Hinrichs & the Leg 201 Scientific Party "The pressure core sampler (PCS) on Ocean Drilling Program Leg 201: General operations and gas release." Initial Reports of the Ocean Drilling Program, 201 (2003).
- Dickens, G.R. "A methane trigger for rapid warming." Science, 299 (2003): 1017.
- Dickens, G.R., T. Fewless, E. Thomas & T.J. Bralower "Excess barite accumulation during the Paleocene/Eocene thermal maximum: Massive input of dissolved barium from seafloor gas hydrate reservoirs." Causes and Consequences of Globally Warm Climates in the Early Paleogene, Geological Society of America Special Publication, 369 (2003): 11-23.
- Dickens, G.R. "Data Report: Dissolved manganese concentrations in deep drill holes off New Zealand (ODP Leg 181)." Proceedings ODP, Scientific Reports, 181 (2002): http://www-odp.tamu.edu/publications/181_SR/202/20.
- Dickens, G.R. "Sulfate profiles and barium fronts in sediment on the Blake Ridge: Present and past methane fluxes through a large gas hydrate reservoir." Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 65 (2001): 529-543.
- Dickens, G.R. "The potential volume of oceanic methane hydrates with variable external conditions." Organic Geochemistry, 32 (2001): 1179-1193.
- Dickens, G.R. "Carbon addition and removal during the late Paleocene thermal maximum: Basic theory with a preliminary treatment of the isotope record at Ocean Drilling Program Site 1051, Blake Nose." Western North Atlantic Palaeogene and Cretaceous Paleoceanography, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 183 (2001): 293-306.
- Dickens, G.R. "Modeling the global carbon cycle with a gas hydrate capacitor: Significance for the Latest Paleocene thermal maximum." Natural Gas Hydrates: Occurrence, Distribution and Detection, AGU Geophysical Monograph Series, 124 (2001): 19-38.
- Dickens, G, N. Exon, D. Holdway, Y. Lafoy, J-M Auzende, G. Dunbar & R. Summons "Quaternary sediment cores from the Southern Fairway Basin on the northern Lord Howe Rise (Tasman Sea)." Australian Geological Survey Organisation Record, 31 (2001): 29 pp..
References
- Interview with Dickens in SupremeMasterTV.com
- Dickens's Research Statement at Rice University
- list of GSA fellows
- Biography on the American Association of Petroleum Geologists website
- Biography at Rice University
- Entry for 'The Day the Earth Nearly Died' (2002) at the Internet Movie Database
- Dickens in the BBC News
- Dickens on the History Channel
- Dickens in ABCScience news