Prof Peter Barrett

BSc NZ (1961); MSc Auckland (1963);
PhD Ohio State (1968); FRSNZ 1993

Professor of Geology

Interests:

Stratigraphy, sedimentology, paleoenvironments, Beacon sandstone of East Antarctica, Sirius deposits in the Transantarctic Mountains, history and future of the Antarctic ice sheet, integration of geological records; especially from drilling on the Antarctic margin, modelling for investigating environmental change, and effective social responses to climate change issues.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• International:
  - Convener, ANDRILL Science Advisory Panel; - Work with SCAR Antarctic Climate Evolution group
• Antarctic Research Centre:
  - Joint Antarctic Research Institute (VUW, GNS Science, NIWA);
  - ARC alumni relations and related activities
• Climate Change Research Institute:
  - Facilitate climate change research, teaching and outreach within and beyond VUW

Recent Research Projects:

• Feature documentary on climate change involving VUW, University of Oxford and Dox Productions
• Glacial history of the Transantarctic Mountains
• Last few million years history of McMurdo Sound and the Ross Ice Shelf through ANDRILL, which has now cored over 2200 m of strata covering the last 13 million years (McMurdo Ice Shelf 2006) and the period from 10-22 million years (Southern McMurdo Sound 2007), showing a remarkable record of frequent cyclic changes in Antarctic ice extent.
• Early history of the Antarctic ice sheet through the Cape Roberts Project, which cored 1500 m of strata off the Antarctic coast for a record of tectonic and climate history from 17 to 34 million years ago.

Other Research Interests:

Particle size and shape, and the use of these properties in understanding modern and ancient depositional systems. Past studies have included alluvial and glacial sedimentary systems and quantifying the relationship between wave climate, grain size and water depth on wave-dominated coasts.

Recent Publications:

Abram, N., Anderson, J., Bargelloni, L., Barrett, P.J., Bentley, M.J., Bertler, N.A.N., and 26 others, 2009. Antarctic climate and environment history in the pre-instrumental period. In Turner, J., Bindschandler, R., Convey, P., di Prisco, G., Fahrbach, E., Gutt, J., Hodgson, D., Mayewski, P.A., and Summerhayes, C.P., (Eds.), Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment. Cambridge, UK, Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, p. 115-182, ISBN 978-0-948277-22-1.

Ainley, D., Barrett, P., and 16 others, 2009. The Antarctic Environment in the Global System. In Turner, J., Bindschandler, R., Convey, P., di Prisco, G., Fahrbach, E., Gutt, J., Hodgson, D., Mayewski, P.A., and Summerhayes, C.P., (Eds.), Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment. Cambridge, UK, Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, p. 1-32, ISBN 978-0-948277-22-1.

Barrett, P.J., 2009. A history of Antarctic Cenozoic glaciation – view from the continent. In Florindo, F. and Siegert, M. (eds.), Antarctic Climate Evolution, Developments in Earth and Environmental Sciences 8. Elsevier: The Netherlands. p. 33-82.

Mayewski, P. A., Meredith, M. P., Summerhayes, C. P., Turner, J., Worby, A., Barrett, P. J., Casassa, G., Bertler, N. A. N., Bracegirdle, T., Naveira-Garabato, A. C., Bromwich, D., Campbell, H., Hamilton, G. H., Lyons, W. B., Maasch, K. A., Aoki, S., Xiao, C., van Ommen, T., 2009. State of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean climate system (SASOCS). Reviews of Geophysics doi:10.1029/2007RG000231.

Naish, T., Powell, R., Levy, R., Wilson, G., Scherer, R., Talarico, F., Krissek, L., Niessen, F., Pompilio, M., Wilson, T., Carter, L., DeConto, R., Huybers, P., McKay, R., Pollard, D., Ross, J., Winter, D., Barrett, P., Browne, G., Cody, R., Cowan, E., Crampton, J., Dunbar, G., Dunbar, N., Florindo, F., Gebhardt, C., Graham, I., Hannah, M., Hansaraj, D., Harwood, D., Helling, D., Henrys, S., Hinnov, L., Kuhn, G., Kyle, P., Läufer, A., Maffioli, P., Magens, D., Mandernack, K., McIntosh, W., Millan, C., Morin, R., Ohneiser, C., Paulsen, T., Persico, D., Raine, I., Reed, J., Riesselman, C., Sagnotti, L., Schmitt, D., Sjunneskog, C., Strong, P., Taviani, M., Vogel, S., Wilch, T., Williams, T., 2009. Obliquity-paced Pliocene West Antarctic ice Sheet oscillations. Nature 458: 322-328. [PDF]

Barrett, P., Carter, L., Damiani, D., Dunbar, G., Dunker, E., Giorgetti, G., Harper, M., McKay, R., Niessen, F., Nixdorf, U., Pyne, A., Riesselmann, C., Robinson, N., Hollis, C.S., Strong, P., 2007. Oceanography and sedimentation beneath the McMurdo Ice Shelf in Windless Bight, Antarctica (Wellington, Antarctic Research Centre, School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University, 2007), Antarctic Data Series 25, 90pp. (PDF)

Barrett, P.J., Webb, P.-N., Fűtterer, D., Ghezzo, C., Thomson, M.R.A., Pyne, A.R., Rack, F.R., 2007. Future Antarctic geological drilling: Discussion paper on ANDRILL and beyond. In A.K. Cooper and C.R. Raymond et al. (eds.), Antarctica: A Keystone in a Changing World – Online Proceedings of the 10th ISAES. USGS Open-File Report 2007-1047, Extended Abstract 139, 4 p. (PDF)

Barrett, P.J., 2007. Cenozoic climate and sea level history from glacimarine strata off the Victoria Land coast, Cape Roberts Project, Antarctica. In: Hambrey, M.J., Christoffersen, P., Glasser, N.F. & Hubbart, B. (eds.), Glacial Processes and Products. International Association of Sedimentologists Special Publication. (PDF)

Barrett, P.J. 2006. The second great climate shift in the last 65 million years. In: R.Chapman, J. Boston and M. Schwass, Confronting Climate Change: Critical Issues for New Zealand. VUW Press, Ch 6. (PDF)

Barrett, P.J., Florindo, F. and Cooper, A.K. 2006. Introduction to “Antarctic climate evolution”: View from the margin. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 231, 1-8. (PDF)

Barrett, P.J. 2005. What 3° of climate change really means. Pacific Ecologist, 11, 5-8. (PDF)

Dunbar, G.B. and Barrett, P.J. 2005. Estimating palaeobathymetry of wave-graded continental shelves from sediment texture. Sedimentology, 52, 253–269.

Barrett, P.J. 2003. Cooling a continent. Nature, 421 pp. 221-223. (PDF)

Hickock, S.R., Barrett, P.J. and Holme, P.J., 2003. 'Fragment of an ancient outlet-glacier system near the top of the Transantarctic Mountains'. Geology, 31, 9, pp. 821-824.

Current teaching:

Co-Ordinator for:

• ESCI 403: Stratigraphy and Paleoenvironments

Contributes to:

• SARC 122: Introduction to Applied Physics, Numerical Methods and Statistics for Designers
• ESCI 132: Antarctica: Unfreezing the Continent
• ESCI 201: Climate Change and NZ's Future
• GEOL 580: Research Preparation