Dr Tim van Peer

I am an IODP Research Fellow within the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Group at Leicester. Our IODP group plays an integral role within IODP’s Mission Specific Platform expeditions. My research examines the origin and evolution of the Antarctic ice sheet and how this ice sheet interacts with global ocean circulation. I regularly teach on a variety of modules with the School of Geography, Geology and the Environment.

The IODP group is part of the ECORD (European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling) Science Operator (ESO), which comprises the British Geological Survey, MARUM (University of Bremen), and the University of Montpellier. The Universities of Leicester and Montpellier provide high-level scientific and technical support, specifically the acquisition and interpretation of downhole logging data, core petrophysics data, calibration and quality control. We also develop associated research programs for IODP ECORD Mission Specific Platform expeditions and run an annual Summer School: Downhole Logging for IODP Science.

My research focuses on the origin and evolution of the Antarctic ice sheet and its relation to ocean circulation. I apply geophysical and geochemical techniques on sediments recovered from the deep-sea during expeditions of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and its predecessors, as well as site-survey expeditions. Primarily, I have been working on sediments recovered during Expeditions 342 (Paleogene Newfoundland Sediment Drifts), 374 (Ross Sea West Antarctic Ice Sheet History; including two months as shipboard participant), and 379 (Amundsen Sea West Antarctic Ice Sheet History). 

 

Over the past years I have specialised in palaeomagnetism, stratigraphy, and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) core scanning. I am investigating the (astronomical) drivers of the Antarctic ice sheet, based on a global compilation of benthic foraminiferal oxygen isotopes or sedimentary characteristics near and on the Ross Sea shelf. Furthermore, I am applying geophysical (e.g., subbottom profiler reflection data, environmental magnetism) and statistical (e.g., cyclostratigraphy of Fe-Mn crusts) to reconstruct changes in bottom-water circulation in the Atlantic Ocean.

A selection of recent publications:

2024:

van Peer, T.E., Liebrand, D., Taylor, V.E. et al. Eccentricity pacing and rapid termination of the early Antarctic ice ages. Nat Commun 15, 10600 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54186-1

2023:

Brzelinski, S., A. Bornemann, D. Liebrand, T.E. van Peer, P.A. Wilson, O. Friedrich, Large obliquity-paced Antarctic ice-volume fluctuations suggest melting by atmospheric and ocean warming during late Oligocene. Commun Earth Environ 4, 222 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00864-9

Gales, J.A., R.M. McKay, L. De Santis et al. (incl. T.E. van Peer), Climate-controlled submarine landslides on the Antarctic continental margin. Nat Commun 14, 2714 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38240-y

2022:

Kulhanek, D.K., C. Prunella, J.R. McLaughlin, B. Griffin, R.M. McKay, M. Patterson, J. Gales, A.E. Shevenell, T.E. van Peer, and IODP Expedition 374 Scientists, Data report: IODP Site U1523 composite section and stratigraphic splice based on X-ray fluorescence data, In McKay, R.M., De Santis, L., Kulhanek, D.K., and the Expedition 374 Scientists, Ross Sea West Antarctic Ice Sheet History. Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program, 374: College Station, TX (International Ocean Discovery Program), 40 pp.. doi: https://doi.org/10.14379/iodp.proc.374.202.2022

2021 and earlier:

Marschalek, J.W., L. Zurli, F. Talarico, T. van de Flierdt, P. Vermeesch, A. Carter, F. Beny, V. Bout-Roumazeilles, F. Sangiorgi, S. Hemming, R.M. McKay, L.F. Peréz, F. Colleoni, L. De Santis, C.D. Hillenbrand, E. Gasson, M.J. Siegert, T.E. van Peer, K. Licht, I. Browne, A. Shevenell, D. Harwood, B. Keisling, R. Levy, G. Kuhn, D.K. Kulhanek, M. Perotti, J. Dodd, C. Boshui, and the Expedition 374 science party, 2021, A Large West Antarctic Ice Sheet Explains Early Neogene Sea-Level Amplitude, Nature, 600, 450–455. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04148-0.

Josso, P., T. van Peer, M.S.A. Horstwood, P. Lusty, and B. Murton, 2021, Geochemical evidence of Milankovitch cycles in Atlantic Ocean ferromanganese crusts, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 553, 116651. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116651 data and scripts doi: https://doi.org/10.5285/7a9eb43f-a5c4-450c-9fe1-c60f2703a1d1

Egger, L.M., A. Bahr, O. Friedrich, P.A. Wilson, R.D. Norris, T.E. van Peer, P.C. Lippert, D. Liebrand, J. Pross, 2018, Sea-level and surface-water change in the western North Atlantic across the Oligocene-Miocene Transition: a palynological perspective from IODP Site U1406 (Newfoundland margin), Marine Micropaleontology, 139, 57-71. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marmicro.2017.11.003

van Peer, T.E., C. Xuan, P.C. Lippert, D. Liebrand, C. Agnini, P.A. Wilson, 2017b, Extracting a detailed magnetostratigraphy from weakly magnetized, Oligocene to early Miocene sediment drifts recovered at IODP Site U1406 (Newfoundland margin, northwest Atlantic Ocean), Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 18(11), 3910-3928. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GC007185 data doi: https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.880978

van Peer, T.E., D. Liebrand, C. Xuan, P.C. Lippert, C. Agnini, N. Blum, P. Blum, S.M. Bohaty, P.R. Bown, R. Greenop, W.E.C. Kordesch, D. Leonhardt, O. Friedrich, and P.A. Wilson, 2017a, Revised composite depth scale and splice for IODP Site U1406, In: Norris, R.D., Wilson, P.A., Blum, P. and the Expedition 342 scientists, Proceedings of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Volume 342: College Station, TX (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program), 23 pp.. doi: https://doi.org/10.2204/iodp.proc.342.202.2017 data doi: https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.872548

Egger, L., K.K. Śliwińska, T.E. van Peer, D. Liebrand, P.C. Lippert, O. Friedrich, P.A. Wilson, R.D. Norris, J. Pross, 2016, Magnetostratigraphically-calibrated dinoflagellate cyst bioevents for the uppermost Eocene to lowermost Miocene of the western North Atlantic (IODP Expedition 342, Paleogene Newfoundland sediment drifts), Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 234, 159–185. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2016.08.002

Co-lecturer on Geography GY2431: Data Analysis (second year B.Sc. students).

Guest lecturer on Geography GY2436: An Introduction to Past Global Climate Changes (second year B.Sc. students).

Guest lecturer on GY0011: Principles of Earth Science and Earth Systems (Foundation Year students).

2022:

NERC Exploring the Frontiers (Co-I): “Timing and impact of variable Arctic outflow on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation”.

 

2019: 

NERC Moratorium Award (named PDRA): “South Pacific Paleogene Climate" IODP Expedition 378: Stratigraphy, Chronology and Provenance of late Eocene-early Oligocene South Pacific sediments”.

ECORD Research Grant: “Reconstructing northwest Atlantic Ocean oceanography across the Oligocene-Miocene Transition using environmental magnetic techniques”, to visit the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA.

 

2018: 

NERC Moratorium Award (named PDRA): “Stratigraphy and chronology of IODP Exp. 374 (Ross Sea West Antarctic Ice Sheet History”) drill cores: implications for West Antarctic glaciations”.

 

2015: 

Outstanding Student Poster Award EGU General Assembly. Programme Group Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology.

Visiting Fellowship “Rock magnetism of deep-sea sediments off the Newfoundland Ridge: implications for an improved astronomically tuned Oligocene-Miocene geomagnetic polarity time scale”, to visit the Institute for Rock Magnetism, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA. 

 

2013: 

Ph.D. Scholarship at the Graduate School National Oceanography Centre Southampton (GSNOCS),University of Southampton. Southampton, UK. 

Throughout my career I have presented at conferences and meetings, both nationally and internationally.

Recent conferences and meetings include:

MagellanPlus IODP, e.g., Cenostore (Flyer).

EGU (Abstract).

MioMEET (Link).

INSTANT (Link).

2024 Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), via OU APPLAUD

2021 Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA), via UCL Arena

2017 PhD in Palaeomagnetism and palaeoclimate, University of Southampton

2013 MSc in Earth Sciences, ‘Earth, Life and Climate’, Utrecht University

2011 BSc in Earth Sciences, Utrecht University