Duanne White

I am a quantitative geomorphologist and geochemist interested in catchment and Earth Systems. For me, this involves understanding the links between landscape, climate and critters, and how these have changed during the Quaternary period – i.e. the last couple of million years. This interest has taken me across Australia and on several trips to Antarctica, the Arctic and Sub-Antarctic Islands and beyond.

My research in polar regions has focussed on generating records of past ice sheet changes, which informs ice sheet model development and projections of future sea level rise. I have utilised isotopic tracers such as cosmogenic nuclides to investigate the dynamics of the ice sheets on glacial-interglacial timescales. Much of my existing work has been on-shore, but I’m increasingly interested in the offshore part of the system, including developing methods for understanding how ice shelves have functioned in the past.

In Australia I have been working to build a picture of how climate and landscapes have evolved during the Quaternary. My teaching program has allowed me to build a diverse understanding of these processes and events, especially in east Australia, and I’m starting to apply cosmogenic nuclides to investigate the rates and timing of landscape-scale events in the eastern highlands. I have also leveraged my experience in the geothermal exploration industry to investigate past temperatures across eastern Australia from borehole paleothermometry.

Since moving to UC, I’ve been exposed to how landscape events affect modern-day patterns of genetic diversity. I’m working with colleagues at UC and beyond to help bring a paleo-perspective to the amazing genetic datasets now being generated from critters in Australia and Antarctica.