Dr Philip Marren

• GE4011 Earth and Environments
• GE4014 Global Hazards and Risk
• GE5001 Hazard Processes and Human Vulnerability
• GE5011 Earth Surface Processes
• GE5019 Physical Research Methods and Geomatics (Module Leader)
  
• GE6003 Natural Hazard Assessment and Mitigation
  
• GE6017 Anthropocene
  
• GE6021 International Fieldwork Experience: Physical Geography
  
• WB501 Enhancing Your Employability Through Work-Based Learning
  
• GE7010  Engineering, Hydrology and Hydraulic Principles in Flood Risk
  
• GE7011 Flood Risk Modelling
  
• GE7013 Adaptation and Flood Resilience
  
• GE7016 Research Methods and Analytics in Flood Risk Management
  
• GE7017 Independent Dissertation (Module Leader)
  
• GE7018 Natural Flood Management and the Catchment Context (Module Leader)
  
• GE7019 Sustainable Urban Drainage Design and Concepts (Module Leader)

The effectiveness and longevity of natural flood management measures

My most recent research interest is the effectiveness of natural flood management measures such as leaky dams, and their longevity once installed. This research is ongoing and primarily focused on field sites in Shropshire.

Impacts of extreme floods and environmental change on proglacial rivers

I have studied the sedimentology and geomorphology of glacial outburst floods throughout my career. My earliest research investigated meltwater discharge in Scotland during the deglaciation of the last British ice sheets. During this period I was also part of the large team which studied the impacts of the 1996 jökulhlaup on Skeiðarársandur, Iceland. More recent research has studied the long-term recovery of the landscape from this flood. Other work in Iceland described the sedimentology of Holocene glacial outburst flood deposits, with the aim of identifying distinctive criteria for identifying them in the sedimentary record.

Most recently, I have been interested in the way proglacial landscapes are responding to glacier retreat. This is especially interesting as the retreat of glaciers has accelerated significantly since 2000. The changes this retreat produces are both hydrological (short term increases in meltwater) and topographic (formation of newly deglaciated areas, recessional moraines, and proglacial lakes). These two effects combine in the formation of river terraces and changing river channel patterns.

Low-energy meandering and anabranching rivers

In 2001 I began a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. This change of environment prompted an interest in low-energy rivers associated with extensive floodplain wetlands. I continued this work when I moved to the University of Melbourne in 2008, as many Australian rivers are thought to be controlled by similar processes to the Klip River. This work focuses primarily on the Ovens-King River. A related project considered the impact dams might have on the floodplains of lowland rivers of this type.

Journal Articles

Roussel, E., Marren, P.M., Cossart, E., Toumazet, J.P., Chenet, M., Grancher, D., & Jomelli, V. 2018. Incision and aggradation in proglacial rivers: Post‐Little Ice Age long‐profile adjustments of Southern Iceland outwash plains. Land Degradation & Development, 29(10), 3753-3771.

Marren, P.M. 2016. Bar deposition in glacial outburst floods: scaling, post-flood reworking, and implications for the geomorphological and sedimentary record. Géomorphologie: relief, processus, environnement 22, 51-60.

Roussel, E., Toumazet, J.-P., Marren, P.M., Cossart, E. 2016. Iceberg jam floods in Icelandic proglacial rivers: testing the self-organized criticality hypothesis. Géomorphologie: relief, processus, environnement 22, 37–49.

Teo, E.A., Marren, P.M. 2015. Interaction of ENSO-driven flood variability and anthropogenic changes in driving channel evolution: Corryong/Nariel Creek, Australia. Australian Geographer 46, 339–362.

Marren, P.M., Toomath, S.C. 2014. Channel pattern of proglacial rivers: topographic forcing due to glacier retreat. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 39, 943–951.

Marren, P.M., Grove, J.R, Webb, J.A., Stewardson, M.J. 2014. The potential for dams to impact lowland meandering river floodplain geomorphology. The Scientific World Journal, vol. 2014, Article ID 309673, 24 pages. doi: 10.1155/2014/309673.

Carrivick, J.L., Tweed, F.S., Carling, P., Alho, P., Marren, P.M., Staines, K., Russell, A.J., Rushmer, E.L., Duller, R., 2013. Discussion of ‘Field evidence and hydraulic modeling of a large Holocene jökulhlaup at Jökulsá á Fjöllum channel, Iceland’ by Douglas Howard, Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach and Timothy Beach, 2012. Geomorphology 201, 512–519.

Marren, P.M., Toomath, S.C. 2013. Fluvial adjustments in response to glacier retreat: Skaftafellsjökull, Iceland. Boreas 42, 57–70.

Grove, J.R., Webb, J.A., Marren, P.M., Stewardson, M.J., Wealands, S. 2012. High and Dry: An investigation using the Causal Criteria methodology to investigate the effects of regulation, and subsequent environmental flows, on floodplain geomorphology. Wetlands 32, 215–224.

McCarthy, T.S., Tooth, S., Jacobs, Z., Rowberry, M.D., Thompson, M., Brandt, D., Hancox, P.J., Marren, P.M., Woodborne, S., Ellery W.N. 2011. The origin of the Nyl River floodplain wetland, Limpopo Province, South Africa: trunk-tributary river interactions in a dryland setting. South African Geographical Journal 93, 172–190.

McCarthy, T.S., Ellery, W.N., Backwell, L., Marren, P., de Klerk, B., Tooth, S., Brandt, D., Woodborne, S. 2010. The character, origin and palaeoenvironmental significance of the Wonderkrater spring mound, South Africa.  Journal of African Earth Sciences 58, 115–126.

Russell, A.J., Tweed F.S., Roberts, M.J., Harris, T.D., Gudmundsson, M.T., Knudsen, Ó., Marren, P.M. 2010. An unusual jökulhlaup resulting from subglacial volcanism, Sólheimajökull, Iceland. Quaternary Science Reviews 29, 1363–1381.

Hassan, M.A., Marren, P.M., Schwartz, U. 2009.  Bar structure in an arid ephemeral stream.  Sedimentary Geology 221, 57–70.

Carrivick, J.L., Russell, A.J., Rushmer, E.L., Tweed, F.S., Marren, P.M., Deeming, H., Lowe, O. 2009. Geomorphological evidence towards a de-glacial control on volcanism. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 34, 1164–1178.

Marren, P.M., Russell, A.J., Rushmer, E.L. 2009. Sedimentology of a sandur formed by multiple jökulhlaups, Kverkfjöll, Iceland. Sedimentary Geology 213, 77–88.

Marren, P.M., McCarthy, T.S., Tooth, S., Brandt, D., Stacey, G.C., Leong, A., Spottiswoode, B. 2006. A comparison of mud- and sand-dominated meanders in a downstream coarsening reach of the mixed bedrock-alluvial Klip River, eastern Free State, South Africa. Sedimentary Geology 190, 213–226.

Russell, A.J., Roberts, M.J., Fay, H., Marren, P.M., Cassidy, N.J., Tweed, F.S., Harris, T. 2006. Icelandic jökulhlaup impacts: implications for ice-sheet hydrology, sediment transfer and geomorphology. Geomorphology 75, 33–64.

Marren, P.M. 2005. Magnitude and frequency in proglacial rivers: a geomorphological and sedimentological perspective. Earth-Science Reviews 70, 203–251.

Marren, P.M. 2004. Present-day sandurs are not representative of the geological record. Sedimentary Geology 152, 1-5 (2002). Discussion. Sedimentary Geology 164, 335–340.

Marren, P.M. 2002. Fluvial-lacustrine interaction on Skeiðarársandur, Iceland: implications for sandur evolution. Sedimentary Geology 149, 43–58.

Marren, P.M. 2002. Glacier margin fluctuations, Skaftafellsjökull, Iceland: implications for sandur evolution. Boreas 31, 75–81.

Knudsen, Ó., Marren, P.M. 2002. Sedimentation in a volcanically dammed valley, Brúarjökull, northeast Iceland. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, 1677–1692.

Marren, P.M. 2001. Sedimentology of proglacial rivers in eastern Scotland during the Late Devensian. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 92, 149–171.

Russell, A.J., Knudsen, Ó., Fay, H., Marren, P.M., Heinz, J., Tronicke, J. 2001. Morphology and sedimentology of a giant supraglacial, ice-walled, jökulhlaup channel, Skeiðarárjökull, Iceland: implications for esker genesis. Global and Planetary Change 28, 203–226.

Russell, A.J., Knudsen, Ó., Maizels, J.K., Marren, P.M. 1999. Channel cross-sectional area changes and peak discharge calculations in the Gígjukvísl river during the November 1996 jökulhlaup, Skeiðarársandur, Iceland. Jökull 47, 45–58.

Russell, A.J., Marren, P.M. 1998. A Younger Dryas (Loch Lomond Stadial) jökulhlaup deposit, Fort Augustus, Scotland. Boreas 27, 231–242.

Book Chapters 

Ellery, W.N., Grenfell, S.E., Grenfell, M.C., Powell, R., Kotzee, D.C., Marren, P.M., Knight, J. 2016. Wetlands in southern Africa: a geomorphic threshold perspective. In: J. Knight, S. Grab (eds.), Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern Africa: Physical and Human Dimensions. Cambridge University Press, 188–202.

Marren, P.M., Hassan, M.A., Alila, Y.  2013.  Hydrological impacts of mountain pine beetle infestation: potential for river channel changes. In: A. Gelfan, D. Yang, Y. Gusev, H. Kunstmann (eds.), Cold and Mountain Region Hydrological Systems under Climate Change: Towards Improved Projections. IAHS Publication 360, 77–82.

Marren, P.M., Woods, K.L.M. 2011. Inundation of anabranching river flood plain wetlands: the Ovens River, Victoria, Australia. In: C. Abesser, G. Nützmann, M.C. Hill, G. Blöschl, E. Lakshmanan (eds.), Conceptual and Modelling Studies of Integrated Groundwater, Surface Water, and Ecological Systems. IAHS Publication 345, 229–234.

Marren, P.M. 2010. Geothermal Features.  In: B. Warf (ed.), Encyclopedia of Geography. SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, 1270–1274.

Marren, P.M., Schuh, M. 2009. Criteria for identifying jökulhlaup deposits in the sedimentary record. In: D. Burr, V.R. Baker, P.A. Carling (eds.), Megaflooding on Earth and Mars. Cambridge University Press, 225–242.

Russell, A.J., Fay, H., Marren, P.M., Tweed, F.S., Knudsen, Ó. 2005. Icelandic jökulhlaup impacts. In: C.J. Caseldine, A.J. Russell, J. Harðardóttir, Ó. Knudsen (eds.), Iceland: Modern Processes and Past Environments. Developments in Quaternary Science 5, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 153–203.

Cassidy, N.J., Russell, A.J., Marren, P.M., Fay, H., Rushmer, E.L., van Dijk, T.A.G.P., Knudsen, Ó. 2003. GPR-derived architecture of November 1996 jökulhlaup deposits, Skeiðarársandur, Iceland. In: C.S. Bristow, H. Jol (eds.), Ground Penetrating Radar in Sediments. Geological Society of London Special Publication 211, 153–166.

Marren, P.M., Russell, A.J., Knudsen, Ó. 2002. Discharge magnitude and frequency as a control on proglacial fluvial sedimentary systems. In: F. Dyer, M.C. Thoms, J.M. Olley (eds.), The Structure, Function and Management Implications of Fluvial Sedimentary Systems. IAHS Publication 276, 297–303.

Rushmer, E.L., Russell, A.J., Knudsen, Ó., Tweed, F.S., Marren, P.M. 2002. The role of hydrograph shape in controlling glacier outburst flood (jökulhlaup) sedimentation. In: F. Dyer, M.C. Thoms, J.M. Olley (eds.), The Structure, Function and Management Implications of Fluvial Sedimentary Systems. IAHS Publication 276, 305–313.

Marren, P.M. 2002. Criteria for distinguishing high magnitude flood events in the proglacial fluvial sedimentary record. In: Á. Snorrason, H.P. Finnsdóttir, M. Moss (eds.), The Extremes of the Extremes: Extraordinary Floods. IAHS Publication 271, 237–241.

Russell, A.J., Tweed, F.S., Knudsen, Ó., Roberts, M.J., Harris, T.D., Marren, P.M. 2002. Impact of the July 1999 jökulhlaup, on the proximal river Jökulsá á Sólheimasandi, Mýrdalsjökull Glacier, southern Iceland. In: Á. Snorrason, H.P. Finnsdóttir, M. Moss (eds.), The Extremes of the Extremes: Extraordinary Floods. IAHS Publication 271, 249–254.

Russell, A.J., Marren, P.M. 1999. Proglacial fluvial sedimentary sequences in Greenland and Iceland: a case study from active proglacial environments subject to jökulhlaups. In: A.P. Jones, M.E. Tucker, J.K. Hart (eds.), The Description and Analysis of Quaternary Stratigraphic Field Sections. Quaternary Research Association Technical Guide 7, 171–208.

Refereed Conference Papers 

Zhang, N., Rutherfurd, I., Marren, P. 2016. Impact of large instream logs on river bank erosion.  Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Ecohydraulics, Melbourne. Paper 25971.

Teo, E.A., Marren, P.M. 2014. The evolution of Corryong/Nariel Creek since European settlement: implications for on-going management prioritisation. In: I.D. Rutherfurd, G.J. Vietz (eds.), Proceedings of the 7th Australian Stream Management Conference: Catchment to Coast. Townsville, Queensland, 25-35.

Marren, P.M., Grove, J.R., Webb, J.A., Stewardson, M.J. 2014. The impact of dams on floodplain geomorphology: are there any, should we care, and what should we do about it? In: I.D. Rutherfurd, G.J. Vietz (eds.), Proceedings of the 7th Australian Stream Management Conference: Catchment to Coast. Townsville, Queensland, 74-80.

Marren, P.M., Smith, H.G. 2012. Channel changes on Corryong Creek, NE Victoria following drought-ending floods: implications for channel and riparian vegetation management. In: J.R. Grove, I.D. Rutherfurd (eds.), Proceedings of the 6th Australian Stream Management Conference: Managing for Extremes. River Basin Management Society, Australia, 31–38.

Academic Qualifications

• BSc (Hons) in Geology with Geographical Science, University of Luton
• MSc in Hydrology for Catchment Management, Imperial College London
• PhD in Physical Geography, Keele University

Professional Affiliations

• FHEA