Professor P. J. J. Kamp

Qualifications: PhD MSc

Contact Details

• Calling +64 7 838 4466  then enter the extension
• Direct dialling +64 7 838  then extension (for extensions starting with 4)
• Direct dialling +64 7 858  then extension (for extensions starting with 5)
• Emailing username@waikato.ac.nz
• Using the campus map to locate their room

Research Interests

My research interests include sedimentary and petroleum geology; tectonic development of New Zealand through the Cretaceous and Cenozoic by application of basin analysis (including sequence stratigraphy), low temperature thermochronology (fission track and(U-Th)/He methods applied to apatite and zircon), and geochronology (U-Pb dating via LA-ICPMS on zircon). I also have collaborative research projects in China (Tibet Plateau and eastern margin) involving thermochronology and geochronology.

As a geoscientist, I attempt to take an Earth Systems approach in my research work. I like to work from the large scale (e.g. tectonic development of New Zealand) down to the sedimentary basin scale and then to the formation or sequence scale. We seek to understand the processes, rates and dynamics of material moving from source (mountains) to sink (basins), and the sequence architecture within basins driven by past sea level changes. We have research projects across many parts of New Zealand.

The outcome we seek in much of our work is to better understand the context of, and prospectivity for, petroleum resources in New Zealand's basins, and to this end we are funded by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST), and interact with with oil and gas exploration companies. Please view my Sedimentary and Petroleum Research Group website.

As something completely different, in 2002 I established an industrial energy efficiency research group within the faculty. The group has six mechanical and process engineers (funded externally, including FRST) seeking to improve process and energy efficiency in the dairy processing and pulp and paper industries.

About P.

My personal expertise lies in the field of sedimentary geology, specifically: basin analysis, field mapping and sequence stratigraphy applied to outcrop successions. I am currently establishing a facility for seismic reflection mapping to extend the group's capability in basin analysis and sequence stratigraphy. I also have extensive expertise in low temperature thermochronology (fission track, (U-Th)/He)and geochronology (U-Pb by LA-ICPMS), having established laboratories with these facilities. I also have expertise in the leadership and management of science and engineering research programmes, and in interaction with industry. 

Expertise

New Zealand oil and gas studies; radiometric dating; tectonic development of New Zealand; New Zealand sedimentary basins.

Recent Publications

• Sutherland, R., Gurnis, M., Kamp, P., House, M. (2009) Regional exhumation history of brittle crust during subduction initiation, Fiordland, southwest New Zealand, and implications for thermochronologic sampling and analysis strategies
  Refereed Journal Articles - Geosphere
• Bunce, M., Worthy, T., Phillips, M., Holdaway, R., Willerslev, E., Haile, J., Shapiro, B., Scofield, R., Drummond, A., Kamp, P., Cooper, A. (2009) The evolutionary history of the extinct ratite moa and New Zealand Neogene paleogeography
  Refereed Journal Articles - PNAS Early Edition
• Herman, F., Cox, S., Kamp, P. (2009) Low-temperature thermochronology and thermokinematic modeling of deformation, exhumation, and development of topography in the central Southern Alps, New Zealand
  Refereed Journal Articles - Tectonics
• Hendy, A., Kamp, P., Vonk, A. (2009) Late Miocene turnover of molluscan faunas, New Zealand: Taxonomic and ecological reassessment of diversity changes at multiple spatial and temporal scales
  Refereed Journal Articles - Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

View All research publications by P. Kamp

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