Thomas Oliver is a coastal geographer interested in all aspects of coastal science from the late Quaternary to present-day processes. He has conducted research in many coastal locations around Australia and has a special interest in sandy coastal plains which preserve past shoreline behaviour, past coastal processes and palaeoclimatic signatures.

Current projects:

IN-CENT-IVES INtra-CENTennial sandy shoreline behaviour from sedimentary archIVES

Seed funding: Rectors Start-Up Grant

This project aims to reconstruct past shoreline behaviour on a timescale relevant for coastal management for sandy wave- dominated coastlines in Australia. This involves i) determining the impact of past storm events and subsequent recovery and ii) calculating past and present sediment budgets. Shallow geophysics, high-resolution topography and bathymetry, beach monitoring and innovative use of OSL dating for young (<500 year old) marine sediments will be combined into an integrated methodology to examine sites with unique sedimentary archives of beach and dune processes. This will enhance our understanding of the processes underpinning shoreline behaviour enabling better forecasting of future coastal response to physical processes, such as storm erosion and changes in sediment supply, on a timescale relevant to coastal planning and hazard assessments.