The Fluvial Systems Research Group is a joint venture with Aberdeen University and the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, funded by a consortium of four oil companies over 3 years. The current focus of research is on modern and ancient Distributive Fluvial Systems (DFS) which are considered to be the dominant form in aggradational continental basins. Work at Royal Holloway focuses on documenting the three dimensional architecture of fluvial channel and overbank facies at a basin-wide scale using outcrop examples from the Cenozoic in Spain and the Jurassic on the Colorado Plateau, USA. The controls on channel behaviour are being considered in terms of avulsion processes and the channel stacking geometry related to basin accommodation and climate. Interpreting fluvial successions in terms of DFS will be used to inform models for subsurface distribution of resources.
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| Model for Distributive Fluvial System |
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| Channel architecture, Ebro Basin, Spain |