Dr Jonathan Dean

Dr Jonathan Dean

Lecturer in Quaternary Science, Director of Education, Co-Deputy Head of School

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Science and Engineering
  • School of Environmental Sciences

Summary

I'm a Lecturer in Quaternary Science, and the Director of Education and Co-Deputy Head of School for the School of Environmental Sciences.

My research uses lake sediments to reconstruct past changes in hydroclimate in eastern Africa and the eastern Mediterranean over the late Quaternary.

I teach on a range of modules, specialising in environmental change and field-based teaching.

I was Schools Liaison Coordinator from 2018 to 2020 and Director of Admissions from 2020 to 2023 for Geography, Earth Science and Environmental Science.

Biography:

•2017-present: Lecturer, University of Hull

•2014-2017: PDRA, British Geological Survey

•2010-2014: PhD, University of Nottingham

•2007-2010: BSc (Hons) Geography, University of Nottingham

First year

- Exploring Worlds Around Us

- Interpreting Environments

Second year

- Environmental Change (convenor)

- Living in the Anthropocene

- Field Study Physical Geography (convenor)

Third year

- Adapting to Climate Change (convenor)

- Dissertation supervision

Masters

- Dissertation supervision

Recent outputs

View more outputs

Journal Article

A global compilation of diatom silica oxygen isotope records from lake sediment - trends and implications for climate reconstruction

Meister, P., Alexandre, A., Bailey, H., Barker, P., Biskaborn, B. K., Broadman, E., Cartier, R., Chapligin, B., Couapel, M., Dean, J. R., Diekmann, B., Harding, P., Henderson, A. C. G., Hernandez, A., Herzschuh, U., Kostrova, S. S., Lacey, J., Leng, M. J., Lücke, A., MacKay, A. W., …Meyer, H. (2024). A global compilation of diatom silica oxygen isotope records from lake sediment - trends and implications for climate reconstruction. Climate of the Past, 20(2), 363-392. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-363-2024

Hydroclimate changes in eastern Africa over the past 200,000 years may have influenced early human dispersal

Schaebitz, F., Asrat, A., Lamb, H. F., Cohen, A. S., Foerster, V., Duesing, W., Kaboth-Bahr, S., Opitz, S., Viehberg, F. A., Vogelsang, R., Dean, J., Leng, M. J., Junginger, A., Ramsey, C. B., Chapot, M. S., Deino, A., Lane, C. S., Roberts, H. M., Vidal, C., Tiedemann, R., & Trauth, M. H. (2021). Hydroclimate changes in eastern Africa over the past 200,000 years may have influenced early human dispersal. Communications Earth & Environment, 2(1), Article 123. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00195-7

Extending the tephra and palaeoenvironmental record of the Central Mediterranean back to 430 ka: A new core from Fucino Basin, central Italy

Giaccio, B., Leicher, N., Mannella, G., Monaco, L., Regattieri, E., Wagner, B., Zanchetta, G., Gaeta, M., Marra, F., Nomade, S., Palladino, D. M., Pereira, A., Scheidt, S., Sottili, G., Wonik, T., Wulf, S., Zeeden, C., Ariztegui, D., Cavinato, G. P., Dean, J. R., …Tzedakis, P. C. (2019). Extending the tephra and palaeoenvironmental record of the Central Mediterranean back to 430 ka: A new core from Fucino Basin, central Italy. Quaternary science reviews, 225, 106003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106003

The 4.2 ka BP Event in the Mediterranean region: an overview

Bini, M., Zanchetta, G., Perşoiu, A., Cartier, R., Català, A., Cacho, I., Dean, J. R., Di Rita, F., Drysdale, R. N., Finnè, M., Isola, I., Jalali, B., Lirer, F., Magri, D., Masi, A., Marks, L., Mercuri, A. M., Peyron, O., Sadori, L., Sicre, M. A., …Brisset, E. (2019). The 4.2 ka BP Event in the Mediterranean region: an overview. Climate of the Past, 15(2), 555-577. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-555-2019

20,000 years of societal vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in southwest Asia

Jones, M. D., Abu-Jaber, N., Alshdaifat, A., Baird, D., Cook, B. I., Cuthbert, M. O., Dean, J. R., Djamali, M., Eastwood, W., Fleitmann, D., Haywood, A., Kwiecien, O., Larsen, J., Maher, L. A., Metcalfe, S. E., Parker, A., Petrie, C. A., Primmer, N., Richter, T., Roberts, N., …Weeks, L. (2019). 20,000 years of societal vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in southwest Asia. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 6(2), Article e1330. https://doi.org/10.1002/WAT2.1330

Research interests

Publications:

18. Meister, P., Alexandre, A., Bailey, H., Barker, P., Biskaborn, B.J., Broadman, E., Cartier, R., Chapligin, B., Couapel, M., Dean, J.R., Biekmann, B., Harding, P., Henderson, A.C.G., Hernandez, A., Herzschuh, U., Kostrova, S.S., Lacey, J., Leng, M.J., Lucke, A., Mackay, A.W., Magyari, E.K., Narancic, B., Porchier, C., Rosqvist, A., Shemesh, A., Sonzogni, C., Swann, G.E.A., Sylvestre, F., Meyer, H., 2023. A global compilation of diatom silica oxygen isotope records from lake sediment – trends, and implications for climate reconstruction. Climate of the Past 20, 363-392.

17.Schaebitz, F., Asrat, A., Lamb, H.F., Cohen, A.S., Foerster, V., Duesing, W., Kaboth-Bahr, S., Oputz, S., Viehberg, F.A., Vogelsanf, R., Dean, J.R., Leng, M.J., Junjunger, A., Bronk Ramsey, C., Chapot, M.S., Deino, A., Lane, C.S., Roberts, H.M., Vidal, C., Tiedemann, R., Trauth, M.H., 2021. Hydroclimate changes in eastern Africa over the past 200,000 years may have influenced early human dispersal. Nature Communications Earth & Environment 2, 123.

16.Giaccio, B., Leicher, N., Mannella, G., Monaco, L., Regattieri, E., Wagner, B., Zanchetta, G., Gaeta, M., Marra, F., Nomade, S., Palladino, D.M., Pereira, A., Scheidt, S., Sottili, G., Wonik, T., Wulf, S., Zeeden, C., Ariztegui, D., Cavinato, G.P., Dean, J.R., Florindo, F., Leng, M.J., Macrì, P., Niespolo, E., Renne, P., Rolf, C., Sadori, L., Thomas, C., Tzedakis, C., 2019. Extending the tephra and palaeoenvironmental record of the Central Mediterranean back to 430 ka: A new core from Fucino Basin, central Italy. Quaternary Science Reviews 225, 106003.

15.Bini, M., Zanchetta, G., Persoiu, A., Cartier, R., Catala, A., Cacho, I., Dean, J.R., Di Rita, F., Drysdale, R.N., Finne, M., Isola, I., Jalali, B., Lirer, F., Magri, D., Masi, A., Marks, L., Mercuri, A.M., Peyron, O., Sadori, L., S, M., Welc, F., Zielhofer, C., Brisset, E., 2019. The 4.2 ka BP Event in the Mediterranean Region: an overview. Climate of the Past 15, 555-577.

14.Jones, M.D., Abu-Jaber, N., Al Shdaifat, A., Baird, D., Cook, B., Cuthbert, M.O., Dean, J.R., Djamali, M., Eastwood, W., Fleitman, D., Haywood, A., Kwiecien, O., Larsen, J., Maher, L.A., Metcalfe, S.E., Parker, A., Petrie, C.A., Primmer, N., Richter, T., Roberts, N., Row, J., Tindall, J.C., Unal-Imer, E., Weeks, L., 2019. 20,000 years of societal vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in southwest Asia. WIREs Water 6, e1330.

13.Viehberg, F.A., Just, J., Dean, J.R., Wagner, B., Oliver Franz, S., Klasen, N., Kleinen, T., Ludwig, P., Asrat, A., Lamb, H.F., Leng, M.J., Rethemeyer, J., Milodowski, A.E., Claussen, M., Schaebitz, F., 2018. Environmental change during MIS4 and MIS3 opened corridors in the Horn of Africa for Homo sapiens expansion. Quaternary Science Reviews 202, 139-153.

12. Mannella, G., Giaccio, B., Zanchetta, G., Regattieri, E., Leicher, N., Scheidt, S., Grelle, T., Lehne, L., Rolf, C., Wonik, T., Nomade, S., Pereira, A., Niespolo, E., Renne, P., Leng, M., Dean, J.R., Thomas, C., Ariztegu, D., Gaeta, M., Florindo, F., Cavinato, G.P., Provenzale, A., Wagner, B., 2018. Fucino palaeo-lake: towards the palaeoenvironmental history of the last 430 ka. Alpine and Mediterranean Quaternary 31, 141-145.

11.Dean, J.R., Jones, M.D., Leng, M.J., Metcalfe, S.E., Sloane, Eastwood, W.J., Roberts, C.N., 2018. Seasonality of Holocene hydroclimate in the Eastern Mediterranean reconstructed using the oxygen isotope composition of carbonates and diatoms from Lake Nar, central Turkey. The Holocene 28, 267-276.

10.Sutton, J.N., André, L., Cardinal, D., Conley, D.J., de Souza, G.F., Dean, J.R., Dodd, J., Ehlert, C., Ellwood, M.J., Frings, P.J., Grasse, P., Hendry, K., Leng, M.J., Michalopoulos, P., Panizzo, V.N., Swann, G.E.A., 2018. A Review of the Stable Isotope Bio-geochemistry of the Global Silicon Cycle and Its Associated Trace Elements. Frontiers in Earth Science 5, 112.

9.Lacey, J.H., Leng, M.J., Peckover, E.N., Dean, J.R., Wilke, T., Francke, A., Zhang, X., Masi, A., Wagner, B., 2018. Investigating the environmental interpretation of oxygen and carbon isotope data from whole and fragmented bivalve shells. Quaternary Science Reviews 194, 55-61.

8.Dean, J.R., Leng, M.J., Mackay, A.W., 2018. Isotopic signatures. In: DellaSala, D.A., Goldstein, M.I., (eds.) The Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene, 197-203. Elsevier, Oxford.

7.Lewis, J.P., Leng, M.J., Dean, J.R., Marciniak, A., Bar-Yosef Mayer, D.E., Wu, X., 2017. Early Holocene palaeoseasonality inferred from the stable isotope composition of Unio shells from Çatalhöyük, Turkey. Environmental Archaeology 1, 79-95.

6.Roberts, C.N., Allcock, S.L., Arnaud, F., Dean, J.R., Eastwood, W.J., Jones, M.D., Leng, M.J., Metcalfe, S.E., Malet, E., Woodbridge, J., Yiğitbaşıoğlu, H., 2016. A tale of two lakes: a multi-proxy comparison of Late Glacial and Holocene environmental change in Cappadocia, Turkey. Journal of Quaternary Science 31, 348-362.

5.Dean, J.R., Jones, M.D., Leng, M.J., Noble, S.R., Metcalfe, S.E., Sloane, H.J., Sahy, D., Eastwood, W.J., Roberts, C.N., 2015. Eastern Mediterranean hydroclimate over the late glacial and Holocene, reconstructed from the sediments of Nar lake, central Turkey, using stable isotopes and carbonate mineralogy. Quaternary Science Reviews 124, 162-174.

4.Yiğitbaşıoğlu, H., Dean, J.R., Eastwood, W.J., Roberts, C.N., Jones, M.D., Leng, M.J., 2015. A 600 year-long drought index for central Anatolia. Journal of the Black Sea/Mediterranean Environment 2, 84-88.

3. Dean, J.R., Eastwood, W.J., Roberts, C.N., Jones, M.D., Yiğitbaşıoğlu, H., Allcock, S.L., Woodbridge, J., Metcalfe, S.E., Leng, M.J., 2015. Tracking the hydro-climatic signal from lake to sediment: a field study from central Turkey. Journal of Hydrology 529, 608-621.

2.Dean, J.R., Leng, M.J., Mackay, A.W., 2014. Is there an isotopic signature of the Anthropocene? The Anthropocene Review 1, 276-287.

1.Dean, J.R., Jones, M.D., Leng, M.J., Sloane, H.J., Roberts, C.N., Woodbridge, J., Swann, G.E.A., Metcalfe, S.E., Eastwood, W.J., Yiğitbaşıoğlu, H., 2013. Palaeo-seasonality of the last two millennia reconstructed from the oxygen isotope composition of carbonates and diatom silica from Nar Gölü, central Turkey. Quaternary Science Reviews 66, 35-44.

Current research projects:

•Tsunami risk to offshore wind infrastructure, 2021-present. Aims to use the palaeo record to better establish the likely tsunami risk to offshore wind infrastructure in the North Sea. Supervising PhD student Benjamin Pickett.

•Fucino palaeo-lake: towards the palaeoenvironmental history of the last 430 ka, 2018-present. Investigation of long lake cores from Italy to produce the longest palaeoenvironmental record from the central Mediterranean to date. With Universities of Pisa, Rome, Berkeley and Cologne and British Geological Survey.

•Quaternary evolution of Mediterranean lakes: refining our understanding of climatic response thresholds, 2017-present. Analysing sediments from Lake Ioannina in Greece and Lake Ohrid in the Republic of North Macedonia to investigate environmental change over the period 190,000-340,000 years BP.

•Did the African Humid Period termination in southern Ethiopia really take ~1000 years? 2017-present. Using stromatolites from Ethiopia to investigate questions surrounding the last time the Sahara turned from grassland to desert 5,000 years ago. With Universities of St Andrews and Oxford and British Geological Survey.

•A 500,000-year environmental record from Chew Bahir, south Ethiopia: testing hypotheses of climate-driven human evolution, innovation, and dispersal, 2014-present. Producing the longest reconstruction of past climate change from eastern Africa to date, in order to establish the climate at the time of Homo sapiens evolution and dispersal out of Africa. Multi-million £ project funded by NERC, NSF, DFG and the Intercontinental Drilling Program. With Universities of Arizona, Brown, Cologne, Potsdam, Aberystwyth, St Andrews, Oxford and Cambridge.

•14,000 years of palaeoenvironmental change in central Turkey, 2010-present Using lake sediments to reconstruct environmental changes over the late glacial and Holocene. Funded by NERC, National Geographic and British Institute at Ankara. With Universities of Plymouth, Nottingham and Birmingham.

Postgraduate supervision

Jonathan welcomes applications for postgraduate supervision.

Current students:

Benjamin Pickett 2021- Tsunami risk to offshore wind infrastructure

Membership/Fellowship of professional body

Fellow

2019

Fellow of Higher Education Academy

Member

2010

Member of Quaternary Research Association

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