Dr Nigel Woodcock
Director of Studies in Earth Sciences
Emeritus Reader in Earth Sciences
t: (01223) 333430
Departmental webpage: http://www.esc.cam.ac.uk/people/academic-staff/nigel-woodcock
What is your subject and specific area of study?
In college I teach across the whole spectrum of Earth Sciences at first year level. I have broad research interests within geology, but currently work, and do more specialist teaching, in the area of structural geology and tectonics. These fields are concerned with how rocks deform in the Earth’s crust; for instance, why some rocks break suddenly to give earthquakes, whilst other rocks flow slowly to give folded mountain belts. Most of my evidence is gathered from field work in the British Isles. I have co-edited a standard textbook on the geological history of this complex and fascinating region.
What makes Clare College such a good place to study your subject?
Clare is usually in the top three colleges in terms of numbers of undergraduate geologists; about twenty students across four years. Most of these students had not done Geology at school, but were attracted to the subject in the first year of the Natural Sciences course. In Clare we offer supportive small-group teaching and a sociable community of students doing Earth Sciences.
Main Publications:Main textbooks Geology and environment in Britain and Ireland (London: UCL Press, 1994) Geological history of Britain and Ireland (ed. with RA Strachan) (Oxford: Blackwell Science, 2000) Over 140 scientific papers, recently including: A Rheic cause for the Acadian deformation in Europe, Woodcock, NH; Soper, NJ; Strachan, RA, Journal of the Geological Society, 164, 1023-1036 (London, 2007) Classification of fault breccias and related fault rocks, Woodcock, NH; Mort, K, Geological Magazine, 145, 435-440 (2008) Full list here |
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First year field course in southwest Scotland: Looking at remnants of the floor of an old ocean