Staff profiles
Dougal TownsendGeologist
Biography
Dougal is a senior geologist in the Geological Mapping and Stratigraphy team. His main focus is on producing geological and geomorphological maps. He works closely with staff from other teams at GNS, particularly those in Volcanology, Landslides and Earthquake Geology. One of his strengths is having a broad understanding of New Zealand geology, particularly in the northern South Island-southern North Island regions. The advent of high-resolution digital terrain data allows remote landscape interpretation, but he still enjoys getting out into the field whenever possible. Fieldwork has taken him to many remote parts of New Zealand and places as far away as Antarctica. His passion for landscape photography ties in well with response work and aerial surveying following major natural events.
Qualifications
- PhD
- BSc, Geology
- BSc (1st class) Honors, Geology
Areas of expertise
- Geology: Tectonics
- Geology: Geological mapping
- Geology: Structural Geology
- Geology: Quaternary studies
- Geology: Regional Geology
- Geology: Volcanology
- Geology: Digital terrain models
- Geology: Landslides
- Geology: Active fault studies
- Geology: Paleoseismology
- Geology: Quaternary research
- Geology: Field mapping
- Geology: Lahars and debris flow
- Geology: Cenozoic stratigraphy
- Geology: GIS mapping
- Geology: Field mapping & compilation
- Geology: Geomorphology
- Geology: tectonic geomorphology
- Geology: Holocene neotectonic activity
- Geology: Late Quaternary deformations
- Geology: Tephrastratigraphy
- Geology: Geological mapping using GIS
- Geology: Map production
- Geology: Quaternary geology
- Geology: Antarctic geology
- Geology: Landslide Processes
- Geology: Neogene Stratigraphy
- Geology: Landscape evolution
- Geology: Earthquake Geology
- Geology: GIS
- Geology: Structural geological mapping
- Geology: Outcrop geology
- Geology: Glaciology
- Geology: Volcano-tectonic studies
- Geology: New Zealand Geology
Major Publications
See all publications
- A geomorphological characterisation of the coastal environment of the West Coast Region, South Island DOI: 10.21420/XCBA-DK53. Lower Hutt, N.Z.: GNS Science. GNS Science report 2021/46 31 p.
- Landslides triggered by the 14 November 2016 Mw 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake : an update, Landslides 17(10): p. 2401-2408. DOI: 10.1007/s10346-020-01439-x. p. 2401-2408
- Glaciovolcanic emplacement of an intermediate hydroclastic breccia-lobe complex during the penultimate glacial period (190130 ka), Ruapehu volcano, New Zealand, Geological Society of America Bulletin 132(9/10): p. 1903-1913. DOI: 10.1130/B35297.1. p. 1903-1913
- Volume characteristics of landslides triggered by the Mw7.8 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake, New Zealand, derived from digital surface difference modelling, Journal of Geophysical Research. Earth Surface 125(7): e2019JF005163. DOI: 10.1029/2019JF005163. e2019JF005163
- SLIDE (Wellington) : geomorphological characterisation of the Wellington urban area DOI: 10.21420/CHRR-4G41. Lower Hutt, N.Z.: GNS Science. GNS Science report 2019/28 [194] p.
- Co-seismic and ongoing land deformation at Mt Lyford Village, North Canterbury DOI: 10.21420/G21M10. Lower Hutt, N.Z.: GNS Science. GNS Science miscellaneous series 120 17 p.
- Geology of the Tongariro National Park area Lower Hutt, N.Z.: GNS Science. GNS Science geological map 4 1 sheet + 109 p., scale 1:60,000
- Estimating co-seismic subsidence in the Hutt Valley associated with rupture of the Wellington Fault, Bulletin of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering 49(3): p. 283-291. DOI: 10.5459/bnzsee.49.3.283-291. p. 283-291
- Mapping surface liquefaction caused by the September 2010 and February 2011 Canterbury earthquakes : a digital dataset, New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 59(4): p. 496-513. DOI: 10.1080/00288306.2016.1182929. p. 496-513
- Lava-ice interaction on a large composite volcano : a case study from Ruapehu, New Zealand, Bulletin of Volcanology 77(3): article 21. DOI: 10.1007/s00445-015-0906-2. article 21
- Geology of southern Victoria Land Antarctica Lower Hutt: GNS Science. Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences 1:250,000 geological map 22 135 p. + 1 folded map
- Geology of the Hawke's Bay area : scale 1:250,000 Lower Hutt: GNS Science. Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences 1:250,000 geological map 8 93 p. + 1 folded map
- Geology of the Taranaki area : scale 1:250,000 Lower Hutt: GNS Science. Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences 1:250,000 geological map 7 77 p. + 1 folded map
- Geology of the Kaikoura area : scale 1:250,000 geological map Lower Hutt: GNS Science. Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences 1:250,000 geological map 13 70 p. + 1 folded map
- Palinspastic reconstructions of southeastern Marlborough, New Zealand, for mid-Cretaceous-Eocene times, New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 46(2): p. 153-175. DOI: 10.1080/00288306.2003.9515002. Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences contribution 2373 p. 153-175
- Pliocene-Quaternary deformation and mechanisms of near-surface strain close to the eastern tip of the Clarence Fault, northeast Marlborough, New Zealand, New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 41(4): p. 401-417. DOI: 10.1080/00288306.1998.9514819. [s.l.]: [s.n.]. p. 401-417