Dr Samuel Marx

Lecturer
Room:   41 G31
Phone No:    +61 2 4221 5318
Email:  smarx@uow.edu.au

Research Interests

My research interests broadly span the disciplines of Geomorphology, Climatology and Geochemistry. I am interested in the role of dust in biogeochemical cycles and climate systems and the use of dust as a proxy for climate variability at a range of temporal scales. I have previously worked in New Zealand, linking rates of Australian dust deposition to ENSO-type variability over the last 8000 years. More recently I have been working in the Snowy Mountains developing drought chronologies through examining the strength and position of the mid-latitude westerlies and their influence on the hydro-climate of the Murray-Darling Basin. I am also currently involved in examining the long distance transport of pollutants through the atmosphere and the environmental effects of anthropogenic activities on biogeochemcial and sedimentary cycles (aspects of this work were recently highlighted on the Science Show, ABC National Radio: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/persistent-organic-pollutants-found-on-new-zealand-glaciers/3810428

My specific research interests include:

• Aeolian geomorphology, long-range dust transport and the use of dust as a palaeo-environmental proxy.
• Hydro-climate variability.
• Atmospheric pollution and environmental accumulation of pollutants.
• Geochemical tracers of physical processes.
• Effects of anthropogenic activities on the environment, particularly erosion, sedimentation and pollution histories.
• Coastal wetland dynamics.

Teaching

I teach in both the undergraduate and postgraduate programs including within the courses:

• EESS103: Landscape change and climatology.
• ENVI 923: Environmental Planning.
• ENVI 922: Scientific basis of environmental management.

Suggested topics for future PhD and Honours students

I welcome both Honours and PhD students who are interested in projects that fit within my broad research interests.

Research Photos:

    
Stripes of red Australian dust within the ice of
Fox Glacier, South Island, New Zealand.

Flying kites through dust plumes,
Diamantina Lakes, Central Queensland.

Collecting cores Snowy Mountains.

Salt crusting on lake Eyre, Australia's biggest dust source.

Collecting dust samples, Snowy Mountains, NSW

Professional Associations 

AQUA (Australasian Quaternary Association)
Geochemical Society
ANZGG (Australia and New Zealand Geomorphology Group).

Publications

Searchable Publications

Lavin, K.J., Hageman, K.S., Marx, S.K, Dillinham, P.W, Kamber, B.S, 2012, Using trace elements in particulate matter to identify the sources of semi-volatile organic contaminants in air at an alpine site, Environmental Science & Technology, 46, 268-276

Marx, S.K., Kamber, B.S, McGowan, H.A, Denholm, J., 2011, Holocene dust deposition rates in Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin, record the interplay between aridity, position of the mid-latitude westerlies, Quaternary Science Reviews, 30, 3290-3305.

Marx, S.K., Kamber, B.S, McGowan, H.A, Zawadzki, A, 2010, Atmospheric pollutants in alpine peat bogs record a detailed chronology of industrial and agricultural development on the Australian continent,  Environmental Pollution, 158, 1615-1628.

Marx, S.K., McGowan, H.A., 2010, Long-distance transport of urban and industrial metals and their incorporation into the environment: Sources, transport pathways and historical trends, In Zereini, F, Wiseman, C., (Eds) Urban Airborne Particulate matter: Origins, Chemistry, Fate and Heath, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-12278-1_6, 103-123.

Marx, S.K., and Kamber, B.S., 2010, High-precision trace-element systematics of sediments in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia: sediment tracing and palaeo-climate implications of fine scale chemical heterogeneity of the upper continental crust, Applied Geochemistry, 25, 1221-1237.

McGowan, H.A., Marx, S.K., Soderholm, J. and Denholm, J., 2010. Evidence of solar and tropical-ocean forcing of hydroclimate in southeastern Australia for the past 6500 years. Geophysical Research Letters, 37, L10705.

Kamber, B.S., Marx, S.K., McGowan, H.A., 2010: Comment on “Lead isotopic evidence for an Australian source of Aeolian dust to Antarctica at times over the last 170,000 years” by P. De Deckker, M. Norman, I.D. Goodwin, A. Wain and F.X. Gingele, Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 298, 432-436.

Holdaway, S., Fanning, P., Rhodes, E., Marx., S.K., Floyd., B., Douglass., M., 2010, Human response to palaeoenvironmental change in western New South Wales, Australia, Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 282, 192-200.

Marx, SK., McGowan, H.A., Kamber, B.S., 2009, Long-range dust transport from eastern Australia: a proxy for Holocene aridity and ENSO induced climate variability, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 282, 167-177.

McGowan, H.A., Marx, S.K., Soderholm, J., Kamber, B.S., Denholm, J., 2009, Reconstructing annual inflows to the headwater catchments of the Murray River, Australia, using the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, Geophysical Research Letters, 37, L06707.

Marx, S.K., Kamber, B.S, McGowan, H.A., 2008. Scavenging of atmospheric trace metal pollutants by mineral dusts: Inter-regional transport of Australian trace metal pollution to New Zealand, Atmospheric Environment, 42, 2460-2478.

Marx, S.K., Kamber, B.S., McGowan, H.A., 2005. Estimates of Australian dust flux into New Zealand: Quantifying the eastern Australian dust plume pathway using trace element calibrated ²¹⁰Pb as a monitor. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 239, 336-351.

McGowan, H.A., Kamber, B.S., McTainsh, G.H., Marx, S.K., 2005. High resolution provenancing of long travelled dust deposition in the Southern Alps, New Zealand. Geomorphology, 69, 208-221.

Marx, S.K., Kamber, B.S., McGowan, H.A., 2005. Provenance of long travelled dust determined with ultra-trace-element composition: A pilot study with samples from New Zealand glaciers. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 30, 699-716.

Marx, S.K., McGowan, H.A., 2005. Dust transport and deposition in a superhumid environment. Catena, 59, 147-171.

Marx, S.K., McGowan, H.A., 2005. A re-examination of the 1928 trans-Tasman dust transport event. Weather and Climate, 24, 35-55.