In this page you will find some snap shots of the field expeditions I have carried out during the last 20 years of career as a geoscientist. Lots to say and to post…it will take some time but it is ongoing !

Our desert tent in Libya – January 2009

Sampling stacked fluvial channels in Eastern Kentucky – May 2013

Arnoud examining and sampling the large size clinoforms of the Favignana calcarenites, spring 2010

Since 2010 the island of Favignana is a frequent destination of our scientific expeditions. This small Mediterranean island located few miles West of Sicily (Southern Italy), offers some of the most spectacular 3D exposures of calcarenite sequences in the region which offer us an unprecedented possibility to carry out accurate studies of their distribution, geometry and architecture. This topic has been a research objective for a couple of MSc students and currently a PhD student, Arnoud Slootman who, beside his enthusiasm for sedimentology, has the valuable skills to takle those cliffs in a effective way…

March 2014: We just come back from two extraordinary trips to the Anti Atlas of Morocco and Central Argentina.

Desert road leading to the Ordovician rocks forming the cliffs, Anti Atlas, Morocco

During the first trip we looked at architecture and sedimentology of Ordovician glaciogenic deposits with a very competent and multidisciplinary team from several French Universities (Strasbourg, Dijon, Renes, Bordeaux, Montpellier, etc), Industry and research centers (CNRS). Understanding the heterogeneity of Ordovician glaciogenic deposits, their mechanisms of formation and provenance are topics of thea PhD research project of Antonio Benvenuti, student at UNIGE.

The second trip was dedicated to examine a long sedimentary sucession of Miocene continental deposits accumulated in the foreland of the Central Andes, West of Mendoza. The 800 m-thick succession records the interplay of important global climatic changes and the growth and unroofing of the Central Cordillera. Our aim is to unravel the sedimentary history of this succession and understand the effects of these two important processes on the depositional processes and resulting stratigraphical record. This project is the research topic of Gabriel Hunger, a PhD student at UNIGE.

Testing a 4.0L Toyota Hilux – “The Indestructible Truck” according to TopGear – on a river bed in the Andes.

Driving along Andes river beds might not be always a good idea…Bed load transport can be seriosuly dangerous after heavy storms.

Stacked fluvial and aeolian rocks accumulated 15 millions of years ago at the foothills of the Andes (Argentina)