Dr T.C. Hales
Director, Sustainable Places Research Institute and Reader
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
- halest@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 4329
- Fax:
- +44 (0)29 2087 4326
- 1.22A, Main Building
- Media commentator
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Overview
Dr. T.C. Hales is an interdisciplinary, environmental scientist, and Reader in Earth Science, interested understanding the relationship between ecological and social systems and environmental hazards. Since joining the Sustainable Places Research Institute in 2015, and becoming Director in August 2020. T.C. has worked on two major projects that focus on the interplay between land use decisions and erosion by rivers and landslides. His work on the lower Kinabatangan River in Malaysian Borneo seeks to understand the drivers and effects of tropical deforestation on erosion and sequestration of carbon within soils. As Chair of the Regrow Borneo project, he is applying this research to develop a community reforestation programme to restore forests and sequester carbon. His work on erosional processes after the 2008 magnitude 7.9 Wenchuan Earthquake has investigated how persistent landslides and mudflows affect the vulnerability of communities recovering from earthquakes.
Biography
- Lecturer in Earth and Environmental Sciences - School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University (2007-present)
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow-Department of Geography, University of North Carolina (2007)
- PhD-Department of Geosciences, University of Oregon (2006)
- BSc (Hons) Geological Sciences-University of Canterbury (2000)
Professional memberships
- American Geophysical Union
- European Geosciences Union
- British Society for Geomorphology
Publications
2021
- Mithan, H. T., Hales, T. C. and Cleall, P. J. 2021. Topographic and ground-ice controls on shallow landsliding in thawing Arctic permafrost. Geophysical Research Letters 48(13), article number: e2020GL092264. (10.1029/2020GL092264)
- Heinrich, V. H. A.et al. 2021. Large carbon sink potential of secondary forests in the Brazilian Amazon to mitigate climate change. Nature Communications 12(1), article number: 1785. (10.1038/s41467-021-22050-1)
- Chang, M.et al. 2021. Patterns of rainfall-threshold for debris-flow occurrence in the Wenchuan seismic region, Southwest China. Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment 80(3), pp. 2117-2130. (10.1007/s10064-020-02080-7)
2020
- Ciampalini, R.et al. 2020. Modelling soil erosion responses to climate change in three catchments of Great Britain. Science of the Total Environment 749, article number: 141657. (10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141657)
- Song, J.et al. 2020. Tectonic evolution of strike-slip zones on continental margins and their impact on the development of submarine landslides (Storegga Slide, northeast Atlantic). Geological Society of America Bulletin 132(11-12), pp. 2397–2414. (10.1130/B35421.1)
- Huang, J.et al. 2020. A hybrid machine-learning model to estimate potential debris-flow volumes. Geomorphology 367, article number: 107333. (10.1016/j.geomorph.2020.107333)
- Chang, M.et al. 2020. Coseismic landslides induced by the 2018 Mw 6.6 Iburi, Japan, Earthquake: spatial distribution, key factors weight, and susceptibility regionalization. Landslides (10.1007/s10346-020-01522-3)
- Francis, O.et al. 2020. The impact of earthquakes on orogen-scale exhumation. Earth Surface Dynamics 8, pp. 579-593. (10.5194/esurf-8-579-2020)
- Ran, J.et al. 2020. The application of frameworks for measuring social vulnerability and resilience to geophysical hazards within developing countries: A systematic review and narrative synthesis. Science of the Total Environment 711, article number: 134486. (10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134486)
2019
- Horton, A. J.et al. 2019. Identifying post-earthquake debris flow hazard using Massflow. Engineering Geology 258, article number: 105134. (10.1016/j.enggeo.2019.05.011)
- Mithan, H. T., Hales, T. C. and Cleall, P. J. 2019. Supervised classification of landforms in Arctic mountains. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 30(3), pp. 131-145. (10.1002/ppp.2015)
- Fan, X.et al. 2019. Earthquake-induced chains of geologic hazards: patterns, mechanisms, and impacts. Reviews of Geophysics 57(2), pp. 421-503. (10.1029/2018RG000626)
- Domènech, G.et al. 2019. Modelling the role of material depletion, grain coarsening and revegetation in debris flow occurrences after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Engineering Geology 250, pp. 34-44. (10.1016/j.enggeo.2019.01.010)
2018
- Fan, X.et al. 2018. Spatio-temporal evolution of mass wasting after the 2008 Mw 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake revealed by a detailed multi-temporal inventory. Landslides 15(12), pp. 2325-2341. (10.1007/s10346-018-1054-5)
- Grieve, S. W. D.et al. 2018. Controls on zero order basin morphology. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface 123(12), pp. 3269-3291. (10.1029/2017JF004453)
- Horton, A. J.et al. 2018. Can riparian forest buffers increase yields from oil palm plantations?. Earth's Future 6(8), pp. 1082-1096. (10.1029/2018EF000874)
- Hales, T. 2018. Modelling biome-scale root reinforcement and slope stability. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 43(10), pp. 2157-2166. (10.1002/esp.4381)
- Cere, G.et al. 2018. Multi-objective consideration of earthquake resilience in the built environment: The case of Wenchuan earthquake. Presented at: International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Innovation (ICE/ITMC), Funchal, Portugal, 27-29 Jun 2017Engineering, Technology and Innovation (ICE/ITMC), 2017 International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Innovation. IEEE pp. 513-520., (10.1109/ICE.2017.8279929)
2017
- Horton, A. J.et al. 2017. Modification of river meandering by tropical deforestation. Geology 45(6), pp. 511-514. (10.1130/G38740.1)
- Hales, T. and Miniat, C. F. 2017. Soil moisture causes dynamic adjustments to root reinforcement that reduce slope stability. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 42(5), pp. 803-813. (10.1002/esp.4039)
- Cere, G.et al. 2017. Multi-objective consideration of earthquake resilience in the built environment: the case of Wenchuan earthquake. Presented at: 2017 International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Innovation (ICE/ITMC), Madeira, Portugal, 26-30 June 2017.
2016
- Parker, R. N.et al. 2016. Colluvium supply in humid regions limits the frequency of storm-triggered landslides. Scientific Reports 6, article number: 34438. (10.1038/srep34438)
- Wooten, R. M.et al. 2016. Frequency and magnitude of selected historical landslide events in the Southern Appalachian Highlands of North Carolina and Virginia: relationships to rainfall, geological and ecohydrological controls and effects. In: Greenburg, C. H. and Collins, B. S. eds. Natural Disturbances and Historic Range of Variation: Type, Frequency, Severity, and Post-disturbance Structure in Central Hardwood Forests USA. Managing Forest Ecosystems Vol. 32. Springer
2015
- Marshall, J. A.et al. 2015. Frost for the trees: Did climate increase erosion in unglaciated landscapes during the late Pleistocene?. Science Advances 1(10), article number: e1500715. (10.1126/sciadv.1500715)
- Hwang, T.et al. 2015. Simulating vegetation controls on hurricane-induced shallow landslides with a distributed ecohydrological model. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 120(2), pp. 361-378. (10.1002/2014JG002824)
2013
- Dieras, P., Constantine, J. A. and Hales, T. 2013. The role of oxbow lakes in the off-channel storage of bed material along the Ain River, France. Geomorphology 188, pp. 110-119. (10.1016/j.geomorph.2012.12.024)
- Hales, T.et al. 2013. Assessing the accuracy of simple field based root strength measurements. Plant and Soil 372(1-2), pp. 553-565. (10.1007/s11104-013-1765-2)
- Roering, J. J. and Hales, T. C. 2013. 7.29 Changing Hillslopes: Evolution and Inheritance; Inheritance and Evolution of Slopes. In: Shroder, J. F., Stoffel, M. and Marston, R. A. eds. Mountain and Hillslope Geomorphology. Treatise on Geomorphology Vol. 7. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 284-305., (10.1016/B978-0-12-374739-6.00178-0)
2012
- Band, L. E.et al. 2012. Ecosystem processes at the watershed scale: mapping and modeling ecohydrological controls of landslides. Geomorphology 137(1), pp. 159-167. (10.1016/j.geomorph.2011.06.025)
2011
- Hales, T., Scharer, K. M. and Wooten, R. M. 2011. Southern Appalachian hillslope erosion rates measured by soil and detrital radiocarbon in hollows. Geomorphology (10.1016/j.geomorph.2011.08.030)
2009
- Hwang, T., Band, L. and Hales, T. 2009. Ecosystem processes at the watershed scale: extending optimality theory from plot to catchment. Water Resources Research 45(11), pp. 1-20. (10.1029/2009WR007775)
- Hales, T.et al. 2009. Topographic and ecologic controls on root reinforcement. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface 114, article number: F03013. (10.1029/2008JF001168)
- Hales, T. and Roering, J. J. 2009. A frost "buzzsaw" mechanism for erosion of the eastern Southern Alps, New Zealand. Geomorphology 107(3-4), pp. 241-253. (10.1016/j.geomorph.2008.12.012)
2008
- Hales, T. and Cashman, K. V. 2008. Simulating social and political influences on hazard analysis through a classroom role playing exercise. Journal of Geoscience Education 56(1), pp. 54-60.
2007
- Almond, P., Roering, J. J. and Hales, T. 2007. Using soil residence time to delineate spatial and temporal patterns of transient landscape response. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface 112(f3), pp. 1-19. (10.1029/2006JF000568)
- Hales, T. and Roering, J. J. 2007. Climatic controls on frost cracking and implications for the evolution of bedrock landscapes. Journal of Geophysical Research 112(f2), pp. 1-14. (10.1029/2006JF000616)
2005
- Hales, T.et al. 2005. A lithospheric instability origin for Columbia River flood basalts and Wallowa Mountains uplift in northeast Oregon. Nature 438(7069), pp. 842-845. (10.1038/nature04313)
- Hales, T. and Roering, J. J. 2005. Climate controlled variations in scree production, Southern Alps, New Zealand. Geology 33(9), pp. 701-704. (10.1130/G21528.1)
Teaching
I teach students how the landscapes on which humans live are formed and how they change through time. My classes in the first and third year focus on understanding the fluvial, glacial, and hillslope processes that shape landscapes. We utilise GIS, computer models, and field-based observations to test hypotheses about how Earth's surface changes through time. In the field, I teach students about the development of sedimentary basins in Dorset, Quaternary landscapes in the Brecon Beacons, and the development of geohazards in Tenerife.
My research focuses on understanding what processes act on the hillslopes between river channels and their rates. I am interested in how changes to Earth's climate and vegetation control these processes and the hazards they pose to humans. I pose questions about the role of frost in the development of mountain landscapes and how humans, vegetation, and climate interact to create landslide hazards.
