Dr Alan Orpin

Biography

I'm the Flagship Programme Leader for Future Oceans, which commits and manages resources across a wide facet of projects and research themes concerning the ocean around Aotearoa and the Pacific. We seek to understand the drivers, opportunities and consequences of ocean change to enable effective responses. 

I'm a marine geologist and have been on NIWA staff for over 20 years, after postdoctoral fellowships at NIWA and the Geological Survey of Canada (Atlantic) at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. I'm a member of the Ocean Geoscience Group at NIWA.

My current research is focused on post-glacial marine sedimentation and dispersal on continental shelves, slopes and basins. Collaborative research within active international research programmes includes the application of detailed analysis of sediment cores, core chronology, sedimentary physical properties, high resolution seismic, multibeam bathymetry and backscatter. This work embraces a range of environmental drivers for event-driven sedimentary processes including climate, tectonics, volcanism, and human-induced land-use change. My recently completed Marsden project worked on an extensive turbidite paleoseismology record from the southern Hikurangi subduction margin. In addition, my commercial activities are ongoing into applications of seafloor characterization, sediment dispersal and sediment physical properties.