Professor Jan Piotrowski

Professor in Sedimentary Systems

	Room number:	E12
	Telephone (internal):	27976
	Telephone (UK):	0114 222 7976
	Telephone (International):	+44 114 222 7976
	Email:	J.Piotrowski@Sheffield.ac.uk

Jan Piotrowski gained his BSc in Geology from the University of Warsaw, Poland in 1983. He then moved to Canada where he received an MSc from the University of Waterloo in 1985. After returning to Europe he obtained a PhD (1991) and Habilitation (1996) from the Department of Geology and Palaeontology at the University of Kiel, Germany.

In 1997 he was appointed to a professorship in Geology at the Institute of Geophysics and Geology, University of Leipzig, followed in 1999 by a professorship in Quaternary Geology at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Aarhus, Denmark.

Since 2007 he has also been appointed Chair in Sedimentary Systems at the University of Sheffield.

Research interests

Glacial geology and sedimentology, Quaternary environments, glacial geomorphology, palaeoglaciology, hydrogeology.

Current research

My research focuses on different aspects of past and present glaciated environments with particular emphasis on processes, sediments and landforms at the interface between glaciers and their beds, and the mechanisms of ice movement and water drainage in soft-bedded areas. I address the issues of glacier stability, formation and properties of subglacial tills, origin of glaciodynamic landforms such as drumlins, flutings and tunnel valleys, and the processes of meltwater drainage through subglacial aquifers using a range of proxies from the sedimentary record. Another aspect of my studies is dating of ice advances and retreats to constrain the relationships between global climate patterns and ice sheet behaviour along the southern margin of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet. The ultimate goal is to better understand the complex interactions between past ice sheets, the beds they rested on and the climates they existed in as a part of Earth's changing environment.

Further information:

• Field-based studies
• Laboratory experiments
• Modelling

Teaching

I teach modules on both undergraduate and graduate levels. They are typically related to glacial topics such as the origin and properties of glacial deposits and landforms, and the reconstruction of glacial episodes during the Quaternary period across the world. In my teaching I try to emphasize multidisciplinary approaches to the study of past glacial environments and their relationships with other phenomena of natural climate changes. I highly value interactive teaching that gives the students an opportunity to express and discuss their own views on scientific matters. This is very rewarding and I myself learn a lot from the students and their free, often unconventional thinking!

Jan teaches on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses including:

GEO108 Earth's Changing Surface
GEO233 Glacial Environments
GEO352 Geological Hazards
APS332 Issues in Environmental Science

GEO6605 Unlocking the Sedimentary Archive
GEO6616 Glacial Geology and Sedimentology

All staff also engage in personal supervision and tutoring of individual students at all three undergraduate levels in the following modules:
GEO163 (Information & Communication Skills for Geographers)
GEO263 or GEO264 (Research Design in Human or Physical Geography)
GEO356 (Geographical Research Project)

Key publications

• Piotrowski, J.A., Hermanowski, P. and Piechota, A. (2009). Meltwater discharge through the subglacial bed and its land-forming consequences in the Polish lowland during the last glaciation. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 34(4), 481-492.
  doi:10.1002/esp.1728
• Piotrowski, J.A., Larsen, N.K., Menzies, J. and Wysota, W. (2006). Formation of a subglacial till under transient bed conditions: deposition, deformation, and basal decoupling under a Weichselian ice sheet lobe, central Poland. Sedimentology, 53(1), 83-106.
  doi:10.1111/j.1365-3091.2005.00755.x
• Piotrowski, J.A., Larsen, N.K. and Junge, F.W. (2004). Reflections on soft subglacial beds as a mosaic of deforming and stable spots. Quaternary Science Reviews, 23(9-10), 993-1000.
  doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2004.01.006
• Piotrowski, J.A., Mickelson, D.M., Tulaczyk, S., Krzyszkowski, D. and Junge, F. (2001). Were subglacial deforming beds beneath past ice sheets really widespread? Quaternary International, 86(1), 139-150.
  doi:10.1016/S1040-6182(01)00056-8
• Piotrowski, J.A. and Tulaczyk, S. (1999). Subglacial conditions under the last ice sheet in northwest Germany: ice-bed separation and enhanced basal sliding Germany? Quaternary Science Reviews, 18(6), 737-751.
  doi:10.1016/S0277-3791(98)00042-0

Other information

Jan is Editor-in-Chief of Boreas, member of editorial boards of Eiszeitalter und Gegenwart and Bulletin of Geography, member of the Danish National Committee of INQUA, Corresponding Member of INQUA TERPRO Commission, Voting Member of International Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, and Editor of Aarhus Geoscience.

He acts as external examiner on PhDs, and as reviewer for research funding agencies and appointment boards across Europe.