Professor Mark Bateman

School of Geography and Planning

Professor in Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction

Mark Bateman profile pic
Profile picture of Mark Bateman profile pic
M.D.Bateman@Sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 7929
Geography and Planning Building

Full contact details

Professor Mark Bateman
School of Geography and Planning
Geography and Planning Building
Winter Street
Sheffield
S3 7ND
Profile

Mark Bateman received a First Class BSc in Geography from the University of London in 1991 and a DPhil from Sussex University in 1995 for his research on dating UK coversands. In 1995 he joined the Sheffield Geography department as a post-doctoral research assistant to set up and run the luminescence laboratory for the Sheffield Centre for International Drylands Research.

In 1998, Mark Bateman was appointed Lecturer in Physical Geography, promoted to Senior Lecturer (2004), Reader in Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction (2006), and became a Professor in 2011. In 2018 he was awarded the Sorby medal by the Yorkshire Geological Society for his contribution to Yorkshire Geology.

Qualifications
  • BSc in Geography
  • DPhil in Geography
  • Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Research interests

Society faces a Climate Crisis with a number of challenges including rising sea-levels, melting ice, desertification and increased storminess. My research aims to make a contribution towards understanding these changes by understanding the causes and magnitude of past environmental changes. It focuses on Sandscapes as an archive for understanding past depositional processes and environmental changes which have shaped the landscape we live in. Three themes are centred around this:

  • Past glacial and periglacial landscapes
  • Past aeolian activity in deserts and on coasts
  • Advances in Luminescence dating of sediments
  • The wider past environments in which our human predecessors were living
Publications

Books

Journal articles

Chapters

  • Bousman B, Brink J, Rossouw L, Bateman M, Morris S, Meier H, Bronk Ramsey C, Trower G, Herries AIR, Ringstaff C , Thornton-Barnett S et al (2023) Erfkroon, South Africa, Handbook of Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa (pp. 1431-1450). Springer International Publishing RIS download Bibtex download
  • Bateman MD (2016) Coversand, The Dictionary of Physical Geography, Fourth Edition (pp. 119-120). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Bateman MD (2015) The application of luminescence dating in sea-level studies In Shennan I, Long AJ & Horton BP (Ed.), Handbook of Sea-Level Research (pp. 404-417). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Bateman MD (2013) Aeolian Processes in Periglacial Environments, Treatise on Geomorphology (pp. 556-568). Elsevier RIS download Bibtex download
  • Bateman MD (2013) Aeolian Processes in Periglacial Environments, Treatise on Geomorphology: Volume 1-14 (pp. 416-429). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Cawthra HC & Bateman MD () Sandy coasts, Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern Africa (pp. 203-218). Cambridge University Press RIS download Bibtex download

Conference proceedings papers

Other

Teaching interests

The undergraduate and postgraduate teaching I specialise in relates to understanding past changes in climate and environment which have shaped the landscape we live in. I enjoy bringing across to my students how and why the fields of geomorphology, sedimentology and Quaternary Science are relevant to a wide range of geographical challenges we face.

My teaching interests reflect my research interests so I can keep students up-to-date on current developments. The style of my teaching varies from teaching out and about on field classes, in the laboratory and through lectures and small group tutorials. I have particular interests in former glacial and coastal environments and each year supervise students' projects in these areas.

Professional activities and memberships

Editorial responsibilities

  • Editor Board member for Boreas and Journal of Archaeological Science Reports  and Associate Editor for Proceeding of the Yorkshire Geological Society. Former Editor of Special publications for the International Association of Sedimentologists (2014-2018) and former Editorial board member for Quaternary Science Reviews (2010-2014).
  • Journal Reviewer for >40 International, peer-reviewed journals

Committee/panel activities

  • NERC Peer-Review College (2012-).
  • Bureau Member for International Association of Sedimentologists (2014-2018)
  • Council Member of the British Society for Geomorphology (BSG: 2005-2008)
  • Meeting Officer for Quaternary Research Association (QRA: 2002-2005)
  • Secretary for the International Global Correlation Programme 413 (1998-2003)

External Examiner roles

  • University of York (2025-
  • Northumbria University (2023-2025)
  • Queens University (2020-2024)
  • University of Exeter (2014-2018)
  • Sussex University (2012-2015)
  • Queen Mary’s College London  (2008-2012)
  • 26 PhD Examinations (16 external and 11 internal) - including overseas

Invited Lectures and Visiting Positions

I have given 39 invited and keynote talks both in UK and internationally.

 In 2019 I was an invited Visiting Fellow at University of Western Australia.

Additional research projects
Past periglacial and glacial environments

During much of the last 2.5 million years, NW Europe experienced cold glacial and non-glacial conditions which have shaped the landscape we live in and the sediments beneath our feet.  From understanding how they were deposited and when we can understand key aspects of past climates, how they changed and how quickly they changed. For example my work has shown that erosion of dune systems in the McKenzie Delta (Arctic Canada) are tied to mega Lake Aggassiz outburst flood (USA) which may have caused the Younger Dryas hemispheric cooling event (Murton et al. 2010, Nature).

Thermal map showing the possible route of outburst floods from pro-glacial Lake Aggassiz. Work in McKenzie Delta showed for the first time evidence for the Northern route at just before the start of the Younger Dryas (Murton et al 2010).

 Possible route of outburst floods from pro-glacial Lake Aggassiz. Work in McKenzie Delta showed for the first time evidence for the Northern route at just before the start of the Younger Dryas (Murton et al 2010).

Work on the last icesheet to cover Britain has been able to reconstruct ice thickness and show that different parts of it advanced and retreated at different times. Ice in the North sea reached its maximum limits very late within the glacial stage and was dynamic, ponding up significant pro-glacial Lakes Humber and Pickering (Bateman et al 2018). More recent work has been trying to date the previous icesheet to cover Britain around 160,000 years ago (Fairburn and Bateman 2021). Over 40 publications have come from this work so far with  past funding from NERC, QRA, BSG and Royal Society.

Series showing icelobes of the last British and Irish icesheet

A series of time slices showing the advance, dynamics and retreat of the Vale of York and North sea icelobes of the last British and Irish Icesheet  and the resulting proglacials lakes of  Lake Humber and Lake Pickering (Eddey et al 2022).

A reconstruction from Lidar of the glacial moraine in the Vale of Pickering which research has shown to have been formed by ice ~160,000 years ago (Fairburn and Bateman et al 2021).
A reconstruction from Lidar of the glacial moraine in the Vale of Pickering which research has shown to have been formed by ice ~160,000 years ago (Fairburn and Bateman et al 2021). LiDAR data from Open Survey online store (data.gov.uk).

Key outcomes

  • Erosion of dune systems in the McKenzie Delta have been dated and tied to Lake Aggassiz outburst floods which may have caused the Younger Dryas event
  • The Northsea icelobe of the last British and Irish Icesheet was dynamic and advanced to its maximum only 24000 years ago
  • Evidence exists for the previous icesheet which covered Britain 160000 years ago.

Recent papers

  • Clark, C.D., Ely, J.C., Hindmarsh, R.C.A, Bradley, S., Igneczi, A., Fabel, D., Ó Cofaigh, C., Chiverrell, R.C., Scourse, J., Benetti, S., Bradwell, T., Evans, D.J.A., Roberts, D.H., Burke, M., Callard, L., Medialdea, A., Saher, M., Small, D., Smedley, R., Gasson, E., Gregoire, L., Gandy, N. , Ballantyne, C., Bateman, M.D., Bigg, G.R., Doole, J., Dove, D., Duller, G., Livingstone, S.L., McCarron, S., Moreton, S., Pollard, D., Sejrup, H-P., Van Landeghem, K., Wilson, P. and Praeg, D. (2022). Growth and retreat of the last British-Irish Ice Sheet, 31,000 to 15,000 years ago: the BRITICE-CHRONO reconstruction. Boreas 51, 699-758  DOI:10.1111/bor.12594.

  • Eddey, L., Bateman, M.D., Livingstone, S.J., Lee, J,R. (2022).  New evidence for Glacial Lake Pickering, Yorkshire, UK. Journal of Quaternary Science 37 1407-1421.  Doi: 10.1002/jqs.3413

  • Evans, D.J.A., Robert, D.H., Bateman, M.D., Clark, C.D., Medialdea, A., Callard, L., Grimoldi, E., Chiverrell, R.C., Ely, J.C., Dove, D., Ó Cofaigh, C., Saher, M., Bradwell, T., Moreton, S.G., Fabel, D., Bradley, D. (2021). Retreat dynamics of the eastern sector of the British-Irish Ice Sheet during the last glaciation. Journal of Quaternary Science. Doi: 10.1002/jqs.3275
  • Bateman, M.D., Evans, D.J.A., Roberts, D.H., Medialdea, A., Ely, E., Clark C.D. (2018). The timing and consequences of the blockage of the Humber Gap by the last British-Irish Ice Sheet. Boreas, 47, 41-61. DOI: 10.1111/bor.12256
  • Fairburn, W.A. and Bateman, M.D. (2021). Possible new evidence for a Mid-Pleistocene Glaciation in the Vale Of Pickering, North Yorkshire, U.K. Proceedings of the Geological Society of Yorkshire. Doi: 10.1144/pygs2020-019.
Understanding past aeolian activity

Part of my research has focussed on coastal dune systems which form a key landscape component in protecting coastal assets from coastal storms and rising sea levels.  Understanding how they have developed through time and how they have been impacted by historic storms (and tsunami) will lead to a better understanding of coastal resilience as well as return intervals of impactful storms. This work has formed the basis of over 50 printed journal articles with past funding from Leverhulme Trust, National Geographic, QRA, BSG, White Rose and a NERC DTP award.

Recent work on Spurn Point has been able to show how it has evolved over the last 200 years and where it is must vulnerable to breaches by the North Sea (Bateman et al 2020).

How the coastal spit system at Spurn Point, East Yorkshire, UK has changed over the last 200 years as shown from historical maps (Bateman et al 2020).

How dunes and beach ridges on the Mekong Delta has helped understand when it developed and why 19th century canalisation and agriculture might be responsible for its current erosion.

(A) Reconstruction of past shorelines on the Mekong Delta; (B) Estimates of shoreline change through time; (C) Changes in population, agriculture with the grey area indicating when the delta had canals dug into it. (Tamura et al 2020 Nature Scientific Reports 10, 8085)
(A) Reconstruction of past shorelines on the Mekong Delta; (B) Estimates of shoreline change through time; (C) Changes in population, agriculture with the grey area indicating when the delta had canals dug into it. (Tamura et al 2020 Nature Scientific Rep

On longer time scales work has been able to show how a tsunami 8200 years ago impacted on the coastline of eastern Scotland (Bateman et al 2021) and how coastal dunes from the Atacama Desert, Chile are able to show how fast this coastline is tectonically uplifting (Nash et al. 2018).

Model of how the Storegga tsunami wave 8200 years ago flooded the Montrose basin (Bateman et al 2021).

Key outcomes

  • Coastal dunes show dynamic responses to climate changes in particular sediment supply from erosion, sea level changes and storms. 

Recent papers

  • Carr, A.S., Hay, A.S., Bateman, M.D., Livingstone, I., Powell, D.M. (2024). How old are the Mojave topographic dunes? The implications of new luminescence dating analyses from the Cady Mountains, Mojave Desert, southwest USA. Geomorphology 463, 109349. DOI: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2024.109349
  • Tamura T., Nguyen V.P., Ta T.K.O., Bateman, M.D., Gugliotta M., Anthony, E.J., Saito, Y. (2020).  Long-term sediment decline causes ongoing shrinkage of the Mekong megadelta, Vietnam. Nature Scientific Reports, 10,  No. 8085 . DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-64630-z
  • Bateman, M.D., Kinnaird T.C., Hill, J., Ashurst, R.A., Mohan, J., Bateman, R.B.I., Robinson, R. (2021). Detailing the impact of the Storegga tsunami at Montrose, Scotland. Boreas.
  • Bateman, M.D., McHale, K., Bayntun, H.J., Williams N. (2020). Understanding Historical Coastal Spit Evolution: a Case Study from Spurn, East Yorkshire, UK. Earth Surface Landforms and Processes 45, 3670-3686.  DOI: 10.1002/esp.4991
  • Bateman, M.D., Rushby, G., Stein, S., Ashurst, R.A., Stevenson, D., Jones, J.M. and Gehrels, W.R. (2018). Can sand dunes be used to study historic storm events? Earth surface Processes and Landforms 43, 779-790. DOI: 10.1002/esp.4255
Advances in luminescence dating and applications

The time dimension is fundamental to understanding past change. Although vast advances in dating have been made, methods all require laboratory-based protocols that are not available during field sampling.  It is now possible to make in field measurements of luminescence intensity which give a first order approximation for sediment age.

Prof Mark Bateman using a portable luminescence reader
A portable luminescence reader able to find out a relative age of sediment whilst out in the field.

Research I have undertaken (funded by NATURAL ENGLAND, WHITE ROSE and RGS) has shown how portable luminescence can be used to understand phases of coastal dune building.

High resolution portable luminescence results from a sediment archive found at Arclid, Cheshire showing multiple phases of sand deposition, hiatuses and also sedimentation rates (from Rex et al 2023)
High resolution portable luminescence results from a sediment archive found at Arclid, Cheshire showing multiple phases of sand deposition, hiatuses and also sedimentation rates (from Rex et al 2023)

Following on from work to understand post-depositional processes on the sediment archive (Bateman et al . 2007), recently I developed an approach to used harder to reset luminescence signals (pIRSL180 and pIRSL225) to find the location of where sediment were eroded from. This was applied to Storegga tsunami deposits in Scotland which helped find the sediment source and therefore the direction of the wave that impacted the coastline (Bateman et al 2021).

Dated Storegga sand had pIRSL180 and pIRSL225 signals of a similar age to a nearby Marine sand enabling the source of the tsunami sediment to be recognised and also the direction the wave travelled in (from Bateman et al. 2021).
Dated Storegga sand had pIRSL180 and pIRSL225 signals of a similar age to a nearby Marine sand enabling the source of the tsunami sediment to be recognised and also the direction the wave travelled in (from Bateman et al. 2021).

In 2019 I edited together “The Handbook of Luminescence dating” in order to demystify the technique of luminescence dating for Quaternary geologists and archaeologists who require luminescence ages for their research.

The Handbook of Luminescence Dating (Bateman 2019) aims to help those wanting to understand luminescence dating for use in their own research.
The Handbook of Luminescence Dating (Bateman 2019) aims to help those wanting to understand luminescence dating for use in their own research.

Key Outcomes

It is possible to rapidly generate accurate, high resolution down core OSL data using a portable OSL reader to enable differentiation of older from the younger sediments, identify phases of sedimentation and temporal hiatuses. Luminescence can provide information on both post-depositional disturbance and be used to locate sediment sources.

Recent papers

  • Rex, C.L., Bateman, M.D., Buckland, P.C., Panagiotakopulu, E., Livingstone S.J., Hardiman, M., Eddey, L. (2023). A revision of the British Chronostratigraphy within the Last Glacial-Interglacial Cycle based on new evidence from Arclid, Cheshire UK. Quaternary Science Reviews 299, 107882. DOI:10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107882  

  • Stone, A., Bateman, M.D., Sanderson, D., Burrough, S.L.,Cutts, R., Cresswell, A. (2024). Probing sediment burial age, provenance and geomorphic processes in dryland dunes and lake shorelines using portable luminescence data. Quaternary Geochronology 82,101542. DOI:  10.1016/j.quageo.2024.101542

  • Bateman, M.D., Rushby, G., Stein, S., Ashurst, R.A., Stevenson, D., Jones, J.M. and Gehrels, W.R. (2018). Can sand dunes be used to study historic storm events? Earth surface Processes and Landforms 43, 779-790. DOI: 10.1002/esp.4255
  • Bateman, M.D., Kinnaird T.C., Hill, J., Ashurst, R.A., Mohan, J., Bateman, R.B.I., Robinson, R. (2021). Detailing the impact of the Storegga tsunami at Montrose, Scotland. Boreas.
  • Bateman, M.D. (2019). Handbook of luminescence dating. Whittles Publishing, p416.
Past Environmental Change and our predecessors

As our climates and environments have changed in the past so this has affected where ancient people lived and what resources they had available to them. My work has shown humans were living in coastal dune fields on the South African coast for over 100,000 years. These dunes provided a range of ecosystems and animals to hunt based on preserved animal trackways (Helm et al 2023). Thery also, through lithification, are instrumental in some (cave) shelter formation occupied by humans and dunes have been key in preserving some of the cave archaeological records found there. In West Africa research I have contributed to has shown our early ancestors were also living in tropical rainforests as long ago as 150,000 years (Ben Arous et al 2025). We have also shown that the Middle Stone extended from this time into the Holocene in places despite more modern lithic technologies being prevalent elsewhere by then (Scerri et al 2021). My work using single grain luminescence has also helped understand the impacts through time of bioturbation on sandy sediments and the archaeological sites found within them.

Sediment exposures at the Bété I archaeological site in Ivory Coast where luminescence sampling was able to show the archaeology extended back to 150,000 years when the environment was Tropical Rainforest
Sediment exposures at the Bété I archaeological site in Ivory Coast where luminescence sampling was able to show the archaeology extended back to 150,000 years when the environment was Tropical Rainforest (Ben Arous et al 2025).

Key outcomes

We have a better understanding of archaeological site integrity in sandy sediments Our predecessor lived in Tropical Rain Forests and coastal dune systems as far back as 150,000 years ago.

Recent papers

  • Ben Arous E., Blinkhorn J. A., Elliott, S., Kiahtipes, C., N’zi, C.D., Bateman M.D., Duval M., Roberts, P., Palalano, R., Blackwood, A., Niang K.,Kouamé, E.A., Lbato, E., Hallett, E., Cerasoni, J.N., Scott, E., Ilgner, J., Escaraza, M.J.A., Guedé, F.Y., Scerri E.M.L. (2025). Humans in Africa’s wet tropical forests 150 thousand years ago. Nature (in press)
  • Helm, C.W., Bateman, M.D., Carr, A.S., Cawthra, H.C., De Vynck, J.C., Dixon, M.G. Locklye, M.G., Steer, W., Venter, J.A. (2023). Pleistocene fossil snake traces on South Africa’s Cape south coast. Ichnos 30, 98-114. Doi:  10.1080/10420940.2023.2250062
  • Niang, K., Blinkhorn, J., Bateman, M.D., Kiahtipes, C.A. (2023). Longstanding behavioural stability in West Africa extends to the Middle Pleistocene at Bargny, coastal Senegal.  Nature Ecology & Evolution 7, 1141-1151.  Doi: 10.1038/s41559-023-02046-4
  • Scerri, E.M.L., Niang, K., Candy, I., Blinkhorn, J., Mills, W., Cerasoni, J.N., Bateman, M.D., Crowther, A., Groucutt, H.S. (2021) Continuity of the Middle Stone Age into the Holocene.  Nature Scientific Reports 11, 70. Doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-79418-4

Links

Sheffield Luminescence Dating Laboratory  Britice Chrono group  Google Scholar profile