Dr John Boyle B.Sc. Ph.D.
Lecturer Geography and Planning
- +44 (0)151 794 2875
- Work email Jfb@liverpool.ac.uk
Research
Research Interest 1
My research interests revolve around sediments: the particulate products of chemical reactions in the environment. I am interested in how the particles form, how they change after formation and become compositionally sorted, and what information they retain about the conditions under which they formed.
My primary tool in studying lake sediments is stratigraphic variation in their elemental composition. This is because the apparently homogeneous organic silty clays typically comprising lake sediment often reveal subtle compositional variations. Quantitative mineralogical analysis (by XRD for example) can also reveal such patterns but is usually less precise. Mineral magnetic methods are sensitive and precise, but commonly difficult to interpret. Elemental analyis provides us with an accurate and sensitive tool for studying lake sediments.
This may appear at odds with the current trend of increasing focus on specific sediment phases. However, this is somewhat misleading, as my modelling work is indeed founded on the chemistry of individual species. The problem is that lake sediments are highly convoluted mixtures of different particles, reflecting the nature of catchment/lake systems. While it is imperative that we advance our understanding of individual phases, it is nonetheless important to study directly the patterns of variation in bulk sediment, which reflect the emergent properties of this highly complex system. Furthermore, many of the key phases present in the active system are short-lived, and if any record of them is preserved at all, it is in the bulk composition of the lake sediment. As discussed below, the lake sediment record must be examined at bulk scale for most purposes in palaeoecology.
Research Group Membership
Research Grants
Impact of urbanisation on river carbon emissions
MANCHESTER GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY (UK)
June 2021 - November 2022
Cross-disciplinary research for Discovery Science
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL
January 2023 - March 2023
Landscape P budgets and modelling for the Midlands Meres
NATURAL ENGLAND (UK)
October 2016 - September 2019
Testing the apatite depletion hypothesis for early Holocene ecosystem acidification using the lake sediment record at Krakenes, Norway
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL
November 2008 - November 2009
Modelling soil magnetism for defence humanitarian and environmental purposes.
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL
March 2006 - February 2009
Agricultural change in Britain: modelling past impacts to predict the future
LEVERHULME TRUST (UK)
December 2014 - February 2017
LTLS: Analysis and simulation of the Long-Term / Large-Scale interactions of C, N and P in UK land, freshwater and atmosphere
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL
November 2012 - October 2015
Research Collaborations
Richard Chiverrell
Internal
Collaboration over soil and sediment modelling as part of a Leverhulme grant application
Hugh Smith
Internal
Collaboration over soil and sediment modelling as part of a Leverhulme grant application
Prof John Quinton
External: Lancaster University
Development of long-term, large-scale modelling of nutrient fluxes in Britain. Specific cooperation about soil erosion modelling
Ed Tipping
External: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Development of long-term, large-scale modelling of nutrient fluxes in Britain.
Dan Hoare
External: Broads Authority
Impact of Cu pollution on continuing poor ecological status of the Norfolk and Suffolk broad
Mags Cousins
External: Natural England
Collaboration over characterisation and management of nutrient pollution in Shropshire meres.
Ian Snowball
External: Lund University
Collaborative research to test my apatite depletion hypothesis (Boyle, 2007b) for early Holocene lake acidification at Lilla Oresjon in southern Sweden.
Dr Henry Lamb
External: University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Development of scanning XRF analysis of lake sediment records of environmental change
Jan Bloemendal
Internal
Chemical weathering and the development of soil magnetism in the Chinese loess deposits.
John Dearing
Internal
Sedimentary record of recent environmental change in Yunnan Province, China.
Andy Plater
Internal
Continuation of a long-standing programme of environmental research in California, focusing on the impact of Eurpean settlment.
John Dearing
Internal
NERC project to develop a predictive model of soil magnetism for use in de-mining. My role is to apply and develop a process model of soil weathering.
Prof. Scott Anderson
External: University of Northern Arizona at Flagstaff
Lake sediment research at Swamp Lake in Yosemite National Park, California. My research focuses on sediment evidence for changing weathering intensity through the Holocene
Helen Bennion
External: University College London
English Nature commissioned study of four Suffolk Broads, in order to guide restoration by dredging.
Prof. Scott Anderson
External: University of Northern Arizona at Flagstaff
Late Quaternary record of climate change and human impact at Laguna de las Trancas, Central Coast, California. I am contributing the geochemical analysis to a broad multidisciplinary study of the unique and highly valuable site.
Prof. Jerry Weber
External: University of California at Santa Cruz
Revision of cosmogenic Be-10 dating of the marine terrace sequence in the Santa Cruz Mountains, California.
Carl Sayer
External: University College London
Heavy metal pollution of the Norfolk Broads- potential cause for the catastrophic eutrophication of the Broads.
John Anderson
External: Danish Geological Survey
Determination of atmospheric lead pollution history in Greenland using lake sediment records
Neil Rose
External: University College London
Current research continues with research into lake sediment records of nutrient pollution in the UK
Prof. John Birks
External: University of Bergen, Norway
Determining human impacts and long transported atmospheric pollution in Svalbard.
Dr Roger Flower
External: University College London
Determination of the historical trends in lead pollution in Lake Baikal, Siberia.