Matthias Forwick
Job description
I have been Head of Department more or less continuously from February 1st 2014 to May 15th 2026. I am on sabbatical now to update myself on the state-of-the-art within my field of research, as well as to prepare myself for teaching after the termination of my sabbatical
I am a professor of marine geology. That means that I am interested in the surface of the seafloor, as well as in the deposits beneath the seafloor. You can find more information about my research interests in the tab “Research and Teaching”.
If you wonder about other matters, feel free to get in touch.
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Research interests
My scientific work focuses primarily on the investigation of sedimentary processes and palaeo-environments on glaciated continental margins based on the analyses of acoustic and core material from various high-latitude areas including fjords on Spitsbergen, northeast Greenland, northern Norway; the continental slopes and deep-sea environments off northern Norway, western Spitsbergen, the Arctic Ocean, the Gulf of Alaska and Antarctica; as well as from the Barents Sea. It includes the reconstruction of glacial activity (advances and retreats of marine-terminating glacier fronts during glaciations and interglacials; ice rafting by sea-ice and/or icebergs; reconstruction of onshore glacier fluctuations), the investigation of sedimentary processes in glacier-proximal and -distal environments, the slope stability in fjords and on continental slopes, as well as the investigation of deep-sea turbidites.
Teaching
My teaching experience includes lecturing, as well as leading of theoretical and practical exercises, and marine-geological field work at various levels, i.e. from introductory to Ph.D. and post.doc. courses at the Department of Geosciences, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) and the GEOTOP - Université du Québec à Montréal, Québec, Canada (GEOTOP). My responsibilities ranged from being principal lecturer to guest lecturer and laboratory assistant.
