Staff and Postgraduate Students

Dr Mark Allen, Bsc (Durham) 1987; PhD (Leicester (1991)

Reader in the Department of Earth Sciences

Telephone: +44 (0) 191 33 42344

Room number: Rm 311

Contact Dr Mark Allen (email at m.b.allen@durham.ac.uk)

Biography

BSc Hons 1st class: Durham (1987); PhD: Leicester (1991);
Computer Officer, Leicester University (1990-1993);
Geologist, CASP, Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge (1993-2004);
Deputy Chief Geologist at CASP (2003-2004);
Reader, Dept. of Earth Sciences, University of Durham from Jan. 2005. Secretary and Deputy Director of CeREES, University of Durham from May 2005

Career highlights

My research has shown the style of continental deformation across a vast area of Eurasia from the Pacific coast to the Caucasus. In particular, it has linked neotectonic and long-term deformation styles and rates in major orogenic belts such as the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone and the Tian Shan.

Much of this work has been achieved through projects of use to and funded by the hydrocarbon industry. These have unravelled the structure of major basins such as the South Caspian, Zagros foreland, Bohai and Tarim.

Committee and Society Service

2001: Geological Society Petroleum Group committee member

Editorial Roles

1) 2003- Present: Editor of Geological Magazine
2) 2005 - Present Editorial board member, Tectonophysics
3) 2006 UK national correspondent for ICGP Project 480 “Tectonics of Central Asia”

Invited Keynotes

2004: AAPG Hedberg meeting on lacustrine sedimentation, Baku, 2004

Prizes & Awards

2004: AAPG Jules Braunstein Award

Research Groups

Climate and Environmental Change
Geoenergy, Resources and Waste
Geohazards
The Solid Earth

Research Interests

Eurasian orogenic belts and sedimentary basins, notably the interactions of deformation, climate and sedimentation in tectonically active regions such as the Caspian and the Zagros mountains.
Petroleum systems at all scales from the regional, to the effects of fault systems and sedimentary architecture on fluid migration.

Selected Publications

Books: sections

Allen, M.B. (2010). Roles of strike-slip faults during continental deformation: examples from the active Arabia–Eurasia collision. In The Evolving Continents: Understanding Processes of Continental Growth. Kusky, T. M., Zhai, M.-G. & Xiao, W. London: Geological Society, London. 338: 329-344.

Journal papers: academic

Allen, M.B., Kheirkhah, M., Neill, I., Emami, M.H. & Mcleod, C.L. (2013). Generation of arc and within-plate chemical signatures in collision zone magmatism: Quaternary lavas from Kurdistan province, Iran. Journal of Petrology 54(5): 887-911.
Allen, M.B., Saville, C., Blanc, E.J-P., Talebian, M. & Nissen, E. (2013). Orogenic plateau growth: expansion of the Turkish-Iranian Plateau across the Zagros fold-and-thrust belt. Tectonics 32(2): 171–190.
Xiao, W.J., Windley, B.F., Allen, M.B. & Han, C.M. (2013). Paleozoic multiple accretionary and collisional tectonics of the Chinese Tianshan orogenic collage. Gondwana Research 23(4): 1316-1341.
Rezaeian, M., Carter, A., Hovius, N. & Allen, M.B. (2012). Cenozoic exhumation history of the Alborz Mountains, Iran: New constraints from low-temperature chronometry. Tectonics 31(2): TC2004.
Bottrill, Andrew D, van Hunen, Jeroen & Allen, Mark B (2012). Insight into collision zone dynamics from topography: numerical modelling results and observations. Solid Earth 3(2): 387.
Walker, F. & Allen, M.B. (2012). Offset rivers, drainage spacing and the record of strike-slip faulting: The Kuh Banan Fault, Iran. Tectonophysics 530-531: 251-263.
Allen, M.B. & Armstrong, H.A. (2012). Reconciling the Intertropical Convergence Zone, Himalayan/Tibetan tectonics,and the onset of the Asian monsoon system. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 44: 36-47.
Holt, PJ, van Hunen, J. & Allen, MB. (2012). Subsidence of the West Siberian Basin: Effects of a mantle plume impact. Geology 40(8): 703-706.
Allen, M.B., Mark, D.F., Kheirkhah, M., Barfod, D., Emami, M.H. & Saville, C. (2011). 40Ar/39Ar dating of Quaternary lavas in northwest Iran: constraints on the landscape evolution and incision rates of the Turkish-Iranian plateau. Geophysical Journal International 185(3): 1173-1185.
van Hunen, J. & Allen, M.B. (2011). Continental collision and slab break-off: a comparison of 3-D numerical models with observations. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 302(1-2): 27-37.
Nissen, E., Tatar, M., Jackson, J.A. & Allen, M.B. (2011). New views on earthquake faulting in the Zagros fold-and-thrust belt of Iran. Geophysical Journal International 186: 928-944.
Allen, M.B., Kheirkhah, M., Emami, M.H. & Jones, S.J. (2011). Right-lateral shear across Iran and kinematic change in the Arabia–Eurasia collision zone. Geophysical Journal International 184(2): 555-574.
Armstrong, H.A & Allen, M.B. (2011). Shifts in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, Himalayan exhumation, and late Cenozoic climate. Geology 39(1): 11–14.
Allen, M.B. & Talebian, M. (2011). Structural variation along the Zagros and the nature of the Dezful Embayment. Geological Magazine 148: 911-924.
Richardson, S. Davies R.J., Allen M.B. & Grant S.F. (2011). Structure and Evolution of Mass Transport Deposits in the South Caspian Basin, Azerbaijan, Basin Research. Basin Research 23(6): 702–719.
Davies, C,, Allen, M.B., Buslov, M.M. & Safonova, I. (2010). Deposition in the Kuznetsk Basin, Siberia: Insights into the Permian–Triassic transition and the Mesozoic evolution of Central Asia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 295: 307-322.
Holt, P.J., Allen, M.B., van Hunen, J. & Bjørnseth, H.M. (2010). Lithospheric cooling and thickening as a basin forming mechanism. Tectonophysics 495(3-4): 184-194.
Allen, M.B. (2009). Discussion on the Eocene bimodal Piranshahr massif of the Sanadaj-Sirjan Zone, West Iran: a marker of the end of collision in the Zagros orogen. Journal of the Geological Society 166: 981-982.
Walker, R.T., Gans, P., Allen, M.B., Jackson, J., Khatib, M., Marsh, N. & Zarrinkoub, M. (2009). Late Cenozoic volcanism and rates of active faulting in eastern Iran. Geophysical Journal International 177: 783-805.
Kheirkhah, M., Allen, M.B. & Emami, M. (2009). Quaternary syn-collision magmatism from the Iran/Turkey borderlands. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 182: 1-12.
Reichow, M.K., Pringle, M.S., Al'Mukhamedov, A.I. Allen, M.B., Andreichev, V.L., Buslov, M.M., Davies, C.E., Fedoseev, G.S., Fitton, J.G., Inger, S., Medvedev, A.Ya., Mitchell, C., Puchkov, V.N., Safonova, I.Yu., Scott, R.A. & Saunders, A.D. (2009). The timing and extent of the eruption of the Siberian Traps large igneous province: Implications for the end-Permian environmental crisis. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 277: 9-20.
Allen, M. B. & Armstrong, H. A. (2008). Arabia-Eurasia collision and the forcing of mid-Cenozoic global cooling. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 265(1-2): 52-58.
Whitehouse, P.L., Allen, M.B. & Milne, G.A. (2007). Glacial isostatic adjustment as a control on coastal processes: An example from the Siberian Arctic. Geology 35(8): 747-750.
Allen, Mark B. & Davies, Clare E. (2007). Unstable Asia: active deformation of Siberia revealed by drainage shifts. Basin Research 19(3): 379-392.
Allen, M.B., Anderson, L, Searle, R.C. & Buslov, M. (2006). Oblique rift geometry of the West Siberian Basin: tectonic setting for the Siberian flood basalts. Journal of the Geological Society, London 163: 901-904.
Allen, M.B, Jackson, J & Walker, R (2004). Late Cenozoic reorganization of the Arabia-Eurasia collision and the comparison of short-term and long-term deformation rates. Tectonics 23(2): TC2008.
Allen, M.B, Ghassemi, M.R, Shahrabi, M & Qorashi, M (2003). Accommodation of late Cenozoic oblique shortening in the Alborz range, northern Iran. Journal of Structural Geology 25(5): 659-672.
Morton, A, Allen, M.B, Simmons, M.D, Spathopoulos, F, Still, J, Hinds, D, Ismail-Zadeh, A & Kroonenberg, S (2003). Provenance patterns in a neotectonic basin: Pliocene and Quaternary sediment supply to the South Caspian. Basin Research 15: 321-337.
Blanc, E.J-P, Allen, M.B, Inger, S & Hassani, H (2003). Structural styles in the Zagros Simple Folded Zone, Iran. Journal of the Geological Society 160(3): 401-412.
Allen, M.B, Jones, S, Ismail-Zadeh, A, Simmons, M.D & Anderson, L (2002). Onset of subduction as the cause of rapid Pliocene-Quaternary subsidence in the South Caspian Basin. Geology 30(9): 775-778.

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Media Contacts

Available for media contact about:

Earth Sciences: Causes of earthquakes in Eurasia
Tectonics: Causes of earthquakes in Eurasia
Earth Sciences: Oil and gas resources in Eurasia, the Middle East and North Africa
Oil and gas: Oil and gas resources in Eurasia, the Middle East and North Africa