Martin Kennedy

Biography

1995-1989 BSc the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Geology and Environmental Science 1991-1995 PhD the University of Adelaide, Department of Geology 1995-1996 Postdoctoral associate, Cornell University, Ecology and Systematics 1996-1998 Rubey Fellow/Assistant Professor, UCLA, Earth and Space Science 1998-2000 Senior Research Geologist, Exxon Production Research 2000-2007 Assistant/Associate Professor, University of California, Riverside 2007-2010 Professor, University of California, Riverside 2007-2010 Director Graduate program for Global and Environmental Change, UCR 2010-2014 Professor of Geology, University of Adelaide 2012-2015 Director Sprigg Geobiology Centre 2015-present Professor of Geology and Head of Earth and planetary Sciences, Macquarie University

Research Interest

My research focuses on mechanisms of carbon sequestration and triggers of rapid climate change using an interdisciplinary and process-based approach. I combine detailed field observations with isotopic and mineralogical data from both ancient and modern sediments to determine the changes in the Earth’s biosphere through time, including the controls on the carbon cycle that regulate fossil fuel distribution and influence climate stability. Current research includes 1) methane clathrate destabilization as a driver of abrupt climate change and fugitive emissions and 2) control of organic carbon sequestration, planetary oxygenation and petroleum source rock deposition. I head the Australian Shale Carbon Sequestraion Group- an ARC funded industry consortium that studies the nanoscale properties of shales to outcrop scales to construct new understanding of unconventional reservoirs. My research further investigates the controls on the Precambrian environment and the appearance of complex life in the Ediacaran Period.