Job title: Professor
Phone: 64 9 373 7599 ext 88459
Office: Rm 693, Human Sciences Building,10 Symonds Street, Auckland
Postal: School of Environment, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland
Email: p.williams@auckland.ac.nz

BA (Durh.), MA (Dub.), PhD, ScD (Camb.)

Honours

Senior Fellow, International Association of Geomorphologists
Hon. Life Member, National Speleological Society (USA)
 

Paul's formal qualifications include degrees from Durham, Dublin and Cambridge Universities. Before joining the staff at Auckland, he was a member of staff at the Australian National University and the University of Dublin (TCD). He has served as Head of Department and Deputy Dean of Science. He has retired from teaching, but maintains an active research programme. In 2007 he was the Hochstetter Lecturer (an annual award of the Geological Society of NZ).

Paul's interests range from geomorphology through hydrology to environmental change. He has a specialist research interests in caves and limestone (karst) terrains and has completed a global review of karst World Heritage sites for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). He is a member of the World Commission for Protected Areas.

His current research focus is on Quaternary palaeoclimate of New Zealand. Information on this is obtained from speleothems (crystalline cave deposits such as stalagmites and flowstones), which contain high resolution, quantitative records of past temperatures and precipitation (from stable isotopes and trace element ratios). The records produced from this source are verified against palaeoclimate time series derived independently from tree-rings (by Dr Anthony Fowler and others) and lake sediments (by Dr Paul Augustinus and others). The research is funded mainly by the NZ Foundation for Research Science and Technology.

Ford, D.C. and Williams, P.W. 2011. Geomorphology underground: the study of karst and karst processes. In The SAGE Handbook of Geomorphology, (Gregory, K.J. and Goudie, A.S. eds.), London, SAGE, 469-486.

Williams, P. W., Neil, H. and Zhao, J-X. 2010. Age frequency distribution and revised stable isotope curves for New Zealand speleothems: palaeoclimatic implications. International Journal of Speleology, 39(2), 99-112. Bologna (Italy).

Williams, P.W. 2009. UNESCO World Heritage caves and karst: present situation, future prospects and management requirements. 15th International Congress of Speleology Proceedings, 1, 38-44.

Williams, P.W. 2008. World Heritage Caves and Karst: a Thematic Study. IUCN World Heritage Studies, No. 2, Gland, Switzerland, 50pp.

Williams, P.W. 2008. The role of the epikarst in karst and cave hydrogeology: a review. International Journal of Speleology, 37(1), 1-10.

Williams, P.W. 2008. ‘Caving’ in I.J. Graham (Ed.), A Continent on the Move, Geological Society of New Zealand, Miscellaneous Publication 25.

Ford, D.C and Willams, P. W. 2007. Karst Hydrogeology and Geomorphology. Second Edition, Wiley , 562pp. Find out more.

Williams, P.W., King, D.N.T., Zhao, J.-X. and Collerson, K.D. 2005. Late Pleistocene to Holocene composite speleothem chronologies from South Island, New Zealand – did a global Younger Dryas really exist? Earth and Planetary Science Letters 230 (3-4), 301-317.

Williams, P.W., King D., Zhao J.-X. and Collerson K. 2004. 'Speleothem master chronologies: combined Holocene 18O and 13C records from the North Island of New Zealand and their palaeo-environmental interpretation'. The Holocene 14(2), 194-208.

Williams, P.W. 2004. Polygonal karst and palaeokarst of the King Country, North Island, New Zealand. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, Suppl.-Vol 136, 45-67.

Williams, P.W. 2004. The evolution of the mountains of New Zealand. In Mountain Geomorphology, (Owens, P. and Slaymaker,O. eds), London, Arnold, 89-106.

 

Data sets and maps

Speleothem data sets published in Williams et al. 2010 are available for downloading from:

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/speleothem.html

Speleothem data sets published in Williams et al. 2004 and Williams et al. 2005 have been up-dated (March 2008) and are available for downloading here:

     waitomo_series.xls (109KB)
     nw_south_island_series.xls (107KB)

Maps of carbonate rock outcrops from world scale to regional scale and World Heritage sites located in karst terrains are available for downloading from: Karst webpage on the School of Environment website.

 

TBA