Dr Trevor Faulkner

Dr Trevor Faulkner

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Honorary Research Fellow

Contact details

Email
t.faulkner@bham.ac.uk
Address
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Trevor Faulkner is a karst geomorphologist with a special interest in the speleogenesis of karst caves in sedimentary and metamorphic limestones and their relationships to Quaternary glaciations. He has pioneered a multi-disciplinary research approach involving glacial erosion, deglacial and interglacial processes, isostatic uplift, neotectonics, seismicity, and limestone dissolution at low temperature and low PCO2 to explain the existence and distribution of caves formed in marble outcrops in the glaciated Caledonide terranes of the northern hemisphere.

Qualifications

  • PhD University of Huddersfield
  • MA Trinity College, Cambridge

Biography

Dr Trevor Faulkner is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a previous Member and Foreign Secretary of the Council of the British Cave Research Association (BCRA), and a Member of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), the Quaternary Research Association (QRA), the International Glaciological Society and the Yorkshire Geological Society. After achieving a degree in Natural Sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1963, he followed a career in the British computer industry until 1996, whilst also regularly leading expeditions to Norway to find and explore marble karst caves. The opportunity then arose to build on this knowledge with a study of the speleogenesis of the caves formed in Caledonide marbles in central Scandinavia and elsewhere, as part of the Limestone Research Group at the University of Huddersfield. This research project was completed in 2005, with the acceptance of a thesis that derived five linked conceptual models to explain cave formation in glaciated metalimestones. Since then he has been writing and publishing papers based on that research across a range of linked multi-disciplinary subject areas. He became an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) at the University of Birmingham on 1 September 2007 and attends School presentations whilst also making use of the University library and its online facilities.

Research

The models of cave formation in the metamorphic Caledonide terranes in the north Atlantic region explored the relationships among deglacial seismicity and fracture formation during reverse isostasy and the subsequent enlargement of the fractures into cave passages by dissolution under deglacial and interglacial conditions. The importance of the hydrology of icesheets at various stages of glaciation and deglaciation, including the role of subglacial water during periods of rapid climate change, is now becoming increasingly recognised. In some cases, as more sophisticated glacial hydrological models become available, these should be testable against the effects of subglacial and deglacial water flow on the erosion of the landscape and on the production of depositional forms. When the bedrock happens to consist of karstic rocks, some results may be locked inside the landscape as enlarged cave passages that can be studied directly.

Because of the special property of karst caves to preserve elements of palaeo-environments (from their location, morphology, dimensions, hydrology and chemical and clastic contents) we should, by working in parallel, be able to explain local speleogenesis, the evolution of the external landscape and the varying climatic regimes that the caves and their host regions have experienced. By working backwards in time and upwards in elevation, a cave history should be deduced by multidisciplinary study and related at each stage to contemporary topography and hydrological drainage.

With a similar geology to that in central Scandinavia, the caves and marble karsts of the Dalradian Supergroup in Scotland are also of research interest. Lismore Island in Loch Linnhe will be visited in June 2018, together with a study of any karst features in the Lewisian marbles of northern Scotland. Closer to home than the Caledonides, the Yorkshire Dales comprise a karst area with many caves formed in Carboniferous sedimentary limestones that have been extensively explored and surveyed, but which await a comprehensive explanation of their genesis and development over time. This area has also been glaciated and deglaciated many times throughout the Pleistocene, but there is still little understanding about how much the Dales were deepened by each successive glaciation. The ambitious aim of the continuing research is to study both the cave development and the landscape evolution, so that both sets of problems can be resolved together. The latest information about the Yorkshire Dales is provided in the BCRA books Caves and Karst of the Yorkshire Dales Volumes 1 and 2, by AC Waltham and DJ Lowe (2013 and 2017), for which Dr Faulkner reviewed several Chapters.

Other activities

Dr Trevor Faulkner has been the Meetings Secretary for BCRA, when he organised eight Cave Science Symposia (the 2014 one was held at GEES) and 14 Cave Science Field Meetings, many being attended by other colleagues from the University of Birmingham. He is on the Editorial Advisory Board for the journal Cave and Karst Science and also regularly reviews papers in other journals. He jointly organised a QRA / BCRA Field Meeting to the Yorkshire Dales, 21-24 June 2012, and jointly edited the 186-page Field Guide. Dr Faulkner has also become interested in cave archaeology and human evolution. He was the founding Chairman of the Working Group for Publications Exchange within the Union of International Speleology and attended the International Congress of Speleology in Sydney in July 2017, where he presented four oral papers and joined in pre- and post-Congress caving field meetings in Australia and New Zealand. He recently attended the EGU General Assembly in Vienna in April 2018 and still keeps fit for cave studies by occasionally running in road, cross-country and fell races.

Publications

Faulkner, T. 2017. Why we should thank a meteorite for the caves at Assynt, NW Scotland, UK. Proceedings of the seventeenth International Speleological Congress, Sydney. Volume 2, 259-262 (Ed 1) or 265-268 (Ed 2 online).

Faulkner, T. 2017. Are there any pre-Quaternary caves in Scandinavia? Proceedings of the seventeenth International Speleological Congress, Sydney. Volume 2, 263-268 (Ed 1) or 269-274 (Ed 2 online).

Faulkner, T. 2017. British Cave Science and Technology Meetings and Publications. BCRA Annual  Review for 2016, 29-35.

Faulkner, T. 2017. Distinctive caves in banded marbles. BCRA Annual Review for 2016, 45-48.

Faulkner, T and Brazier, V. 2016. Tufa deposits at Inchrory and Glen Suie, Moray, Scotland. Cave and Karst Science 43 (1) 17-20.

Faulkner, T. 2016. Comment on: Simms, M. J., The Stac Fada impact ejecta deposit and the Lairg Gravity Low: evidence for a buried Precambrian impact crater in Scotland? [Proc. Geol. Assoc. 126 (6), 742-761 (2015)] and the consequence for the formation of caves within the Durness Limestone outcrops at Assynt, Sutherland. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association 127 (1), 107-108.

Faulkner, T. 2016. Workshop Review: Advances in Active Tectonics and Speleotectonics. Cave and Karst Science 43 (2) 89-90.

Faulkner, T. 2016. Cave Science Field Meeting: Barbon and Easegill, UK. [In 2011]. BCRA Annual Review for 2015, 35-37.

Faulkner, T. 2016. BCRA-William Pengelly Cave Studies Trust: Cave Science Field Meeting, Buckfastleigh, Devon, UK. [In 2014]. BCRA Annual Review for 2015, 38-41.

Faulkner, T. 2016. BCA Party Weekend: Cave science activities at the Dalesbridge Centre, Austwick. [In 2013]. BCRA Annual Review for 2015, 42-44.

Faulkner, T. 2016. BCRA Cave Science Field Meeting: Dudley Limestone Mines and Wren’s Nest National Nature Reserve, Dudley, UK. [In 2014]. BCRA Annual Review for 2015, 45-46.

Faulkner, T. 2016. Why we should thank a meteorite for the caves at Assynt. Grampian Speleological Group Bulletin 2 (1) 13-15.

Murphy, PJ, Faulkner, TL, Lord, TC and Thorp, JA.  2015. The caves of Giggleswick Scar – examples of deglacial speleogenesis? Cave and Karst Science 42 (1) 42-53.

Faulkner, T. 2014. The future of Geomorphology lies underground. British Geomorphological Society Annual Meeting: Manchester 2014. Abstract.

Checkley, D and Faulkner, T. 2014. Scallop measurement in a 10m-high vadose canyon in Pool Sink, Ease Gill Cave System, Yorkshire Dales, UK and a hypothetical post-deglacial canyon entrenchment timescale. Cave and Karst Science 42 (2) 76-83. 

Faulkner, T. 2013. A methodology to estimate the age of caves in northern latitudes, using Toerfjellhola in Norway as an example. Proceedings of the sixteenth International Speleological Congress, Brno. Volume 3, 342-348.

Faulkner, T. 2013. How do aperture sizes in limestone vary for the onsets of turbulent flow and first-order dissolution kinetics? Proceedings of the sixteenth International Speleological Congress, Brno. Volume 3, 349-355.

Faulkner, TL. 2013. Book review. Speleothem Science: From Process to Past Environments. IJ Fairchild and A Baker. Wiley-Blackwell, 432pp (2012). Quaternary Science Reviews 80, 204-205.

Faulkner, T. 2013. Comments to Wilson et al.(2012a) – ‘Surface lowering of limestone pavements as determined by cosmogenic (36Cl) analysis’. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 38 (7) 763-764.

Faulkner, T. 2013. Speleogenesis and scallop formation and demise under hydraulic control and other recharge regimes. Cave and Karst Science 40 (3) 113-132.

Faulkner, T. 2012. How did the Yorkshire Dales deglaciate? Yorkshire Geological Society Circular 572, 7-8. Cave and Karst Science 39 (1) 39-40.

Faulkner, T. 2012. Swedish Ice-dammed lakes: a postscript. Grottan 47 (1) 10-11.

Faulkner, T. 2012. Marin påvirkning og grottene ved Aunhatten og Langskjellighatten, Brønnøy. Norsk Grotteblad (58) 11-22, 48-49.

O’Regan, HJ, Faulkner, T and Smith, IR (eds.) 2012. Cave Archaeology and karst geomorphology of north west England: Field Guide. Quaternary Research Association, London. 186pp.

Faulkner, T. 2012. The Devensian deglaciation and a discussion of the Raistrick evidence. In O’Regan, HJ, Faulkner, T and Smith, IR (eds.) Cave Archaeology and karst geomorphology of north west England: Field Guide. Quaternary Research Association, London, 46-56.

Faulkner, T. 2012. A challenge for karst geomorphology. In O’Regan, HJ, Faulkner, T and Smith, IR (eds.) Cave Archaeology and karst geomorphology of north west England: Field Guide. Quaternary Research Association, London, 154-156.

Faulkner, T. 2011. Ice-dammed lakes in the central Swedish Mountains. Grottan 46 (1) 16-25.

Faulkner, T. 2011. Gjensyn med Jordbruelva. Norsk Grotteblad (56) 16-30, 32.

Faulkner, T. 2011. A simple model for the deglaciation of Central Scandinavia. QRA Annual Discussion Meeting – Palaeohydrology: Learning lessons from the past. Programme and Abstracts Volume. 2pp. Abstracts of talk and poster.

Faulkner, T. 2011. Two new papers on glaciations and speleogenesis in the Yorkshire Dales. Cave and Karst Science 38 (2) p103.

Faulkner, T. 2011. 2010 21st BCRA Cave Science Symposium review. Speleology (17) 12-14.

Ball, K and Faulkner, T. 2011. Science in South Wales with BCRA. [2011 Cave Science Field Meeting]. Speleology (18) 24-25.

Faulkner, T. 2010. An external model of speleogenesis during Quaternary glacial cycles in the marbles of Central Scandinavia. Cave and Karst Science 37 (3) 79-92.

Faulkner, T. 2010. Conference Review – Ancient Human Occupation of Britain Conference: New insights on Early Humans, Cave Occupations and Quaternary Glaciations. Cave and Karst Science 37 (1) 29-30.

Faulkner, T. 2010. Limestone pavement erosion rates and rainfall. Cave and Karst Science 36 (3) 94-95.

Faulkner, T. 2010. Relationships between cave dimensions and local catchment areas in Central Scandinavia: implications for speleogenesis. Cave and Karst Science 36 (1) 11-20.

Faulkner, T. 2009. A new speleogenetic paradigm from Central Scandinavia and its relevance for northern caves. National Speleological Society News 67 (9) 3-9.  

Faulkner, T. 2009. The general model of cave development in the metalimestones of the Caledonide terranes. Proceedings of the fifteenth International Speleological Congress, Kerrville, USA. Vol. 2 863-870.

Faulkner, T. 2009. Speleogenesis of the New England marble caves. Proceedings of the fifteenth International Speleological Congress, Kerrville, USA. Vol. 2 855-862. 

Faulkner, T. 2009. The endokarstic erosion of marble in cold climates: Corbel revisited. Progress in Physical Geography 33 (6) 805-814.

Faulkner, TL and Hunt, CO. 2009. Holocene deposits from Neptune’s Cave, Nordland, Norway: environmental interpretation and relation to the deglacial and emergence history of the Velfjord–Tosenfjord area. Boreas 38 691-704.

Faulkner, T. 2008. The top-down, middle-outwards, model of cave development in central Scandinavian marbles. Cave and Karst Science 34 (1) 3­-16.

Faulkner, T. 2008. Book review: Karst Hydrogeology and Geomorphology by Derek Ford and Paul Williams, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2007, 562pp. Cave and Karst Science 34 (1) 40-41.

Faulkner, T. 2008. Book review: Cave Geology by Professor AN Palmer, Cave Books, Ohio, 454pp. International Journal of Speleology 37 (1) “85-86”.

Faulkner, T. 2007. Scientific note: Geothermal Speleogenesis. Cave and Karst Science 33 (3) p137

Faulkner, T. 2007. Book review: Hypogene Speleogenesis: Hydrogeological and morphogenetic perspective by Dr. AB Klimchouk, National Cave and Karst Research Institute Special Paper No. 1, 2007, 106pp. Cave and Karst Science 33 (3) 138-141.

Faulkner, T. 2007. A reply to Preece and Andrews, 2007: “Tufa formation at the Lateglacial / Holocene transition: comments on the article by Trevor Faulkner”. Quaternary Newsletter (112) 31-32.

Faulkner, T.2007. The hydrogeology of crystalline rocks as supporting evidence for tectonic inception in some epigean endokarsts. Cave and Karst Science 33 (2) 55-64.

Faulkner, T.2007. The one-eighth relationship that constrains deglacial seismicity and cave development in Caledonide marbles. Acta Carsologica 36 (2) 195-202.

Faulkner, T.2007. How many caves are there in south Nordland? Norsk Grotteblad (48) 22–24, 48–49.

Faulkner, T. 2007. How many caves are there in the central Swedish Caledonides? Grottan 42 (3) 19-26

Faulkner, T. 2007. 2007 18th BCRA Cave Science Symposium review. Speleology (9) 24-25.

Faulkner, T. 2006. 2005 16th BCRA Cave Science Symposium review. Speleology (6) 24–25.

Faulkner, T. 2006. 2006 17th BCRA Cave Science Symposium review. Speleology (7) 8–9.

Faulkner, T.2006. Possible explanations for the transition from palaeosol to tufa deposition at some Holocene sites in the Mendip area, Somerset. Quaternary Newsletter (110) 10–14.

Faulkner, T.2006. Limestone dissolution in phreatic conditions at maximum rates and in pure, cold, water. Cave and Karst Science 33 (1) 11–20.

Faulkner, T. 2006. Tectonic inception in Caledonide marbles. Acta Carsologica 35 (1) 7–21.

Faulkner, T. 2006. The impact of the deglaciation of central Scandinavia on karst caves and the implications for Craven’s limestone landscape. Proceedings of the North Craven Historical Research Group – Oct 2006 workshop: Re-thinking Craven’s Limestone Landscape, 3–8.

Faulkner, T.2006. Book review: Essential sources in cave science - BCRA Cave Studies Series no.16. International Journal of Speleology 35 (2) 108–109.

Faulkner, TL. 2005. Cave inception and development in Caledonide metacarbonate rocks. PhD Thesis. University of Huddersfield.

Faulkner, T. 2005. Modification of cave entrances in Norway by marine action. Proceedings of the fourteenth International Speleological Congress, Athens (CD). Paper 069: 6pp.

Faulkner, T.2004. Scallops and dissolution rate. Cave and Karst Science 31 (1). Forum: 43–44.

Faulkner, T.2001. Cave development in central Scandinavia. Proceedings of the thirteenth International Speleological Congress (CD). Paper 155 4pp. Abstract: p106.

Faulkner, T. 2000. Caves in metamorphic limestones of the Irish Dalradian Supergroup. Irish Speleology 17 43–49.

Faulkner, T. 2000. Metamorphic Limestones in Shetland. Grampian Speleological Society Bulletin 5 (3) 40–46.

Faulkner, T. 1998. Karst and Tectonics Symposium Review. Cave and Karst Science 25 (3) 150–152.