Research Interests

Tectonics; Deformation of continental lithosphere; field-based structural geology; geological interpretation of geophysical data sets; interactions between deformation and depositional processes on submarine slopes.

Current Research Projects

Mapping Mountains

Outreach project with Clare Bond (Glasgow), supported by Amerada Hess, BHPBilliton, Scottish Natural Heritage, Royal Society and in conjunction with the British Geological Survey, Kinlochbervie and Ullapool High Schools and the NW Highlands Geopark. Total funding: £12K. To support displays of geological maps and community art projects in Ullapool, Edinburgh and Glasgow through 2007 and at the Geological Society, Burlington House (February 2008). www.mappingmountains.com.

Submarine Thrust Systems

Principal investigator on a rolling project that has run from late 2006, funded by BHP-Billiton initially for £54,600 to support a lectureship/PDRA in structural geophysics

Virtual Seismic Atlas Project - Natural Environment Research Council

Principal investigator NERC Knowledge Transfer project. FEC total £368,078 (indexed at £304,034) for two years from April 2007. Additional in-kind resources from BHP-Billiton and Veritas worth >£3M, together with software agreements worth $10sk (with Blue Fish and Endeca). Collaborators include seven UK geoscience departments, The Geological Society, Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain, British Geological Survey, one seismic company, three structural service companies and six multinational oil companies. To support website design and delivery, a PDRA , FEC staff time, travel expenses and computer equipment. www.seismicatlas.org

Virtual Seismic Atlas Project – industry consortium

Principal investigator: Sponsors: Shell UK, Norsk Hydro, Amerada Hess, Statoil, BG. £180k for two years from January 2007. These funds further support knowledge management structures with additional RA positions being supported as further sponsors join.

Virtual Seismic Atlas Project – Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain

Principal investigator: Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain. £40k for two years from October 2006. To support MSc by Research positions.

Punctuated or continuous deformation during the exhumation of subducted crust? A linked tectono-metamorphic and geochronological study.

Principal investigator. NERC £41250. 2 years from 1st May 2006. Covers Rb-Sr analysis, petrology, fieldwork on Syros (with Drs Bob Cliff and John Dixon) and FEC costed staff time.

Outreach resources

• The Virtual Seismic Atlas
• Geology of Assynt.
• The Moine Thrust Belt.

Teaching resources

• The Fault Zone.  On-line open-access teaching resources

Recent Publications

Butler, R.W.H. 2010. Excursion 11: The Moine Thrust at Loch Eriboll. In: A Geological Excursion Guide to Moine Geology of the Northern Highlands of Scotland  (edited by R A Strachan, C R L Friend, G I Alsop & S Miller). National Museums of Scotland. 191-216.

Butler R.W.H. 2010. The role of thrust tectonic models in understanding the structural evolution of NW Scotland. In: Continental Tectonics and Mountain Building: The Legacy of Peach and Horne. (eds R.D. Law, R.W.H. Butler, R.E. Holdsworth, M. Krabbendam & R. Strachan), Special Publication of the Geological Society, 335, 293-330.

Butler R.W.H. 2010. The Geological Structure of the North-West Highlands of Scotland – revisited: Peach et al. one hundred years on. In: Continental Tectonics and Mountain Building: The Legacy of Peach and Horne. (eds R.D. Law, R.W.H. Butler, R.E. Holdsworth, M. Krabbendam & R. Strachan), Special Publication of the Geological Society, 335,. 7-27.

Wibberley C.A.J. & Butler, R.W.H. 2010. Structure and internal deformation of the Arnaboll Thrust Sheet, north-west Scotland: implications for structural styles and strain localization. In: Continental Tectonics and Mountain Building: The Legacy of Peach and Horne. (eds R.D. Law, R.W.H. Butler, R.E. Holdsworth, M. Krabbendam & R. Strachan), Special Publication of the Geological Society, 335, 321-333.

Law, R.D., Butler, R.W.H., Holdsworth, R.E., Krabbendam, M. and Strachan, R. 2010. Continental tectonics and mountain building. The legacy of Peach and Horne: an introduction. In: Continental Tectonics and Mountain Building: The Legacy of Peach and Horne. (eds R.D. Law, R.W.H. Butler, R.E. Holdsworth, M. Krabbendam & R. Strachan), Special Publication of the Geological Society, 335, 1-5.

Butler, R.W.H. & McCaffrey, W.D. 2010. The structural geology of sediment entrainment in submarine mass transport complexes: outcrop perspectives. Journal of the Geological Society 167, 617-631.

Butler, R.W.H. & Turner, J.P. 2010. Gravitational collapse at continental margins: processes and products. Introduction. J. Geol. Soc. London 167, 569-570.

Butler, R. 2010. Slip-slidin’ away. Geoscientist, 20 (5), 16-20.

Vinnels, J.S. Butler, R.W.H., Paton, D.A. & McCaffrey, W.D. 2010. Depositional processes across the Sinu Accretionary Prism, offshore Colombia. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 27, 794-809.

Eggenhuisen, J.T., McCaffrey, W.D., Haughton, P.D.W. & Butler, R.W.H. 2010. Small-scale variability in turbidity current flow controlled by roughness resulting from substrate erosion: field evidence for a feedback mechanism. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 80, 129-136

Vinnels, J.S. Butler, R.W.H., McCaffrey, W.D. & Lickorish, W.H. 2010. Sediment distribution and architecture around a bathymetrically complex basin: Eastern Champsaur Basin, SE France. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 80, 216-235

Butler, R.W.H. & Paton, D.A. 2010. Evaluating lateral compaction in deepwater fold and thrust belts: how much are we missing from Nature‘s Sandbox? GSA Today, 20, 4-10

Lloyd, G.E., Butler, R.W.H., Casey, M. & Mainprice, D. 2009. Mica, deformation fabrics and the seismic properties of the continental crust. Earth and Planetary Science Letters.doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.09.035

Butler, R.W.H. 2009. Relationships between the Apennine thrust belt, foredeep and foreland revealed by marine seismic data, offshore Calabria. Bollettino Società Geologica Italiana, 128, 269-278.

Butler, R.W.H. 2009. Moine Thrust Belt: Introduction; Eriboll; Sango Bay; Foinaven; Glencoul; Skiag Bridge; Stronchrubie Cliff; Traligill Burn; Ben More Assynt, Conival and Na Tuadhan; Sgonnan Mor, Dubh Loch Beag, Upper Glen Oykell; Cam Loch; Knockan Crag, Dundonnell (with S.J. Matthews); Carn na Canaich; Slioch – Heights of Kinlochewe (with S.J. Matthews); Meall a’Ghiubhais (with S.J. Matthews); Beinn  Liaith Mhor; Cnoc nam Broc, Kishorn. In: Lewisian, Torridonian and Moine rocks of Scotland. (edited by Mendum, J. R, Barber, A. J., Butler, R. W. H., Flinn, D., Goodenough, K. M., Krabbendam, M., Park, R. G. and Stewart, A. D.) Geological Conservation Review Series, volume 34, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough, pp. 721.

Butler, R. & Pedley, A. 2009. Digitally remastered Geoscientist, 19 (6), 18-22.

Butler, R.W.H. 2008. Teaching Geoscience through fieldwork. GEES learning and Teaching Guide, University of Plymouth, pp. 60.

Butler, R.W.H., Bond, C.E., Shipton, Z.K., Jones, R.R. & Casey, M. 2008. Fabric anisotropy controls faulting in the continental crust. J. Geol. Soc. London 165, 449-452.

Bond, C.E., Shipton, Z.K., Jones, R.R., Butler, R.W.H. & Gibbs, A. D. 2007. Knowledge transfer in a digital world: Field data acquisition, uncertainty, visualization, and data management. Geosphere, 3, doi: 10.1130/GES00094.1

Tatham, D.J., Lloyd, G.E., Butler, R.W.H. & Casey, M. 2007. Amphibole and lower crustal seismic properties. Earth. Planet Sci. Lett. 267, 118-128.

Brunt, R.L., McCaffrey, W.D. & Butler, R.W.H. 2007. Setting and architectural elements of the Champsaur Sandstones, France. . In: Atlas of deep-water outcrops. (Eds. Nilsen, T.H., Shew, R.D., Steffens, G.S. & Studlick, J.R.J.). AAPG Studies in Geology 56, 188-191.

Bond, C.E., Shipton, Z.K., Jones, R.R., Butler, R.W.H, & Gibbs, A.D., 2007. Knowledge transfer in a digital world: Field data acquisition, uncertainty, visualization, and data management. Geosphere 3 (6), 568-576. DOI: 10.1130/GES00094.1

Bond, C.E., Butler, R.W.H. & Dixon, J.E. 2007. Co-axial horizontal stretching within extending orogens: the exhumation of HP rocks on Syros (Cyclades) revisited. In Deformation of the Continental Crust: the legacy of Mike Coward (eds A.C. Ries, R.W.H. Butler & R.H. Graham) Spec. Publ. Geol. Soc. London 272, 203-222.

Al-Wardi, M. & Butler, R.W.H. 2007. Constrictional extensional tectonics in the northern Oman mountains, its role in culmination development and the exhumation of the subducted Arabian continental margin. In: Deformation of the Continental Crust: the legacy of Mike Coward (eds A.C. Ries, R.W.H. Butler, & R.H. Graham) Spec. Publ. Geol. Soc. London 272, 188-202.

Butler, R.W.H., Matthews, S.J. & Morgan, R.K. 2007. Structural evolution of the Achnashellach culmination, southern Moine Thrust Belt: testing the duplex model. In Deformation of the Continental Crust: the legacy of Mike Coward. (eds A.C. Ries, R.W.H. Butler, & R.H. Graham) Spec. Publ. Geol. Soc. London 272, 105-121.

Butler, R.W.H., Graham, R.H. & Ries, A.C. 2007. On the deformation of continental crust and Mike Coward’s impact on its understanding. In Deformation of the Continental Crust: the legacy of Mike Coward (eds A.C. Ries, R.W.H. Butler, & R.H. Graham) Spec. Publ. Geol. Soc. London 272, 1-9.

Scientific editing

 "Deformation of the continental crust: the legacy of Mike Coward". Special Publication of the Geological Society 272 (with AC Ries and RH Graham), 2007.

 "Lewisian, Torridonian and Moine rocks of Scotland". Geological Conservation Review Series, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough, (with Mendum, J. R, Barber, A. J., Flinn, D., Goodenough, K. M., Krabbendam, M., Park, R. G. and Stewart, A. D.), 2008.

 "Continental Tectonics and Mountain Building: The Legacy of Peach and Horne". Special Publication of the Geological Society 335 (with R.D. Law, M. Krabbendam, R. Strachan, and R.E. Holdsworth), 2010.

 "Gravitational collapse of continental margins: products and processes". Journal of the Geological Society, London, Thematic Set. 167 (with. J. Turner). 2010.

Contact Details

Office: Meston 112
Tel: (0)1224 273452
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