Harrison Martin

Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences

California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91101
hkm@caltech.edu – https://harrison.studies.rocks

Professional Appointments:

August 2023 Postdoctoral Scholar Research Associate in Geology

- Present California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, U.S.A.
Supervisor: Dr. Michael Lamb
• Studying sediment transport and organic carbon fluxes in rivers and floodplains using
a variety of methods, including numerical modeling.

Fall 2016 Geology Exploration Term Student, Statoil [now Equinor] Canada Ltd.
• Investigated sediment provenance (via detrital zircon analysis) and reservoir
properties as part of a regional assessment of several East Coast Canada frontier
basins in Statoil’s Canadian exploration team.

Education

2018 - PhD, Geoscience

July 2023 Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, U.S.A.
Advisor: Dr. Douglas Edmonds
Dissertation title: How meandering rivers move: from meander bends to
megafans.
• Using numerical modeling and remote sensing to study meandering river avulsion
in alluvial basins over stratigraphic timescales.
• Using drone-based lidar, bathymetry, and fieldwork to study bend-scale
mechanics of meandering and sediment transport in rivers.
Minor: Scientific Computing

2015-2018 MSc, Geoscience (Thesis-based)

University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
Advisor: Dr. Stephen Hubbard
Thesis title: Stratigraphic Characterization of an Early Cretaceous Channel-belt
Avulsion: Implications for Paleoenvironmental Interpretations of the McMurray
Formation, Alberta.
• Developed a regional-scale stratigraphic framework and a series of maps
describing regional trends and local complexities in a prolific, extensively drilled
basin.
• Used an understanding of modern fluvial avulsion mechanics to understand the
evolutionary history of an ancient river, with implications for paleoenvironment
and backwater effects in a large, shallow fluvial-deltaic system.
• Published in the Journal of Sedimentary Research.
2011-2015 Honours BSc, Integrated Science, with a Concentration in Earth &
Environmental Sciences
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Advisor: Dr. Janok Bhattacharya
Program Director: Dr. Carolyn Eyles
Minor: GIS

Teaching and Research Positions

2020-2021 Associate Instructor, Indiana University

• Sedimentation & Tectonics – EAS-E 333
• Natural Disasters, Sustainability, and the Future of Civilization – COLL-C 105

2018-2023 Research Assistant, Indiana University

• Conducted field and computational research towards my PhD dissertation.

Summer 2016 Consortium Secondee, BP Canada Energy Group ULC

• Conducted research on my Master’s thesis at the BP Calgary office, utilizing BP data
and employee experience.

2015-2017 Teaching Assistant, University of Calgary

• Introduction to Petroleum Geology – GLGY 577
• Surficial Systems – GLGY 353

2014 Teaching Assistant, McMaster University

• Earth and the Environment – EARTHSC 1G03

Summer 2014 Field Assistant, McMaster University

• Under Dr. Janok Bhattacharya, in the Ferron Sandstone of Utah, U.S.A.
• Assisted graduate students with fieldwork and simultaneously collected data for my
own thesis research in plan-view bar-scale fluvial scaling relationships.

Honors, Awards, and Funding

2023-2024 GPS Department Option Postdoctoral Fellowship

California Institute of Technology

2021-2023 Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology Research
Grant (NASA FINESST)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

2023 Best PhD Student Oral Presentation, Crossroads Conference

Indiana University, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science

2022 Nomination for ASCE State-of-the-Art of Civil Engineering Award (for Pradel et
al. 2021)
American Society of Civil Engineers
2022 Ralph E. Esarey Geology Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement
Indiana University, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

2021-2022 Dissertation Research Fellowship (declined due to NASA FINESST)

Indiana University, College of Arts and Sciences

2021 IAS Postgraduate Research Grant

International Association of Sedimentologists

2021 Outstanding Associate Instructor Award

Indiana University, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

2020 John Barrett Patton Endowment Fund Award

Indiana University

2018-2019 Chevron Oil Company Graduate Fellowship

Indiana University

2016-2017 Queen Elizabeth II Graduate (Master’s) Scholarship

University of Calgary

2016 David Wilson Memorial Graduate Scholarship in Geoscience

University of Calgary

2016 1st Place Team, Imperial Barrel Awards Competition, Canada Region
University of Calgary

2015-2016 ConocoPhillips Canada Graduate Scholarship in Applied Basin Studies

University of Calgary

2011-2015 Summa Cum Laude

McMaster University

2011, 2012, Dean’s Honour List

2014, 2015 McMaster University

2011 McMaster Honour Award, Level II

McMaster University

Publications

In Review
• Martin, H.K., Edmonds, D.A., and Lewis, Q.L., (In Review). Four years of
meandering captured by drone-based lidar surveys reveal lack of width maintenance
on the White River, Indiana, USA: Submitted to the Journal of Geophysical
Research: Earth Surface.
 • Gearon, J.H., Martin, H.K., DeLisle, C., Barefoot, E.A., Mohrig, D., Paola, C., and
Edmonds, D.A., (In Review). Rules of River Avulsion Change Downstream:
Submitted to Nature.
• Valenza, J., Edmonds, D., Martin, H., Sifuentes, C., and Toby, S., (In Review).
Stratigraphic architecture of fluvial fans shaped by downstream changes in avulsion
style: Submitted to Sedimentology.
In Revision
• A first-authored manuscript in which we used drone-based lidar to study
catastrophic geomorphic change in response to an extreme, climate-linked disaster, in
double-blind review.
• Peng, Y., Hagstrom, C.A., Horner, S.C., Leckie, D.A., Martin, H.K., Durkin, P.R.,
and Hubbard, S.M., (In Revision). Early Cretaceous evolution of the McMurray
Formation: A review towards a better understanding of the paleo-depositional
system: Submitted to Earth-Science Reviews.
Published
• Martin, H.K. and Edmonds, D.A., (2023). Avulsion dynamics determine fluvial fan
morphology in a cellular model: Geology, v. 51(8): 796–800. DOI:
/10.1130/G51138.1.
• Martin, H.K. and Edmonds, D.A., (2022). The push and pull of abandoned channels:
How floodplain processes and healing affect avulsion dynamics and alluvial
landscape evolution in foreland basins: Earth Surface Dynamics, v.10(3). DOI:
10.5194/esurf-10-555-2022.
• Edmonds, D.A., Martin, H.K., Valenza, J., Henson, R., Weissmann, G.S.,
Miltenberger, K., Mans, W., Moore, J.R., Slingerland, R.L., Gibling, M.R., Bryk,
A.B., and Hajek, E.A., (2022). Rivers in reverse: Upstream-migrating
dechannelization and flooding cause avulsions on fluvial fans: Geology, v. 49. DOI:
10.1130/G49318.1.
• Lee, D.B., Martin, H.K., and Edmonds, D.A., (2022). A method to detect abrupt
shifts in river channel position using a Landsat derived water occurrence record:
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 1-12. DOI: 10.1002/esp.5472.
• Hagstrom, C.A., Hubbard, S.M., Horner, S.C., Martin, H.K., and Peng, Y., 2022.
Comparison of the morphology, facies, and reservoir quality of valley fills in the
southern Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Alberta, Canada: AAPG Bulletin (In Press).
DOI: 10.1306/10242219118.
• Peng, Y., Hagstrom, C.A., Horner, S.C., Hodgson, C., Martin, H.K., Leckie, D.A.,
Pedersen, P.K., and Hubbard, S.M., (2022). Low-accommodation foreland basin
response to long-term transgression: A record of change from continental-fluvial and
marginal-marine to open-marine sequences over 60,000 km2 in the western Canada
foreland basin: Marine and Petroleum Geology, v. 139. DOI:
10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2022.105583.
• Pradel, D., and 19 others, including Martin, H.K., (2021). Edenville and Sanford
Dam Failures: Field Reconnaissance Report: American Society of Civil Engineers,
164 pp. DOI: 10.1061/9780784415764.
• Horner, S., Hubbard, S., Martin, H.K., Hagstrom, C., and Leckie, D., (2019). The
impact of Aptian glacio‐eustasy on the stratigraphic architecture of the Athabasca Oil
Sands, Alberta, Canada: Sedimentology, v. 66(5), p. 1600-1642. DOI:
10.1111/sed.12545.
• Martin, H.K., Hubbard, S.H., Hagstrom, C.A., Horner, S.C., and Durkin, P.R.,
(2019). Planform Recognition and Implications of a Cretaceous-age Continental-scale
 River Avulsion Node in the Western Interior Basin, Alberta, Canada: Journal of
Sedimentary Research, v. 89(7), p. 610-628. DOI: 10.2110/jsr.2019.37.
• Horner, S.C., Hubbard, S.M., Martin, H.K., and Hagstrom, C.A., 2019.
Reconstructing basin-scale drainage dynamics with regional subsurface mapping and
channel-bar scaling, Aptian, Western Canada Foreland Basin: Sedimentary Geology,
v. 385, p. 26-44. DOI: 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2019.03.012.

Presentations and Academic Experiences

• Oral Presenter, AGU Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (Upcoming)

• Oral Speaker, Caltech GeoClub Seminar Series, Pasadena, CA (2023)
• Oral and Poster Presenter, International Conference on Fluvial Stratigraphy, Riva Del
Garda, Italy (2023)
• Oral Presenter, Crossroads Conference, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN (2023)
• Oral Presenter, AGU Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL (2022)
• Invited Speaker, IRIS Webinar Series, Online (2022)
• Oral Presenter, GSA Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2022)
• Invited Plenary Speaker, IRIS SAGE/GAGE Community Science Workshop,
Pittsburgh, PA (2022)
• Poster Presenter, AGU Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2021)
• Oral Presenter, SEPM Annual Meeting (2021; Accepted, Event Cancelled)
• Oral Presenter, AGU Annual Meeting (2020; Virtual Event)
• Oral Presenter, GSA Annual Meeting (2020; Virtual Event)
• Oral Presenter, SEPM Annual Meeting (2020; Accepted, Event Cancelled)
• Poster Presenter, AGU Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2019)
• Oral Presenter, GSA Annual Meeting, Indianapolis, IN (2018)
• Poster Presenter, International Conference on Fluvial Stratigraphy, Calgary, AB
(2017)
• Oral Presenter, Poster Presenter, CSPG Annual Conference in Calgary, AB (2017)
• Invited Speaker, Shell Canada Luncheon at the University of Calgary (2015)
• Poster Presenter, McMurray Geology Consortium Annual Meeting, Calgary (2015,
2016, 2017; internal)
• Poster Presenter, AAPG Annual Conference in Denver, CO (2015)
• Vice President and Co-Founder, AAPG McMaster Student Chapter (2014-2015)
• VP Academic, Integrated Science Society, McMaster University (2013-2014)
• Co-Lead, QSL Consortium Field Trip to Utah (August 2013)

Service Activities

• Co-designed, organized, implemented, and instructed River Camp, a week-long river-

themed summer science camp for children entering Grades 4-6. This work developed
new science curriculum, is aimed at increasing under-reached students’ likelihood of
pursuing Earth Science at advanced levels, and was funded by NSF award #1911321
(Indiana University, May 2023).
• “Experienced graduate student” volunteer for the AGU EPSP Graduate Student Peer
Mentoring Program (2022).
• Peer reviewer for Earth Surface Processes and Landforms.
Skills and Technical Proficiencies

• Experience designing and implementing mathematical models in Matlab.

• Comfortable and competent presenter and communicator, through multiple media.
• Experience planning and conducting fieldwork safely and efficiently.
• Interpreted >4,400 wireline well logs and >1.5 mi of drill core for my MSc thesis.
• Proficient in Adobe Illustrator, ArcMap/QGIS, and Office suite.
• Applied machine learning skills; independently designed and completed a term
research project using large raster Landsat-derived datasets.
• Experience in GeoScout, Petrel, and DZStats.