Research interests

  1. Geochronological method development
  2. Sedimentary provenance analysis
  3. Cosmogenic nuclide dating
  4. Aeolian geomorphology
  5. Geochemistry

Selected Publications

Lipp, A. and Vermeesch, P. 2023. The Wasserstein distance as a dissimilarity metric for comparing detrital age spectra and other geological distributions. Geochronology 5.1, pp.263-270.

Vermeesch, P., Tian, Y., Schwanethal, J. and Buret, Y., 2023. Technical note: In situ U–Th–He dating by 4He/3He laser microprobe analysis. Geochronology, 5, pp.323-332 [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., Lipp, A.G., Hatzenbühler, D., Caracciolo, L. and Chew. D., 2023. Multidimensional scaling of varietal data in sedimentary provenance analysis. Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface, 128, doi:10.1029/2022JF006992. [html] [pdf]

Andreuttiova, L., Hollingsworth, J., Vermeesch, P., Mitchell, T.M., and Bergman, E. 2022. Revisiting the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake using optical image correlation; new constraints on near-field 3D ground displacement. Geophysical Research Letters 49.16, e2022GL098666.

Garzanti, E., Bayon, G., Dinis, P., Vermeesch, P., Pastore, G., Resentini, A., Barbarano, M., Ncube, L., and Van Niekerk, H.J. 2022. The segmented Zambezi sedimentary system from source to sink: 2. Geochemistry, clay minerals, and detrital geochronology. The Journal of Geology 130.3, pp.171-208.

Garzanti, E., Bayon, G., Vermeesch, P., Barbarano, M., Pastore, G., Resentini, A., Dennielou, B., and Jouet, G. 2022. The Zambezi deep-sea fan: mineralogical, REE, Zr/Hf, Nd-isotope, and zircon-age variability in feldspar-rich passive-margin turbidites. Journal of Sedimentary Research 92.11, pp.1022-1043.

Garzanti, E., Pastore, G., Stone, A., Vainer, S., Vermeesch, P., and Resentini, A. 2022. Provenance of Kalahari Sand: Paleoweathering and recycling in a linked fluvial-aeolian system. Earth-Science Reviews 224, p.103867.

Vermeesch, P., 2022. An algorithm for U–Pb geochronology by secondary ion mass spectrometry, Geochronology, 4, 561-576, doi:10.5194/gchron-4-561-2022. [html] [pdf]

Baird, T.R., Bristow, C.S., Luo, W., Du, E., Bryant, R.G., Mitchell, T.M., and Vermeesch, P. 2021. Blowout Morphometrics and Mass Balances Frontiers in Earth Science 9, p.669440.

Connelly, J., Bollard, J., Costa, M., Vermeesch, P., and Bizzarro, M. 2021. Improved methods for high-precision Pb-Pb dating of extra-terrestrial materials. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 36.12, pp.2579-2587.

Garzanti, E., Pastore, G., Resentini, A., Vezzoli, G., Vermeesch, P., Ncube, L., Niekerk, H.J.V., Jouet, G., and Dall'Asta, M. 2021. The segmented Zambezi sedimentary system from source to sink: 1. Sand petrology and heavy minerals. The Journal of Geology 129.4, pp.343-369.

Li, Y. and Vermeesch, P. 2021. Inverse isochron regression for Re-Os, K-Ca and other chronometers. Geochronology 3.2, pp.415-420.

Marschalek, J., Zurli, L., Talarico, F., Van de Flierdt, T., Vermeesch, P., Carter, A., Beny, F., Bout-Roumazeilles, V., Sangiorgi, F., Hemming, S., et al. 2021. A large West Antarctic Ice Sheet explains early Neogene sea-level amplitude. Nature 600.7889, pp.450-455.

Pastore, G., Baird, T., Vermeesch, P., Bristow, C., Resentini, A., and Garzanti, E. 2021. Provenance and recycling of Sahara Desert sand. Earth-Science Reviews 216, p.103606.

Schaen, A., Jicha, B., Hodges, K., Vermeesch, P., Stelten, M., Mercer, C., Phillips, D., Rivera, T., Jourdan, F., Matchan, E., et al. 2021. Interpreting and reporting 40Ar/39Ar geochronologic data. GSA Bulletin. 133.3-4, pp.461-487.

Vermeesch, P., and Pease, V., 2021. A genetic classification of the tholeiitic and calc-alkaline magma series, Geochemical Perspectives Letters, 19, 1-6, doi:10.7185/geochemlet.2125. [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., 2021. On the treatment of discordant detrital zircon U-Pb data, Geochronology, 3, 247-257, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-3-247-2021, 2021. [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., 2021. Maximum deposition age estimation revisited, Geoscience Frontiers, 12, 843-850, doi:10.1016/j.gsf.2020.08.008. [html] [pdf]

Bird, A., Millar, I., Rodenburg, T., Stevens, T., Rittner, M., Vermeesch, P., and Lu, H. 2020. A constant Chinese Loess Plateau dust source since the late Miocene. Quaternary Science Reviews 227, p.106042.

Garzanti, E., Liang, W., Andò, S., Clift, P.D., Resentini, A., Vermeesch, P., and Vezzoli, G. 2020. “Provenance of Thal Desert sand: Focused erosion in the western Himalayan syntaxis and foreland-basin deposition driven by latest Quaternary climate change. Earth-science reviews 207, p.103220.

Resentini, A., Andò, S., Garzanti, E., Malusà, M.G., Pastore, G., Vermeesch, P., Chanvry, E., and Dall'Asta, M. 2020. Zircon as a provenance tracer: Coupling Raman spectroscopy and UPb geochronology in source-to-sink studies. Chemical Geology 555, p.119828.

Vermeesch, P., 2020. Unifying the U–Pb and Th–Pb methods: joint isochron regression and common Pb correction, Geochronology, 2, 119-131, doi: 10.5194/gchron-2-119-2020. [html] [pdf]

Baird, T., Bristow, C.S., and Vermeesch, P. 2019. Measuring sand dune migration rates with COSI-Corr and Landsat: Opportunities and challenges. Remote Sensing 11.20, p.2423.

Garzanti, E., Vermeesch, P., Vezzoli, G., Andò, S., Botti, E., Limonta, M., Dinis, P., Hahn, A., Baudet, D., De Grave, J., et al. 2019. Congo River sand and the equatorial quartz factory. Earth-Science Reviews 197, p.102918.

Vermeesch, P., 2019. Exploratory analysis of provenance data using R and the provenance package, Minerals, 9, 5; doi:10.3390/min9030005. [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., 2019. Statistics for fission-track thermochronology, in: Fission-track thermochronology and its application to geology, M. Malusà and P. Fitzgerald Eds., Springer, Berlin, 109-122. [html] [pdf]

Fenn, K., Stevens, T., Bird, A., Limonta, M., Rittner, M., Vermeesch, P., Andò, S., Garzanti, E., Lu, H., Zhang, H., et al. 2018. Insights into the provenance of the Chinese Loess Plateau from joint zircon U-Pb and garnet geochemical analysis of last glacial loess. Quaternary Research 89.3, pp.645-659.

Garzanti, E., Dinis, P., Vermeesch, P., Andò, S., Hahn, A., Huvi, J., Limonta, M., Padoan, M., Resentini, A., Rittner, M., et al. 2018. Dynamic uplift, recycling, and climate control on the petrology of passive-margin sand (Angola). Sedimentary Geology 375, pp.86-104.

Garzanti, E., Dinis, P., Vermeesch, P., Andò, S., Hahn, A., Huvi, J., Limonta, M., Padoan, M., Resentini, A., Rittner, M., et al. 2018. Sedimentary processes controlling ultralong cells of littoral transport: Placer formation and termination of the Orange sand highway in southern Angola. Sedimentology 65.2, pp.431-460.

Garzanti, E., Vermeesch, P., Rittner, M., and Simmons, M. 2018. The zircon story of the Nile: Time-structure maps of source rocks and discontinuous propagation of detrital signals. Basin Research 30.6, pp.1098-1117.

Li, Q., Gleadow, A., Seiler, C., Kohn, B., Vermeesch, P., Carter, A., and Hurford, A. 2018. Observations on three-dimensional measurement of confined fission track lengths in apatite using digital imagery. American Mineralogist 103.3, pp. 430-440.

Smye, A., Marsh, J., Vermeesch, P., Garber, J., and Stockli, D. 2018. Applications and limitations of U-Pb thermochronology to middle and lower crustal thermal histories. Chemical Geology 494, pp.1-18.

Vermeesch, P., 2018, IsoplotR: a free and open toolbox for geochronology. Geoscience Frontiers, 9, 1479-1493, doi: 10.1016/j.gsf.2018.04.001. [html] [pdf] [corrections]

Vermeesch, P., 2018, Statistical models for point-counting data. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 501, 1-7, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2018.08.019 [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., Rittner, M., Schimmelpfennig, I., Benedetti, L. and ASTER Team, 2018, Determining erosion rates in Allchar (Macedonia) to revive the lorandite neutrino experiment. Proceedings of the Royal Society A, v.474, doi:1 0.1098/rspa.2017.0470. [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., 2018, Dissimilarity measures in detrital geochronology, Earth-Science Reviews, 178, 310-321, doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.11.027. [html] [pdf]

Dinis, P., Garzanti, E., Vermeesch, P., and Huvi, J. 2017. Climatic zonation and weathering control on sediment composition (Angola). Chemical Geology, 467, pp. 110-121.

Garzanti, E., Vermeesch, P., Al-Ramadan, K.A., Andò, S., Limonta, M., Rittner, M., and Vezzoli, G. 2017. Tracing Transcontinental Sand Transport: from Anatolia-Zagros to the Rub'Al Khali Sand Sea. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 87.11, pp.1196-1213.

He, T., Zhou, Y., Vermeesch, P., Rittner, M., Miao, L., Zhu, M., Carter, A., von Strandmann, P.A.P., and Shields, G.A. 2017. Measuring the Great Unconformity on the North China Craton using new detrital zircon age data. In: Earth System Evolution and Early Life: A Celebration of the Work of Martin Brasier, A. T. Brasier, D. McIlroy, N. McLoughlin, Geological Society of London Special Publication.

Tian, Y., Vermeesch, P., Danişík, M., Condon, D.J., Chen, W., Kohn, B., Schwanethal, J., and Rittner, M. 2017. LGC-1: A zircon reference material for in-situ (U-Th)/He dating. Chemical Geology, 454, pp.80-92.

Vermeesch, P., Rittner, M., Petrou, E., Omma, J., Mattinson, C. and Garzanti, E., 2017, High throughput petrochronology and sedimentary provenance analysis by automated phase mapping and LAICPMS, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, doi: 10.1002/2017GC007109. [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., 2017, Statistics for LA-ICP-MS based fission track dating. Chemical Geology, 456, 19-27 [html] [pdf]

Rittner, M., Vermeesch, P., Carter, A., Bird, A., Stevens, T., Garzanti, E., Andò, S., Vezzoli, G., Dutt, R., Xu, Z., et al. 2016. The provenance of Taklamakan desert sand. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 437, pp.127-137 [html] [pdf]

Horstwood, M.S., Košler, J., Gehrels, G., Jackson, S.E., McLean, N.M., Paton, C., Pearson, N.J., Sircombe, K., Sylvester, P., Vermeesch, P., et al. 2016. Community-derived standards for LA-ICP-MS U-(Th-)Pb geochronology - Uncertainty propagation, age interpretation and data reporting. Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research, 40.3, pp.311-332.

Garzanti, E., Al-Juboury, A.I., Zoleikhaei, Y., Vermeesch, P., Jotheri, J., Akkoca, D.B., Obaid, A.K., Allen, M.B., Andó, S., Limonta, M., et al. 2016. “The Euphrates-Tigris-Karun river system: Provenance, recycling and dispersal of quartz-poor foreland-basin sediments in arid climate. Earth-Science Reviews, 162, pp.107-128.

Vermeesch, P., Resentini, A. and Garzanti, E., 2016, An R package for statistical provenance analysis, Sedimentary Geology, 336, 14-25 [html] [pdf]

Nie, J., Stevens, T., Rittner, M., Stockli, D., Garzanti, E., Limonta, M., Bird, A., Andò, S., Vermeesch, P., Saylor, J., et al. 2015. Loess plateau storage of northeastern Tibetan plateau-derived Yellow River sediment. Nature Communications, 6, doi: 0.1038/ncomms9511.

Garzanti, E., Resentini, A., Andò, S., Vezzoli, G., Pereira, A., and Vermeesch, P. 2015. Physical controls on sand composition and relative durability of detrital minerals during ultra-long distance littoral and aeolian transport (Namibia and southern Angola). Sedimentology, 62.4, pp.971-996.

Evans, N., McInnes, B., McDonald, B., Danişík, M., Becker, T., Vermeesch, P., Shelley, M., Marillo-Sialer, E., and Patterson, D. 2015. An in situ technique for (U-Th-Sm)/He and U-Pb double dating. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, 30.7, pp.1636-1645.

Bird, A., Stevens, T., Rittner, M., Vermeesch, P., Carter, A., Andò, S., Garzanti, E., Lu, H., Nie, J., Zeng, L., et al. 2015. Quaternary dust source variation across the Chinese Loess Plateau, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 435, pp.254-264.

Vermeesch, P. 2015, Revised error propagation of 40Ar/39Ar data, including covariances, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2015.09.008. [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P. and Garzanti, E., 2015, Making geological sense of 'Big Data' in sedimentary provenance analysis. Chemical Geology, doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2015.05.004, v.409, 20-27 [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., Balco, G., Blard, P-H, Dunai, T.J., Kober, F., Niedermann, S., Shuster, D.L., Strasky, S., Stuart, F.M., Wieler, R. and Zimmermann, L., 2015, Interlaboratory comparison of 21Ne in quartz. Quaternary Geochronology, doi:10.1016/j.quageo.2012.11.009 [html] [pdf]

Garzanti, E., Vermeesch, P., Padoan, M., Resentini, A., Vezzoli, G., and Andò, S. 2014. Provenance of passive-margin sand (Southern Africa). The Journal of Geology, 122.1, pp.17-42.

Garzanti, E., Vermeesch, P., Andò, S., Lustrino, M., Padoan, M., and Vezzoli, G. 2014. Ultra-long distance littoral transport of Orange sand and provenance of the Skeleton Coast Erg (Namibia). Marine Geology, 357, pp.25-36.

Vermeesch, P. and Tian, Y., 2014, Thermal history modelling: HeFTy vs. QTQt. Earth-Science Reviews v.139, 279-290, doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2014.09.010 [html] [pdf] [Comment] [Reply] [Comment 2] [Reply 2].

Stevens, T., Carter, A., Watson, T., Vermeesch, P., Andò, S., Bird, A., Lu, H., Garzanti, E., Cottam, M., and Sevastjanova, I. 2013. Genetic linkage between the Yellow River, the Mu Us desert and the Chinese loess plateau. Quaternary Science Reviews, 78, pp.355-368.

Garzanti, E., Vermeesch, P., Andò, S., Vezzoli, G., Valagussa, M., Allen, K., Kadi, K.A., and Al-Juboury, A.I. 2013. Provenance and recycling of Arabian desert sand. Earth-Science Reviews, 120, pp. 1-19.

Vermeesch, P., 2013, Multi-sample comparison of detrital age distributions. Chemical Geology v.341, 140-146, doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2013.01.010 [html] [pdf] [corrections]

Garzanti, E., Andò, S., Vezzoli, G., Lustrino, M., Boni, M., and Vermeesch, P. 2012. Petrology of the Namib Sand Sea: Long-distance transport and compositional variability in the wind-displaced Orange Delta”. Earth-Science Reviews, 112. 3-4, pp.173-189.

Vermeesch, P. and Leprince, S., 2012. A 45-year time series of dune mobility indicating constant windiness over the central Sahara. Geophysical Research Letters, 39, L14401, doi:10.1029/2012GL052592 [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., 2012. On the visualisation of detrital age distributions. Chemical Geology, v.312-313, 190-194, doi: 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2012.04.021 [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., Sherlock, S.C., Roberts, N.M.W., and Carter, A., 2012. A simple method for in-situ U-Th-He dating, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 79, 140-147 [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., 2011. Solitary wave behavior in sand dunes observed from space, Geophysical Research Letters, 38, L22402, doi:10.1029/2011GL049610 [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., Fenton, C.R., Kober, F., Wiggs, G.F.S., Bristow, C.S, and Xu, S., 2010. One million year residence time of Namib dune sand from cosmogenic nuclides, Nature Geoscience, 3, 862-865 [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., 2010. HelioPlot, and the treatment of overdispersed (U-Th-Sm)/He data, Chemical Geology, 271 (3-4) 108-111 [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., 2009. Lies, damned lies, and statistics (in Geology), Eos, 90 (47), p.443 [html] [pdf] [Comments and reply]

Vermeesch, P., Baur, H., Heber, V. S., Kober, F., Oberholzer, P., Schaefer, J. M., Schluechter, C., Strasky, S., and Wieler, R., 2009. Cosmogenic 3He and 21Ne measured in quartz targets after one year of exposure in the Swiss Alps, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 284, 3-4, 417-425, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.05.007 [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., 2009, RadialPlotter: a Java application for fission track, luminescence and other radial plots, Radiation Measurements, 44, 4, 409-410 [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., Avigad, D. and McWilliams, M., 2009. 500 Myr of thermal history elucidated by multi-method detrital thermochronology of North Gondwana Cambrian sandstone (Eilat area, Israel), Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 121, n. 7/8, 1204-1216, doi: 10.1130/B26473.1 [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P. and Drake, N., 2008. Remotely sensed dune celerity and sand flux measurements of the world's fastest barchans (Bod@eacute;lé, Chad): Geophysical Research Letters, 35, L24404, doi:10.1029/2008GL035921 [html] [pdf] [cover]

Vermeesch, P., 2008, Three new ways to calculate average (U-Th)/He ages, Chemical Geology, v.249, p.339-347 [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., 2007, Quantitative geomorphology of the White Mountains (California), using detrital apatite fission track thermochronology: Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface, 112, F03004, doi:10.1029/2006JF000671 [html] [pdf] [note]

Vermeesch, P., 2007, CosmoCalc: an Excel add-in for cosmogenic nuclide calculations: Geochemistry, Geophysics, and Geosystems, Vol. 8, Q08003, doi: 10.1029/2006GC001530 [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., Seward, D., Latkoczy, C., Wipf, M., Guenther, D. and Baur, H., 2007, Alpha-emitting mineral inclusions in apatite, their effect on (U-Th)/He ages, and how to reduce it: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v.71 p.1737.1746 [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., 2006, Tectonic discrimination diagrams revisited: Geochemistry, Geophysics, and Geosystems, 7, Q06017, doi:10.1029/2005GC001092 [html] [pdf] [errata]

Vermeesch, P., Miller, D. D., Graham, S. A., De Grave, J., and McWilliams, M. O., 2006, Multi-method detrital thermochronology of the Great Valley Group near New Idria (California): Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 118, no. 1, pp. 210-218 [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., 2006, Tectonic discrimination of basalts with classification trees: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 70, no. 7, pp. 1839-1848. [html] [pdf] [Comment] [Reply]

Vermeesch, P., 2005, Statistical uncertainty associated with histograms in the Earth Sciences, Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth, Vol 110, B02211 [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., 2004, How many grains are needed for a provenance study? Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v.224, n.3-4, pp. 441-451 [html] [pdf]

Vermeesch, P., Poort, J., Duchkov, A. D., Klerckx, J., and De Batist, M., 2004, Lake Issyk-Kul (Tien Shan): Unusually low heat-flow in an active intermontane basin: Russian Geology and Geophysics, v.45, n.5, pp. 616-625 [html] [pdf]