A. Brad Murray, Assistant Professor of Geomorphology and Coastal Processes
I am interested in many surface processes and patterns, including rivers and a range of desert, arctic, and alpine phenomena. My recent efforts have focused on coastal and nearshore processes. The nearshore environment is a spatially extended system that exhibits complex, dynamic spatial patterns, including the arrangement of bars and channels, waves, and often an array of alongshore and cross-shore currents. I approach such systems with the perspective and techniques developed in the study of nonlinear dynamics and complex systems, looking for possibly simple, large-scale interactions that could explain complex behaviors. I use relatively simple, cellular-automata-like models to test such hypotheses. (click here for recent abstracts) Recently I have been applying these methods to beach and surf-zone problems, but I am expanding my focus onshore and offshore, to include studies of storm-driven currents and sediment transport kilometers from shore, as well as the formation and evolution of shoreline-scale features such as cuspate forelands and capes, cuspate spits, and 'sand waves'. Another aspect of my research involves comparing field or laboratory observations with models of complex systems, for which linear statistics concerning the system's behavior may not sensitively reflect the interactions that produced them. I apply and develop nonlinear data analysis techniques to sensitively test how realistic model interactions are. I also advocate using different model-testing strategies for maximally-realistic simulations and highly simplified models. (See model testing for more information.)
| Office Location: | 334 Old Chem Bldg |
| Office Phone: | +1 919 681 5069 |
| Email Address: |   |
- Education:
PhD Geology University of Minnesota 1995 MS Physics University of Minnesota 1990 BA Journalism University of Minnesota 1986 BIS General Science University of Minnesota 1986
- Specialties:
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earth surface processes
geomorphology
shorelines and coastal geology
- Research Interests: coastal, river, and landscape processes and pattern formation using relatively simple computer models to test hypotheses arising from field observations.
- Current Ph.D. Students
(Former Students)
- Recent Publications
(More Publications)
- Tal, M., Gran, K., Murray, A.B., Paola, C. & Hicks, D.M., Riparian vegetation as a primary control on channel characteristics in noncohesive sediments, in Riparian Vegetation and Fluvial Geomorpholgy: Hydraulic, Hydrologic, and Geotechnical Interactions, edited by S.J. Bennett & A. Simon (Accepted, 2006), American Geophysical Union (in press.)
- A.B. Murray, Modeling rip channel development, Journal of Geophysical Research (Accepted, 2004) (in press.)
- Murray, A.B. & Thieler, E.R.,, A New hypothesis and exploratory model for the formation of large-scale inner-shelf sediment sorting and ‘rippled scour depressions’, Continental Shelf Research, vol. 24 (2004), pp. 295-315
- A.B. Murray, Contrasting the goal, strategies, and predictions associated with simplified numerical models and detailed simulations, in Prediction in Geomorphology, Geophysical Monograph 135, edited by D. Iverson & P. Wilcock (2003), pp. 151-165, American Geophysical Union
- Murray, A.B. & Paola, C.,, Modeling the effect of vegetation on channel pattern in bedload rivers, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, vol. 28 (2003), pp. 131-143