Professor Bradley Pillans
Areas of expertise
- Archaeological Science 210102
- Magnetism And Palaeomagnetism 040406
- Geochronology 040303
- Quaternary Environments 040606
- Geomorphology And Regolith And Landscape Evolution 040601
- Volcanology 040314
- Stratigraphy (Incl. Biostratigraphy And Sequence Stratigraphy) 040311
- Tectonics 040313
- Palaeontology (Incl. Palynology) 040308
- Sedimentology 040310
- Palaeoclimatology 040605
- Geology 0403
Research interests
Quaternary stratigraphy
Australian regolith and landform evolution
Paleomagnetism
Sea level and climate change
Geomorphology
Publications
- Head, M, Pillans, B & Zalasiewicz, J 2021, 'Formal ratification of subseries for the Pleistocene Series of the Quaternary System', Episodes, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 241-247.
- Westgate, J, Pillans, B, Alloway, B et al. 2021, 'New fission-track ages of Australasian tektites define two age groups: discriminating between formation and reset ages', Quaternary Geochronology, vol. 66.
- Abrajevitch, A, Roberts, AP, Pillans, BJ & Hori, RS 2021, 'Unexpected magnetic behavior of natural hematite-bearing rocks at low temperatures', Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, vol. 22, e2021GC010094, doi:10.1029/2021GC010094.
- Wu, Y, Roberts, AP, Grant, KM, Heslop, D, Pillans, BJ, Zhao, X, Rohling, EJ, Ronge, TA, Ma, MM, Hesse, PP & Palmer, AS 2021, 'Climatically modulated dust inputs from New Zealand to the Southwest Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean over the last 410 kyr', Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, vol. 36, e2020PA003949, doi:10.1029/2020PA003949.
- Macphail, M, Pillans, B, Hope, G et al. 2020, 'Extirpations and extinctions: A plant microfossil-based history of the demise of rainforest and wet sclerophyll communities in the Lake George basin, Southern Tablelands of NSW, south-east Australia', Australian Journal of Botany, vol. 68, no. 3, pp. 208-228.
- Roberts, AP, Zhao, X, Heslop, D, Abrajevitch, A, Chen, Y-H, Hu, PX, Jiang, ZX, Liu, QS & Pillans, BJ 2020, 'Hematite (a-Fe2O3) quantification in sedimentary magnetism: limitations of existing proxies and ways forward', Geoscience Letters, vol. 7, no. 8, doi:10.1186/s40562-020-00157-5.
- Short, M, Norman, R, Pillans, B, De Deckker, P, et al. 2020, 'Two centuries of water-level records at Lake George, NSW', Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, vol. 68, pp. -.
- Abrajevitch, A, Pillans, B, Roberts, A et al 2018, 'Magnetic Properties and Paleomagnetism of Zebra Rock, Western Australia: Chemical Remanence Acquisition in Hematite Pigment and Ediacaran Geomagnetic Field Behavior', Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 732-748pp.
- Morris, P, Pillans, B, Williams, F et al 2018, 'Combining geochemistry and geochronology of transported regolith to reveal bedrock-hosted mineralization in the arid east Wongatha area of south central Western Australia', Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 216-228pp.
- Abrajevitch, A, Pillans, BJ, Roberts, AP & Kodama, K 2018, 'Magnetic properties and paleomagnetism of Zebra Rock, Western Australia: chemical remanence acquisition in hematite pigment and Ediacaran geomagnetic field behavior', Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 732-748.
- Pillans, B & Leitch, H 2017, 'Quartz-dominated Cenozoic gravels in southeastern Australia: where did all the quartz come from?', Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, vol. Online, pp. 1-6pp.
- Macphail, M, Fifield, L, Pillans, B et al. 2016, 'Lake George revisited: new evidence for the origin and evolution of a large closed lake, Southern Tablelands, NSW, Australia. 2: earliest Pleistocene (Gelasian) environments', Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, vol. 63, no. 4, pp. 453-468.
- Macphail, M, Fifield, L, Pillans, B et al. 2015, 'Lake George revisited: New evidence for the origin and evolution of a large closed lake, Southern Tablelands, NSW, Australia', Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, vol. 62, no. 7, pp. 853-871.
- Pillans, B & Fifield, L 2014, 'Erosion rates and weathering history of rock surfaces associated with Aboriginal rock art engravings (petroglyphs) on Burrup Peninsula, Western Australia, from cosmogenic nuclide measurements Reply', Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 91, pp. 73-75.
- Johnson, M, Pillans, B, Mudd, S et al. 2014, 'Quantifying the rate and depth dependence of bioturbation based on optically-stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates and meteoric Be-10', Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, vol. 39, no. 9, pp. 1188-1196.
- Ma, M, Liu, X, Pillans, B et al 2014, 'Magnetic properties and particle-size analysis of dust-storm samples collected in Lanzhou and Sydney', Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, vol. 61, no. 5, pp. 765-774.
- Abrajevitch, A, Pillans, BJ & Roberts, AP 2014, 'Haematite pigmentation and palaeomagnetic recording: implications from the Pilbara Print Stone, Western Australia', Geophysical Journal International, vol. 199, pp. 658-672.
- Pillans, B & Fifield, L 2013, 'Erosion rates and weathering history of rock surfaces associated with Aboriginal rock art engravings (petroglyphs) on Burrup Peninsula, Western Australia, from cosmogenic nuclide measurements', Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 69, pp. 98-106.
- Ma, M, Liu, X, Pillans, B et al 2013, 'Magnetic properties of dashing rocks loess at Timaru, South Island, New Zealand', Geophysical Journal International, vol. 195, no. 1, pp. 75-85.
- Pillans, B 2013, 'Chronostratigraphy', in Scott A Elias and Cary J Mock (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science (2nd Ed.), Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 215-220.
- Pillans, B 2013, 'Quaternary stratigraphy overview', in Scott A Elias and Cary J Mock (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science (2nd Ed.), Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 189-205.
- Pillans, B & Gibbard, P 2012, 'The Quaternary Period', in Gradstein, Ogg, Schmitz & Ogg (ed.), The geologic time scale 2012, Elsevier, UK, pp. 979-1010.
- Cita, M, Gibbard, P, Head, M et al 2012, 'Formal ratification of the GSSP for the base of the Calabrian Stage (second stage of the Pleistocene Series, Quaternary System)', Episodes, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 388-397.
- Pain, C, Pillans, B, Worrall, L & Roach, I. 2012, 'Old, flat and red: Australia's distinctive landscape', in Richard Blewett (ed.), Shaping a Nation:A Geology of Australia , ANU ePress, Canberra, pp. 228-275.
- Bourman, R, Buckman, S, Pillans, B et al 2010, 'Traces from the past: The Cenozoic regolith and intraplate neotectonic history of the Gun Emplacement, a ferricreted bench on the western margin of the Mt Lofty ranges, South Australia', Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, vol. 57, no. 5, pp. 577-595.
- Cita, M & Pillans, B 2010, 'Global stages, regional stages or no stages in the Plio/Pleistocene?', Quaternary International, vol. 219, no. 1-2, pp. 6-15.
- Cita, M & Pillans, B 2010, 'Plio-Pleistocene correlation and global change', Quaternary International, vol. 219, no. 1-2, pp. 1-5.
- Gibbard, P, Head, M, Walker, M et al 2010, 'Formal ratification of the Quaternary System/Period and the Pleistocene Series/Epoch with a base at 2.588 Ma', Journal of Quaternary Science, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 96-102.
- Bishop, P & Pillans, B, eds, 2010, Australian Landscapes - Special Publication 346, Geological Society of London, London.
- Bishop, P & Pillans, B 2010, 'Introduction: Australian geomorphology into the 21st century', Geological Society of London Special Publication, vol. 346, pp. 1-6.
- Finlayson, D, Abell, R, Strusz, D et al 2008, A geological guide to Canberra Region and Namadgi National Park, Geological Society of Australia, Canberra.
- Pillans, B 2008, Regolith dating methods: A guide to numerical dating techniques in Australia, CRC LEME, Perth, WA.
- Fifield, L, Wasson, R, Pillans, B et al. 2010, 'The longevity of hillslope soil in SE and NW Australia', Catena, vol. 81, no. 1, pp. 32-42.
- Smith, M, Pillans, B & McQueen, K 2009, 'Palaeomagnetic evidence for periods of intense oxidative weathering, McKinnons mine, Cobar, New South Wales', Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, vol. 56, no. 2, pp. 201-212.
- McLaren, S, Wallace, M, Pillans, B et al 2009, 'Revised stratigraphy of the Blanchetown Clay, Murray Basin: age constraints on the evolution of paleo Lake Bungunnia', Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, vol. 56, no. 2, pp. 259-270.
- Patnaik, R, Sahni, A, Cameron, D et al 2009, 'Ostrich-like eggshells from a 10.1 million-yr-old Miocene ape locality, Haritalyangar, Himachal Pradesh, India', Current Science, vol. 96, no. 11, pp. 1485-1495.
- Pillans, B 2008, 'Regolith through time', in Keith M. Scott and Colin F. Pain (ed.), Regolith Science, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Vic, pp. 7-29.
- Ogg, J & Pillans, B 2008, 'Establishing Quaternary as a formal international Period/System', Episodes, vol. 31, pp. 255-259.
- Head, M, Pillans, B & Farquhar, S 2008, 'The Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition: characterisation and proposed guide for the defining boundary', Episodes, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 230-233.
- Kennedy, E, Alloway, B, Mildenhall, D et al 2008, 'An integrated terrestrial paleoenvironmental record from the Mid-Pleistocene transition, eastern North Island, New Zealand', Quaternary International, vol. 178, pp. 146-166.
- Pillans, B 2007, 'Defining the Quaternary. Where do we go from here?', Newsletters on Stratigraphy, vol. 4, no. 2/3, pp. 145-149.
- Pillans, B 2007, 'Pre-Quaternary landscape inheritance in Australia', Journal of Quaternary Science, vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 439-57.
- Sniderman, J, Pillans, B, O'Sullivan, P et al 2007, 'Climate and vegetation in southeastern Australia respond to Southern Hemisphere insolation forcing in the late Pliocene-early Pleistocene', Geology, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 41-44.
- Prideaux, G, Long, J, Ayliffe, L et al. 2007, 'An arid-adapted middle Pleistocene vertebrate fauna from south-central Australia', Nature, vol. 445, pp. 422-425.
- McQueen, K, Gonzalez, O, Roach, I et al. 2007, 'Landscape and regolith features related to Miocene leucitite lava flows, El Capitan northeast of Cobar, New South Wales', Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, vol. 54, pp. 1-17.
- Pillans, B 2007, 'Quaternary Stratigraphy', in S.A. Elias (ed.), Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science, Elsevier, Netherlands, p. 3576.
- Pillans, B 2007, 'Chronostratigraphy', in S.A. Elias (ed.), Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science, Elsevier, Netherlands, p. 3576.
- Pillans, B 2006, 'Highlights from the LEME Geochronology Project', CRC LEME Regional Regolith Symposia 2006, ed. RW Fitzpatrick and P Shand, CRC LEME, Bentley, Western Australia, p. 279.
- Pillans, B, Alloway, B, Naish, T et al 2005, 'Silicic tephras in Pleistocene shallow-marine sediments of Wanganui Basin, New Zealand', Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, vol. 35, no. 1&2, pp. 43-90.
- Byrami, M, Newnham, R, Alloway, B et al 2005, 'A late early pleistocene tephrochronological and pollen record from Auckland, New Zealand', in M.J. Head and P.L. Gibbard (ed.), Early-Middle Pleistocene Transitions:The Land-Ocean Evidence, Geological Society of London, London, pp. 183-208.
- Pillans, B 2005, 'Geochronology of the Australian regolith', in R.R.Anand and P. de Broekert (ed.), Regolith Landscape Evolution Across Australia: a compilation of regolith landscape case studies with regolith landscape evolution models, CRC LEME, Perth, pp. 41-52.
- Alloway, B, Pillans, B, Carter, L et al 2005, 'Onshore-offshore correlation of Pleistocene rhyolitic eruptions from New Zealand: implications for TVZ eruptive history and paleoenvironmental reconstruction', Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 24, pp. 1601-1622.
- Abbott, S, Naish, T, Carter, R et al 2005, 'Sequence stratigraphy of the Nukumaruan Stratotype (Pliocene-Pleistocene, c. 2.08-1.63 Ma), Wanganui Basin, New Zealand', Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, vol. 35, no. 1&2, pp. 123-150.
- Pillans, B, Williams, M, Cameron, D et al 2005, 'Revised correlation of the Haritalyangar magnetostratigraphy, Indian Siwaliks: implications for the age of the Miocene hominids Indopithecus and Sivapithecus, with a note on a new hominid tooth', Journal of Human Evolution, vol. 48, pp. 507-515.
- Aubry, M, Berggren, W, Couvering, J et al 2005, 'Quaternary: Status, rank, definition, survival', Episodes, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 118-120.
- Pillans, B 2004, 'Tektites as chronostratigraphic markers in Australian regolith', CRC LEME Regional Regolith Symposia 2004, ed. Ian C. Roach, CRC LEME, Perth, W.A, pp. 279-81.
- Pillans, B, Alloway, B, Westgate, J et al 2004, 'Stratigraphy, age and correlation of middle Pleistocene silicic tephras in the Auckland region, New Zealand: a prolific distal record of Taupo Volcanic Zone', New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, vol. 47, pp. 447-479.
- Rhodes, E, Farwig, V, Chappell, J et al 2004, 'Luminescence of single quartz grains to determine past movement and heating', CRC LEME Regional Regolith Symposia 2004, ed. Ian C. Roach, CRC LEME, Perth, W.A, pp. 295-298.
- Pillans, B & Naish, T 2004, 'Defining the Quaternary', Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 23, pp. 2271-2282.
- Pillans, B 2004, 'Talking about time: the geological time scale 2004', CRC LEME Regional Regolith Symposia 2004, ed. Ian C. Roach, CRC LEME, Perth, W.A, pp. 276-8.
- Pillans, B 2004, 'Proposal to redefine the Quaternary', Episodes, vol. 27, no. 2, p. 127.
- Pillans, B 2003, 'Subdividing the Pleistocene using the Matuyama-Brunches boundary (MBB): an Australasian perspective', Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 22, pp. 1569-1577.
- Pillans, B 2003, 'Dating ferruginous Regolith to determine fault capability at Lucas Heights, Sydney', CRC LEME Regional Regolith Symposia 2003, ed. Ian C Roach, CRC LEME, Australia, pp. 324-327.
- Farley, K, Kohn, B & Pillans, B 2002, 'The effects of secular disequilibrium on (U-Th)/He systematics and dating of Quaternary volcanic zircon and apatite', Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol. 201, no. 1, pp. 117-125.
- Clarke, J & Pillans, B 2002, 'Comment on Onset of aridity in southern Western Australia - a preliminary palaeomagnetic appraisal by Zheng et al. (Global and Planetary Change 18 (1998) 175-187)', Global and Planetary Change, vol. 32, no. 2-3, pp. 279-282.
- Berger, G, Pillans, B, Bruce, J et al 2002, 'Luminescence chronology of loess-paleosol sequences form southern South Island, New Zealand', Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 21, pp. 1899-1913.
- Berger, G, Almond, P & Pillans, B 2001, 'Luminescence dating and glacial stratigraphy in Westland, New Zealand', New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, vol. 44, pp. 25-35.
- dos Santos, G, Bird, M, Pillans, B et al. 2001, 'Radiocarbon dating of wood using different pretreatment procedures: Application to the chronology of Rotoehu ash, New Zealand', Radiocarbon, vol. 43, no. 2A, pp. 239-248.
- Pillans, B & Bourman, R 2001, 'Mid Pleistocene arid shift in southern Australia, dated by magnetostratigraphy', Australian Journal of Soil Research, vol. 39, pp. 89-98.
- Gatehouse, R, Williams, I & Pillans, B 2001, 'Fingerprinting windblown dust in south-eastern Australian soils by uranium-lead dating of detrital zircon', Australian Journal of Soil Research, vol. 39, pp. 7-12.
- Berger, G, Pillans, B, Bruce, J et al 2001, 'Luminescence chronology of loess-paleosol sequences from Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand', New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, vol. 44, no. 4, pp. 501-516.
- O'Sullivan, P, Gibson, D, Kohn, B et al 2000, 'Long-Term Landscape Evolution of the Northparkes Region of the Lachlan Fold Belt, Australia: Constraints from Fission Track and Paleomagnetic Data', Journal of Geology, vol. 108, no. 1, pp. 1-16.
- McCulloch, M, Tudhope, A, Esat, T et al 1999, 'Coral record of equatorial sea-surface temperatures during the penultimate deglaciation of Huon Peninsula', Science, vol. 283, pp. 202-204.
- Esat, T, McCulloch, M, Chappell, J et al 1999, 'Rapid fluctuations in sea level recorded at Huon Peninsula during the penultimate deglaciation.', Science, vol. 283, pp. 197-201.
Projects and Grants
Grants information is drawn from ARIES. To add or update Projects or Grants information please contact your College Research Office.
- Global climate change and coastal landscape evolution in southern Australia (Secondary Investigator)
- From ancient to modern environments in southeastern Australia: evidence from the unique natural archives of Lake George (Primary Investigator)
- A world-class rock magnetic facility to support Australian palaeomagnetic and environmental research (Secondary Investigator)
- Events through time: eruptions, extinctions, impact, orebodies and orogenies - upgrading the national argon geochronology network (Secondary Investigator)
- Understanding global warming using long-term glacier retreat records (Primary Investigator)
- A new Generation Noble Gas Mass Spectrometer Facility for Advanced Research in the Earth, Planetary and Environment Sciences (Secondary Investigator)
