77
of Geological Sciences, mentioned a potential opportunity. Steve had been leading
summer research projects in Terengganu, northeast Peninsular Malaysia with ECU
graduate students and in conjunction with the Institute of Oceanography and
Environment (INOS) at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT). This collaboration
encouraged INOS to expand their oceanography and environment research program
to include a geologic component.
The chance to do focused coastal geology research on climate change and sea
level in Southeast Asia was exciting and filled with possibilities. Much of the basic
geologic research (mapping) in what is now Malaysia had been done under British
colonial rule, which ended in the 1960’s. Long story short, they hired me and with
my wife, Mary Ann, I moved to Kuala Terengganu in January 2012 to join the scientists at INOS.
A New Way of Looking at the World
Before coming to Malaysia, I imagined that there would be someone already at
INOS with experience in the coastal geology of the region. This, I imagined, would
be someone from whom I could learn and with whom I could go on field trips since
it would all be new to me. When I arrived, I found that no one like that existed at
UMT. Although many communities in Malaysia are dependent on the coastal zone
for their food, livelihoods, and homes, little research had been undertaken on coastal
zone geology and climate and sea-level change. I became determined to unravel the
sea-level history of Malaysia and give this beautiful country tools to anticipate the
impacts of future sea-level change.
I needed to learn as much as possible about the geology and geography of the
Malaysia region before I could decide what direction my research would take. My
previous main experience was in Quaternary (the last ~2 million years) paleo-sealevel reconstruction and coastal plain stratigraphy. I focused, therefore, on what had
already been done related to these topics. I read everything published that I could
get online, which was not very much, and bought a fairly recently published book,
Geology of Peninsular Malaysia. Digging deeper, I followed all references to previous work. Most of these previous works and reports were hard copies scattered
between the Universiti Malaya Geology Department library in the capital city of
Kuala Lumpur and the libraries of various Minerals and Geoscience Department of
Malaysia offices around the country. I had to go to these places to peruse what was
available and decide what I wanted to purchase.
I became active in the Geological Society of Malaysia, attended national and
regional conferences, and met other geologists with similar interests. Being a geologist in Malaysia is like being a member of a club. Enthusiasm for geology runs high
but is primarily focused on mining, resource exploitation and geoengineering.
After collecting and reading as much information as I could acquire, I decided to
reconnoitre as much of Malaysia’s coasts, coastal plains and islands as possible for
evidence of paleo-sea-level. I planned to include both Peninsular Malaysia and
Malaysian Borneo, which proved to be no small task.
5 A Different Kind of Sea-Level Story from Malaysia
of Geological Sciences, mentioned a potential opportunity. Steve had been leading
summer research projects in Terengganu, northeast Peninsular Malaysia with ECU
graduate students and in conjunction with the Institute of Oceanography and
Environment (INOS) at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT). This collaboration
encouraged INOS to expand their oceanography and environment research program
to include a geologic component.
The chance to do focused coastal geology research on climate change and sea
level in Southeast Asia was exciting and filled with possibilities. Much of the basic
geologic research (mapping) in what is now Malaysia had been done under British
colonial rule, which ended in the 1960’s. Long story short, they hired me and with
my wife, Mary Ann, I moved to Kuala Terengganu in January 2012 to join the scientists at INOS.
A New Way of Looking at the World
Before coming to Malaysia, I imagined that there would be someone already at
INOS with experience in the coastal geology of the region. This, I imagined, would
be someone from whom I could learn and with whom I could go on field trips since
it would all be new to me. When I arrived, I found that no one like that existed at
UMT. Although many communities in Malaysia are dependent on the coastal zone
for their food, livelihoods, and homes, little research had been undertaken on coastal
zone geology and climate and sea-level change. I became determined to unravel the
sea-level history of Malaysia and give this beautiful country tools to anticipate the
impacts of future sea-level change.
I needed to learn as much as possible about the geology and geography of the
Malaysia region before I could decide what direction my research would take. My
previous main experience was in Quaternary (the last ~2 million years) paleo-sealevel reconstruction and coastal plain stratigraphy. I focused, therefore, on what had
already been done related to these topics. I read everything published that I could
get online, which was not very much, and bought a fairly recently published book,
Geology of Peninsular Malaysia. Digging deeper, I followed all references to previous work. Most of these previous works and reports were hard copies scattered
between the Universiti Malaya Geology Department library in the capital city of
Kuala Lumpur and the libraries of various Minerals and Geoscience Department of
Malaysia offices around the country. I had to go to these places to peruse what was
available and decide what I wanted to purchase.
I became active in the Geological Society of Malaysia, attended national and
regional conferences, and met other geologists with similar interests. Being a geologist in Malaysia is like being a member of a club. Enthusiasm for geology runs high
but is primarily focused on mining, resource exploitation and geoengineering.
After collecting and reading as much information as I could acquire, I decided to
reconnoitre as much of Malaysia’s coasts, coastal plains and islands as possible for
evidence of paleo-sea-level. I planned to include both Peninsular Malaysia and
Malaysian Borneo, which proved to be no small task.
5 A Different Kind of Sea-Level Story from Malaysia