Associate Professor Duncan Cook
Geography - National School of Arts and Humanities
Areas of expertise: environmental change; physical geography; geoarchaeology; soil geomorphology; palaeoclimatology; remote sensing and gis; environmental pollution
Email: Duncan.Cook@acu.edu.au
Location: ACU Brisbane Campus
ORCID ID: 0000-0001-5270-4569
I am a geoscientist who conducts research on environmental histories of the Common Era. My work ranges from reconstructing environmental histories of the tropics in mainland southeast Asia and Central America, through to Australian and UK paleoenvironment reconstructions. I apply techniques from sedimentology, geochemistry, geomagnetism and geochronology to understand how ecosystems have responded to climate shifts and human actions over historic timescales. In doing so, my work seeks to better understanding the complex interactions between human, climate, and earth surface systems.
In 2013 I joined the National School of Arts at Australian Catholic University (ACU). I am based at the Brisbane campus of ACU, where I hold the positions of Associate Professor in Geography and Head of Discipline (Geography). I am also an adjunct research fellow of the Beach-Butzer Geoarchaeology Lab in the School of Geography and The Environment, University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining ACU, I held research positions at the Smithsonian Institution, Georgetown University, the University of Glasgow, and The University of Sydney. I have also spent time working outside of academia, as an Environmental Research Scientist with the Defence Technology Agency of the New Zealand Defence Force.
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Select publications
Last five years:
- Munoz-Salinas, E.; Cook, D.; Castillo, M.; Beach, T., Luzzadder-Beach, S. Four millennia of geomorphic change and human settlement in the lower Usumacinta-Grijalva River Basin, Mexico. Progress in Physical Geography (in review).
- Cook, D.E., Beach, T. P., Luzzadder-Beach, S., Dunning, N. P., & Turner, S. D. (2022). Environmental legacy of pre-Columbian Maya mercury. Frontiers in Environmental Science 1675. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.986119 Open access. Top 5 most read articles for this journal in 2022.
- Cook, D.E., Beach, T.P., Luzzadder-Beach, S., Dunning, N., Smith, B. (2022) Anthropogeomorphic and hydroclimatic change in the Maya lowlands of Central America. In, Clague, J., Harden, C. (Eds.), Treatise on Geomorphology, 2nd Edition, Volume 14 (Geomorphology of Human Disturbances, Climate Change, and Hazards), pp. 504-546. Reference Collection in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences, Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818234-5.00178-4
- Cook, D.E. (2021). Anthropogenic environmental change on the frontiers of European colonisation in Australia, AD 1788-1840. A reply to comments in Woodward (2020). Geomorphology 373.
- Krause, S., Beach, T.P., Luzzadder-Beach, S., Cook, D., Bozarth, S.R., Valdez Jr, F. and Guderjan, T.H. (2021). Tropical wetland persistence through the Anthropocene: Multiproxy reconstruction of environmental change in a Maya agroecosystem. Anthropocene 34, 100284.
- Cook. D.E. et al. (2019) Identificando entradas de cuevas en un paisaje kárstico forestal utilizando elevaciones del Lidar: Resultados preliminares de El Zotz, Guatemala. In, Proyecto Arqueológico El Zotz Informe No. 13 Temporada 2018. Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, Instituto de Antropologías e Historia, Asociación Tikal, Guatemala City, 317-322.
- Cook, D.E. (2019). Butzer 'Down Under': Debates on anthropogenic erosion in early colonial Australia. Geomorphology 331, 160-174.
- Krause, S. Beach, T., Islebe, G., Cook, D.E., Doyle, C., Guderjan, T., Eshleman, S., Luzzadder-Beach, S. (2019). Wetland geomorphology and paleoecology near Akab Muclil, Rio Bravo floodplain of the Belize coastal plain. Geomorphology 331, 146-159.
- Beach, T., Luzzadder-Beach, S., Cook, D., Krause, S., Doyle, C., Eshleman, S., Wells, G., Dunning, N., Brennan, M.L., Brokaw, N. and Cortes-Rincon, M. (2018). Stability and instability on Maya Lowlands tropical hillslope soils. Geomorphology 305, 185-208.
- Beach, T., Ulmer, A., Cook, D., Brennan, M.L., Luzzadder-Beach, S., Doyle, C., Eshleman, S., Krause, S., Cortes-Rincon, M. and Terry, R. (2018). Geoarchaeology and tropical forest soil catenas of northwestern Belize. Quaternary International 463, 198-217.
- Gibson, C., Kolcker, N. and Cook, D. (2018). On 90 years of Australian Geographer, and beyond. Australian Geographer 49, 237-238.
- Connected Learning in Crisis Consortium (CLCC) (2017). Quality Guidelines Playbook: Lessons Learned Through Contextualized Practice. UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) Publications, 1-32.
- Cook, D., Beach, T. and Demarest, A. (2017). Soil and slaughter: a geoarchaeological record of the ancient Maya from Cancuén, Guatemala. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 15, 330-343.
- Hua, Q., Cook, D., Fohlmeister, J., Penny, D., Bishop, P. and Buckman, S. (2017). Radiocarbon dating of a speleothem record of palaeoclimate for Angkor, Cambodia. Radiocarbon 57, 1873-1890.
- Beach, T., Luzzadder-Beach, S., Cook, D., Krause, S., Doyle, C., Eshleman, S., Wells, G., Dunning, N., Brennan, M.L., Brokaw, N., Cortes-Rincon, M., Hammond, G., Terry, R., Trein, D. and Ward, S. (2017). Stability and instability on Maya lowlands tropical hillslope soils. Geomorphology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2017.07.027
- Beach, T., Ulmer, A., Cook, D., Brennan, M.L., Luzzadder-Beach, S., Doyle, C., Eshleman, S., Krause, S., Cortes-Rincon, M. and Terry, R. (2017). Geoarchaeology and tropical forest soil catenas of northwestern Belize. Quaternary International 463, 198-217. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.02.031
- Bishop, P., Jones, R., Cuenca-Garcia, C. and Cook, D. (2017) Lime burning in clamp kilns in Scotland's Western Central Belt: Primitive industry or simple but perfectly adequate technology? Industrial Archaeology Review 39, 38-58 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03090728.2017.1292642
- Cook, D., Beach, T. and Demarest, A. (2017). Soil and slaughter: A geoarchaeological record of the ancient Maya from Cancuén, Guatemala. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 15, 330-343. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X1730192X
Projects
ARC funding:
- 2018 to 2022: Disruption and persistence: resolving the Maya climate-collapse hypothesis
- Role: Joint Project Leader (with Dr Dan Penny, University of Sydney) and CI
- Funding Source: Australian Research Council DP scheme
Accolades and Awards
- 2021: Executive Dean's citation for teaching excellence, Australian Catholic University.
- 2019: Australian Government Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT) Citation for 'Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning' (with Dr Nick Carter)
- 2018: Australian Catholic University Vice Chancellor's Citation for Teaching Excellence (with Dr Nick Carter)
- 2015: Australian Catholic University Faculty of Education and Arts Teaching Excellence Award for 'Innovation in Teaching'
Editorial roles
- Associate Editor for Australian Geographer (Taylor and Francis), 2017-Present.
- Review Editor for Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, 2021-Present
International journal review panels
- Archaeology & Anthropology, Atmospheric Environment, Australian Geographer, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Catena, Geomorphology, Geoscience, Global Planetary Change, Journal of Archaeological Science, Quaternary Science Reviews and Weather and Climate.
Grant agency review panels
- Australian Research Council (ARC)
- French National Research Agency (ANR)
- National Science Foundation (NSF)
- National Geographic Society (USA)
- Israel Science Foundation (ISF)
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Public engagement activities
- 2022: Over 100 media reports worldwide and media interviews and coverage on my collaborative research on legacy mercury detected at Pre-Columbian Maya settlements across Mexico and Central America.
- 2020: ABC Radio (Sydney, Australia), interview on how understanding past human response to climate change is needed in the 21st century.
- 2019: National Geographic TV (Disney) TV series Lost Treasure of the Maya, Season 1 Episode 2 based on my research in Guatemala: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12098260/?ref_=ttep_ep2
- 2019: Interviewed (along with Dr Quan Hua and A/Prof Dan Penny) for the IMAX documentary film "Angkor: The Lost Empire of Cambodia'. HOME | ANGKOR (angkor-film.com) which includes my palaeoclimate reconstructions for the ancient Khmer Kingdom of Angkor, Cambodia (December 2018 and February 2019)
- 2018: Interviewed in Guatemala (Tikal and El Zotz) and field work filmed by National Geographic for the documentary Lost Treasures of the Maya.
- 2013: Somali pirates vs Monsoons research reported in The Australian newspaper, and widely reported thereafter in print and online media worldwide.
