Seabed geologist wins prestigious award

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Thursday December 2, 2021, 5:39 PM Press Release: Niwa

NIWA scientist Joshua Mountjoy has been awarded the prestigious McKay Hammer Prize from the Earth Sciences Society of New Zealand.

This award is given to a researcher who has made a significant contribution to Earth sciences in Aotearoa over the past three years.

Josho won the award for his work on seafloor and valley earthquakes, and specifically the study he led on the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake. In this study, Josho and his team recorded, for the first time, a process that creates deep-sea grooves.

They found that the Kaikoura earthquake triggered strong and large-scale landslides underwater. This resulted in a “valley flow,” as hundreds of megatons of sediment moved into the depths of the ocean, leaving a deep-sea valley behind.

This was the first time globally that this process had been observed and documented, illustrating how significant the single valley flow event was.

Josho comments on how central the Kaikoura earthquake was to his research and the knowledge he provided to the scientific community.

“The Kaikoura earthquake was an amazing event, and it was not something I thought I would see in my career. We were well positioned to take advantage of this opportunity because the NIWA ship, RV Tangaroa, was at sea at the time. We also did a lot of planning ahead of the event even That we’ll be able to see the change.”

“The paper we wrote has pulled together a lot of different threads and is the most satisfying publication I’ve ever led or been involved in. It’s the scientific highlight of my career.”

Josho went on to talk about how important the award was to him, and thanked all the people who helped him along the way.

“There were so many people involved in this paper. Dr. Jimmy Howarth got a special mention for all his efforts and I would also like to express a special thanks to Phil Barnes, who has been my mentor and mentor throughout my career as a marine geologist at NIWA.”

Joshu began his scientific career studying a master’s degree in engineering geology in 2000. He then came to NIWA for his Ph.D. and since then has led several Tangaroa RV trips and projects. He recently took on a new role as director of ocean strategy, which will allow him to focus on expanding NIWA’s science across a broader range of disciplines.

The award was presented at an online ceremony on Tuesday, December 2nd. A video of Josho’s acceptance speech and a background painting of the research conducted at sea can be viewed here.

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