Roger Clive Searle

Searle graduated from the University of Cambridge with a B.A. (with a major in physics) in 1966 and an M.A. in 1970. He received a Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1969. He was from 1970 to 1973 an assistant professor at Haile Selassie University in Addis Ababa. At the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences in Wormsley Park, Searle was a senior science officer from 1973 to 1978; a principal science officer, civil service grade 7, from 1978 to 1988; and a senior principal science officer, civil service grade 6 (Individual Merit), from 1988 to 1989. At the University of Durham, he was a professor of geophysics from 1989 until his retirement in 2011 as professor emeritus. During his professorship he supervised eleven doctoral students. He served as department head from 1990 to 1993 and from 1998 to 2002. He was from 1982 to 1983 a visiting scientist at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and in 2003 a guest investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.{{cite web|url=https://rcsearle.webspace.durham.ac.uk/cv/ |title=R. C. Searle, Curriculum Vitae |website=Durham University}}

Searle is a marine geophysicist with an international reputation. He is the author or co-author of more than 130 peer-reviewed scientific articles.{{cite web|url=https://internal.durham.ac.uk/r.c.searle/index_files/image001.jpg |title=Roger Searle's Home Page|website=Durham University }} He has given invited keynote talks in 2002 in Italy, in 2002 in France and China, from 2003 to 2011 in the US and the UK, in 2008 in India, and in 2012 in China and the USA. He participated in 37 research cruises, including 18 as principal or co-principal scientist (i.e. leader or co-leader of the science team aboard the cruise). He was the principal scientist for the 1979 cruise of the RRS Discovery in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea{{cite book|url=https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/114108/|author=Searle, R.C.|year=1980|title=RRS "Discovery" Cruise 103, 9-25 July 1979. Geology and geophysics in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea|location=Wormley, UK|publisher=Institute of Oceanographic Sciences|postscript=; 19pp.|series=Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Cruise Report 88}} and for the 2007 inaugural research cruise of the RRS James Cook.

Searle is known as a leading pioneer in the processing and use of the GLORIA sidescan sonar system, developed in the UK.{{cite journal|doi=10.1144/gsjgs.143.5.0743 |title=GLORIA investigations of oceanic fracture zones: Comparative study of the transform fault zone |date=1986 |last1=Searle |first1=R. C. |journal=Journal of the Geological Society |volume=143 |issue=5 |pages=743–756 |bibcode=1986JGSoc.143..743S |s2cid=130158695 }}{{cite journal|url=https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/JB093iB04p03157 |doi=10.1029/JB093iB04p03157 |title=Structure and development of the Midocean Ridge Plate Boundary in the Gulf of Aden: Evidence from GLORIA Side Scan Sonar |date=1988 |last1=Tamsett |first1=Duncan |last2=Searle |first2=Roger C. |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth |volume=93 |issue=B4 |pages=3157–3178 |bibcode=1988JGR....93.3157T }}{{cite journal|doi=10.1007/BF00310560 |title=GLORIA image processing: The state of the art |date=1990 |last1=Searle |first1=R. C. |last2=Le Bas |first2=T. P. |last3=Mitchell |first3=N. C. |last4=Somers |first4=M. L. |last5=Parson |first5=L. M. |last6=Patriat |first6=PH. |journal=Marine Geophysical Researches |volume=12 |issue=1–2 |pages=21–39 |bibcode=1990MarGR..12...21S |s2cid=128612701 }} In the 1970s and the 1980s he used sidescan sonar and topographic analysis to define plate boundaries at subkilometre resolution and did search on propagating rifts and oceanic microplates (such as the Azores Microplate).{{cite journal|doi=10.1144/gsjgs.136.3.0283 |title=Side-scan sonar studies of North Atlantic fracture zones |date=1979 |last1=Searle |first1=R. C. |journal=Journal of the Geological Society |volume=136 |issue=3 |pages=283–291 |bibcode=1979JGSoc.136..283S |s2cid=140715214 }} Later in his career, he studied the effects of mantle hot spots on plate accretion and, with co-workers, found some of the first evidence that extreme asymmetry can occur in short-term plate accretion.{{cite journal|doi=10.1130/0091-7613(2000)28<179:EAMAOO>2.0.CO;2|issn=0091-7613 |date=2000 |volume=28 |page=179 |title=Extremely asymmetric magmatic accretion of oceanic crust at the ends of slow-spreading ridge segments |last1=Allerton |first1=Simon |last2=Escartín |first2=Javier |last3=Searle |first3=Roger C. |journal=Geology |issue=2 |bibcode=2000Geo....28..179A }} He has done important research on seamount morphology and origin, the geodynamics of oceanic core complexes, and ultra-slow rates in seafloor spreading.

He served from 1984 to 1987 as geophysical edifor for the Journal of the Geological Society of London and from 1986 to 1992 as joint editor for the journal Marine Geophysical Researches. He became a member of the BRIDGE (British mid—ocean ridge) research programme, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). One of the triumphs of the BRIDGE programme was mapping the bathymetry of the Reykjanes Ridge.{{cite journal|doi=10.1023/A:1004266721393 |date=1997 |last1=Keeton |first1=J. A. |last2=Searle |first2=R. C. |last3=Peirce |first3=C. |last4=Parsons |first4=B. |last5=White |first5=R. S. |last6=Sinha |first6=M. C. |last7=Murton |first7=B. J. |last8=Parson |first8=L. M. |title=Bathymetry of the Reykjanes Ridge |journal=Marine Geophysical Researches |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=55–64 |bibcode=1997MarGR..19...55K |s2cid=126528995 }} From 1992 to 1994 he was a member of the steering committee of BRIDGE. From 1994 to 1996 he chaired InterRidge.

Searle had the support in 2003 of a Leverhulme Study Abroad Fellowship and from 2010 to 2012 a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship. He was awarded in 2011 the Price Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. He was elected in 2012 a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.{{cite web|title=Union Fellows|website=American Geophysical Union|url=https://www.agu.org/Honor-and-Recognize/Honors/Union-Fellows}} (Search on name=Searle.)

In September 1969 in Durham, he married Margery Joan McGuckin. They have three sons.

• {{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1365-246X.1970.tb01764.x |title=Evidence from Gravity Anomalies for Thinning of the Lithosphere beneath the Rift Valley in Kenya |date=1970 |last1=Searle |first1=R. C. |journal=Geophysical Journal International |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=13–31 |bibcode=1970GeoJ...21...13S |doi-access=free }}}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1016/0040-1951(72)90048-0 |title=A gravity survey of the central part of the Ethiopian Rift valley |date=1972 |last1=Searle |first1=Roger |last2=Gouin |first2=Pierre |journal=Tectonophysics |volume=15 |issue=1–2 |pages=41–52 |bibcode=1972Tectp..15...41S }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1365-246X.1976.tb00291.x |title=Lithospheric Structure of the Azores Plateau from Rayleigh-Wave Dispersion |date=1976 |last1=Searle |first1=R. C. |journal=Geophysical Journal International |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=537–546 |bibcode=1976GeoJ...44..537S |s2cid=130983733 |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1365-246X.1978.tb03742.x |title=The structure of King's Trough, Northeast Atlantic, from bathymetric, seismic and gravity studies |date=1978 |last1=Searle |first1=R. C. |last2=Whitmarsh |first2=R. B. |journal=Geophysical Journal International |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=259–287 |bibcode=1978GeoJ...53..259S |s2cid=140616409 |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1365-246X.1982.tb06393.x |title=The structure and origin of the Azores--Biscay Rise, North-east Atlantic Ocean |date=1982 |last1=Whitmarsh |first1=R. B. |last2=Ginzburg |first2=A. |last3=Searle |first3=R. C. |journal=Geophysical Journal International |volume=70 |issue=1 |pages=79–107 |bibcode=1982GeoJ...70...79W |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1016/0025-3227(83)90035-X |title=Submarine central volcanoes on the Nazca Plate — High-resolution sonar observations |date=1983 |last1=Searle |first1=R.C. |journal=Marine Geology |volume=53 |issue=1–2 |pages=77–102 |bibcode=1983MGeol..53...77S }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1029/JB094iB10p13839 |title=Tectonics of the failing spreading system associated with the 95.5°W Galapagos propagator |date=1989 |last1=Kleinrock |first1=Martin C. |last2=Searle |first2=Roger C. |last3=Hey |first3=R. N. |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth |volume=94 |issue=B10 |pages=13839–13857 |bibcode=1989JGR....9413839K }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1080/10641199109379880 |title=Large landslides from oceanic volcanoes |date=1991 |last1=Holcomb |first1=Robin T. |last2=Searle |first2=Roger C. |journal=Marine Geotechnology |volume=10 |issue=1–2 |pages=19–32 }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1016/0012-821X(95)00018-8 |title=New observations on mid-plate volcanism and the tectonic history of the Pacific plate, Tahiti to Easter microplate |date=1995 |last1=Searle |first1=R.C. |last2=Francheteau |first2=J. |last3=Cornaglia |first3=B. |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |volume=131 |issue=3–4 |pages=395–421 |bibcode=1995E&PSL.131..395S }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1016/S0012-821X(98)00104-6 |title=The Reykjanes Ridge: Structure and tectonics of a hot-spot-influenced, slow-spreading ridge, from multibeam bathymetry, gravity and magnetic investigations |date=1998 |last1=Searle |first1=R.C |last2=Keeton |first2=J.A |last3=Owens |first3=R.B |last4=White |first4=R.S |last5=Mecklenburgh |first5=R. |last6=Parsons |first6=B. |last7=Lee |first7=S.M |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |volume=160 |issue=3–4 |pages=463–478 |bibcode=1998E&PSL.160..463S }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1029/97JB02133 |title=Plate tectonic reconstructions of the Juan Fernandez microplate: Transformation from internal shear to rigid rotation |date=1998 |last1=Bird |first1=Robert T. |last2=Naar |first2=David F. |last3=Larson |first3=Roger L. |last4=Searle |first4=Roger C. |last5=Scotese |first5=Christopher R. |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth |volume=103 |issue=B4 |pages=7049–7067 |bibcode=1998JGR...103.7049B |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1029/1998JB900097 |title=Quantifying tectonic strain and magmatic accretion at a slow spreading ridge segment, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 29°N |date=1999 |last1=Escartín |first1=J. |last2=Cowie |first2=P. A. |last3=Searle |first3=R. C. |last4=Allerton |first4=S. |last5=Mitchell |first5=N. C. |last6=MacLeod |first6=C. J. |last7=Slootweg |first7=A. P. |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth |volume=104 |issue=B5 |pages=10421–10437 |bibcode=1999JGR...10410421E |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1029/2003GC000519 |title=FUJI Dome: A large detachment fault near 64°E on the very slow-spreading southwest Indian Ridge |date=2003 |last1=Searle |first1=R. C. |last2=Cannat |first2=M. |last3=Fujioka |first3=K. |last4=Mével |first4=C. |last5=Fujimoto |first5=H. |last6=Bralee |first6=A. |last7=Parson |first7=L. |journal=Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems |volume=4 |issue=8 |page=9105 |bibcode=2003GGG.....4.9105S |s2cid=54028434 |url=https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00226/33706/32124.pdf }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1144/0016-76492006-096 |title=Oblique rift geometry of the West Siberian Basin: Tectonic setting for the Siberian flood basalts |date=2006 |last1=Allen |first1=Mark B. |last2=Anderson |first2=Lester |last3=Searle |first3=Roger C. |last4=Buslov |first4=Misha |journal=Journal of the Geological Society |volume=163 |issue=6 |pages=901–904 |bibcode=2006JGSoc.163..901A |s2cid=130213654 |url=https://dro.dur.ac.uk/14820/1/14820.pdf }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2009.08.016 |title=Life cycle of oceanic core complexes |date=2009 |last1=MacLeod |first1=C.J. |last2=Searle |first2=R.C. |last3=Murton |first3=B.J. |last4=Casey |first4=J.F. |last5=Mallows |first5=C. |last6=Unsworth |first6=S.C. |last7=Achenbach |first7=K.L. |last8=Harris |first8=M. |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |volume=287 |issue=3–4 |pages=333–344 |bibcode=2009E&PSL.287..333M }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2009.08.007 |title=Footwall rotation in an oceanic core complex quantified using reoriented Integrated Ocean Drilling Program core samples |date=2009 |last1=Morris |first1=A. |last2=Gee |first2=J.S. |last3=Pressling |first3=N. |last4=John |first4=B.E. |last5=MacLeod |first5=C.J. |last6=Grimes |first6=C.B. |last7=Searle |first7=R.C. |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |volume=287 |issue=1–2 |pages=217–228 |bibcode=2009E&PSL.287..217M }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2010.09.003 |title=Structure and development of an axial volcanic ridge: Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 45°N |date=2010 |last1=Searle |first1=R.C. |last2=Murton |first2=B.J. |last3=Achenbach |first3=K. |last4=Lebas |first4=T. |last5=Tivey |first5=M. |last6=Yeo |first6=I. |last7=Cormier |first7=M.H. |last8=Carlut |first8=J. |last9=Ferreira |first9=P. |last10=Mallows |first10=C. |last11=Morris |first11=K. |last12=Schroth |first12=N. |last13=Van Calsteren |first13=P. |last14=Waters |first14=C. |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |volume=299 |issue=1–2 |pages=228–241 |bibcode=2010E&PSL.299..228S }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1130/G31892.1 |title=Eruptive hummocks: Building blocks of the upper ocean crust |date=2012 |last1=Yeo |first1=I. |last2=Searle |first2=R. C. |last3=Achenbach |first3=K. L. |last4=Le Bas |first4=T. P. |last5=Murton |first5=B. J. |journal=Geology |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=91–94 |bibcode=2012Geo....40...91Y }}
• {{cite book|doi=10.1029/148GM03 |chapter=The Rheology and Morphology of Oceanic Lithosphere and Mid-Ocean Ridges |title=Mid-Ocean Ridges |series=Geophysical Monograph Series |date=2013 |last1=Searle |first1=R. C. |last2=Escartín |first2=J. |pages=63–93 |isbn=9781118665879 |s2cid=128921767 |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02330198/file/Searle2004.pdf }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1130/G39232.1 |title=Oceanic detachment faults generate compression in extension |date=2017 |last1=Parnell-Turner |first1=R. |last2=Sohn |first2=R.A. |last3=Peirce |first3=C. |last4=Reston |first4=T.J. |last5=MacLeod |first5=C.J. |last6=Searle |first6=R.C. |last7=Simão |first7=N.M. |journal=Geology |volume=45 |issue=10 |pages=923–926 |bibcode=2017Geo....45..923P |s2cid=30990659 |doi-access=free |hdl=1912/9231 |hdl-access=free }}

• {{cite book|author=Searle, R. C.|year=2013|title=Mid-Ocean Ridges|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781107434011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gRXNAQAAQBAJ|lccn=2013017281}}

• {{cite web|title=selected publications co-authored by R. C. Searle|website=National Oceanography Centre, UK|url=https://noc.ac.uk/search/site/searle}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Searle, Roger Clive}}

Category:1944 births

Category:Living people

Category:British geophysicists

Category:Marine geophysicists

Category:Tectonicists

Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge

Category:Alumni of Newcastle University

Category:Academics of Durham University

Category:Fellows of the American Geophysical Union

Category:People from St Ives, Cambridgeshire