Dr Jenni Robertson

Overview

Qualifications

PhD earthquake geology, Birkbeck College, 2021
BSc Earth Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, 2014

Administrative responsibilities

Programme Director MSc Climate Change
Programme Director (Sept-Dec 2025) University of London MSc Global Environment and Sustainability

ORCID

0000-0002-0849-6050

Research

Research interests

Constraining the ages of palaeoshorelines using 36Cl cosmogenic exposure dating and U/Th on corals
36Cl cosmogenic exposure dating on fault scarps to determine fault slip histories and quantify the seismic hazard assessment
Investigating the interaction between active faults using stress modelling
Structural geology of active faults
Quaternary science and dating
Palaeogeographies and palaeoenvironments throughout the Quaternary

Research overview

My research career to date has focused on quantifying fault motions over hundreds of millennia as well as investigating the primary controls on the timing of multi millennial earthquake clusters in extensional systems. This research provides insight into how faults behave and facilitates investigation into the seismic hazard faults pose to populations and critical infrastructure.

The basis of my research are field-based studies to make observations, collect and analyse data and undertake absolute dating:

I use deformed late Quaternary palaeoshorelines to investigate active faults, with a particular focus on constraining the absolute age of palaeoshorelines using dating techniques such as cosmogenic 36Cl exposure dating and U/Th on corals. I investigate the deformation of palaeoshorelines using elastic half-space modelling and am interested in the relationship between earthquakes on upper-plate faults and great subduction zone earthquakes.
I derive multi-millennial earthquake histories on normal faults and use these slip histories in combination with stress modelling to investigate the role of stress interactions between neighbouring faults. I undertook this research as part of a NERC standard grant: Active fault slip-rates and earthquake recurrence controlled by stress transfer and viscous flow (NE/V012894/1) led by Professor Gerald Roberts.

In addition to investigating the rates of faulting, my research provides insight into palaeoenvironments and palaeogeographies throughout the Pleistocene and the Holocene. My work primarily focuses on faults in Greece and I have also worked within projects investigating active faults in Italy.

I have been awarded a one-year long (2025) Wellcome Trust Institutional Funding for Research Culture Grant in which I am integrating stress and seismic hazard modelling for the Attica region (Greece) with understanding the risk factors associated with post-earthquake infectious diseases.

My research involves collaborating with colleagues at Birkbeck, University College London, University of Portsmouth, University of Wales, University of Naples Federico II, Cologne University and University of Vienna in addition to research organisations including the National Observatory of Athens and Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.

Supervision and teaching

Teaching

Teaching modules

Structural Geology and Tectonics (EASC011H5)
Introducing Natural Environments (GGPH055S4)
Methods, Analysis and Techniques (GGPH056S5)
Environmental Processes (GGPH071S5)
Introduction to Environmental Science (SSGE008S4)
Climate Change: Science and Mitigation (SSGE010S7)
Energy and Climate Change (30 credits) (SSGE112S7)

Publications

Article

Roberts, Gerald P. and Iezzi, Francesco and Sgambato, Claudia and Robertson, Jenni and Beck, J. and Mildon, Z.K. and Papanikoloau, I. and Michetti, A.M. and Faure Walker, J. and Mitchell, Sam and Meschis, Marco and Shanks, R. and Phillips, R. and McCaffrey, K. and Vittori, E. and Iqbal, Maz (2025) Characteristics and modelling of slip-rate variability and temporal earthquake clustering across a distributed network of active normal faults constrained by in situ 36Cl cosmogenic dating of fault scarp exhumation, central Italy. Journal of Structural Geology 195, pp. 105391. ISSN 0191-8141.
Sgambato, Claudia and Roberts, Gerald P. and Iezzi, Francesco and Faure Walker, J. and Beck, J. and Mildon, Z.K. and Michetti, A.M. and Vittori, E. and Robertson, Jenni and Gheorghiu, D. and Shanks, R. (2025) Millennial slip‐rates variability of along‐strike active faults in the Italian Southern Apennines revealed by cosmogenic 36Cl dating of fault scarps. Tectonics 44 (3), pp. e2024TC008529. ISSN 0278-7407.
Cerrone, C. and Meschis, Marco and Ascione, A. and Soligo, M. and Tuccimei, P. and Robertson, Jenni and Roberts, Gerald P. (2025) Tectonic implications of raised Quaternary relative sea‐level indicators along the NE border of the Campania Plain (southern Italy). Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 50 (1), pp. e6066. ISSN 0197-9337.
Mitchell, Sam and Roberts, Gerald P. and Sgambato, Claudia and Robertson, Jenni (2024) The relationship between kinematics and fault geometry for surface coseismic ruptures on across-strike faults: new observations of slip vectors and displacements along the Pisia and Skinos faults from the 1981 Eastern Gulf of Corinth, Greece earthquakes. Journal of Structural Geology 182 (105117), ISSN 0191-8141.
Roberts, Gerald P. and Sgambato, Claudia and Mildon, Z.K. and Iezzi, F. and Beck, J. and Robertson, Jenni and Papanikolaou, I. and Michetti, A.M. and Faure Walker, J.P. and Meschis, M. and Shanks, R. and Philliips, R. and McCaffery, K.J.W. and Vittori, E. and Mitchell, Sam (2024) Spatial migration of temporal earthquake clusters driven by the transfer of differential stress between neighbouring fault/shear-zone structures. Journal of Structural Geology 181 (105096), ISSN 0191-8141.
Robertson, Jenni and Roberts, Gerald P. and Ganas, A. and Meschis, Marco and Gheorgiu, D. and Shanks, R. (2023) Quaternary uplift of palaeoshorelines in southwestern Crete: the combined effect of extensional and compressional faulting. Quaternary Science Reviews 316, ISSN 0277-3791.
Mildon, Zoe and Roberts, Gerald P. and Faure Walker, J.P. and Beck, J. and Papanikolaou, I. and Michetti, A.M. and Toda, S. and Iezzi, Francesco and Campbell, L. and McCaffrey, K.J.W. and Shanks, R. and Sgambato, Claudia and Robertson, Jenni and Meschis, Marco and Vittori, E. (2022) Surface faulting earthquake clustering controlled by fault and shear-zone interactions. Nature Communications 13 (7126), ISSN 2041-1723.
Meschis, Marco and Roberts, Gerald P. and Robertson, Jenni (2022) Out of phase Quaternary uplift-rate changes reveal normal fault interaction, implied by deformed marine palaeoshorelines. Geomorphology 416 (108432), ISSN 0169-555X.
Robertson, Jenni and Roberts, Gerald P. and Iezzi, Francesco and Meschis, Marco (2020) Distributed normal faulting in the tip zone of the South Alkyonides Fault System, Gulf of Corinth, constrained using 36Cl exposure dating of Late-Quaternary wave-cut platforms. Journal of Structural Geology 136, pp. 104063. ISSN 0191-8141.
Meschis, M. and Roberts, Gerald P. and Mildon, Z.K. and Robertson, Jennifer and Michetti, A.M. and Faure Walker, J.P. (2019) Slip on a mapped normal fault for the 28th December 1908 Messina earthquake (Mw 7.1) in Italy. Scientific Reports 9 (6481), ISSN 2045-2322.
Robertson, Jennifer and Meschis, M. and Roberts, Gerald P. and Ganas, A. and Gheorghiu, D. (2019) Temporally constant quaternary uplift rates and their relationship with extensional upper-plate faults in south Crete (Greece), constrained with 36Cl cosmogenic exposure dating. Tectonics 38 (4), pp. 1189-1222. ISSN 0278-7407.
Iezzi, Francesco and Mildon, Z. and Faure Walker, J. and Roberts, Gerald P. and Goodall, H. and Wilkinson, M. and Robertson, Jennifer (2018) Coseismic throw variation across along-strike bends on active normal faults: implications for displacement versus length scaling of earthquake ruptures. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 123 (11), pp. 9817-9841. ISSN 0148-0227.
Meschis, Marco and Roberts, Gerald P. and Robertson, Jennifer and Briant, Rebecca M. (2018) The relationships between regional Quaternary uplift, deformation across active normal faults and historical seismicity in the upper plate of subduction zones: The Capo D’Orlando Fault, NE Sicily. Tectonics 37 (5), pp. 1231-1255. ISSN 0278-7407.