Alumni News | Shanmugam Publishes Book, Wins Award for Research Contributions

Dr. Ganapathy Shanmugam

Ohio University alumnus Dr. Ganapathy Shanmugam, an expert on mass transportation and gravity flows within marine basins, recently published a book explaining the impact of these topics to sedimentology and oceanography.

Shanmugam, who earned an M.S. in Geology in 1972, is currently an adjunct professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences at the University of Texas at Arlington. He previously worked at Mobil Oil Co. (now ExxonMobil) from 1978 to 2000, where he conducted research on a wide range of topics—sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy, tectonics, diagenesis, paleobotany and organic geochemistry—on petroleum exploration and production.

His book, Mass transport, gravity flows, and bottom currents: Downslope and alongslope processes and deposits (Elsevier, ISBN: 9780128225769, 608 p.), focuses solely on important downslope and alongslope processes. The book provides clear definitions and characteristics based on soil mechanics, fluid mechanics and sediment concentration by volume.

In addition, Shanmugam was awarded the top journalism award by the international Journal of Palaeogeography on Oct. 28. Shanmugan received this award based on the high citation rates of five paper published in the journal between 2012 and 2108. The award, which carries a prize money of RMB30,000 (Chinese Yuan), is based on the Science Citation Index (SCI) of the following five papers and their SCI ranking:

1. Shanmugam, G., 2016. Submarine fans: a critical retrospective (1950_2015).  5(2): 110–184.
2. Shanmugam, G., 2015. The landslide problem. 4(2): 109–166.
3. Shanmugam, G., 2016. The seismite problem. 5(4): 318–362.
4. Shanmugam, G., 2017. Global case studies of soft-sediment deformation structures (SSDS): definitions, classifications, advances, origins, and problems. 6(4): 251–320.
5. Shanmugam, G., 2018. The hyperpycnite problem. 7(3): 197–238.