Research Areas
Biography
Jim Best’s current research concerns the mechanics of sediment transport, the investigation of modern sedimentary environments, and the interpretation of ancient alluvium. Current areas of ongoing research include: interactions between turbulent flows and sediment movement, turbulence modulation in sedimentological flows, bedform dynamics, braided river dynamics and deposits, the morphodynamics of river channel confluences, the sedimentology of large rivers, the application of multibeam imaging within sedimentary environments, basin evolution, paleoenvironments, and sedimentology of the Western Irish Namurian Basin.
Education
- Ph.D., Birkbeck College, University of London
- B.S., University of Leeds
Courses Taught
- GEOG/ESE 222 - Big Rivers of the World
- GEOG/GEOL 575 - Alluvial Boundary Layer Dynamics
- GEOL 440: Sedimentology and Stratigraphy
- GEOL 415/515: The Geology of County Clare, Western Ireland: sedimentology, paleoecology and evolution of a sedimentary basin
- GEOL 593: Advanced Clastic Sedimentology
Additional Campus Affiliations
Jack C. Threet and Richard L. Threet Professor, Earth Science and Environmental Change
Professor, Earth Science and Environmental Change
Professor, Geography and Geographic Information Science
Professor, Mechanical Science and Engineering
Affiliate, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Professor, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Recent Publications
Lin, J. T. Y., Lacunza, E., Fernández, R., Garcia, M. H., Rhoads, B., Best, J. L., LeRoy, J. Z., & Parker, G. (2025). Hydrodynamic Processes of Incipient Meander Chute Cutoffs: Laboratory Experiments With Implications for Morphodynamics and Depth-Averaged Modeling. Water Resources Research, 61(3), Article e2024WR038502. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR038502
Almeida, R. P., Galeazzi, C. P., Best, J., Ianniruberto, M., Do Prado, A. H., Janikian, L., Mazoca, C. E. M., Tamura, L. N., & Nicholas, A. (2024). Morphodynamics and depositional architecture of mid-channel bars in large Amazonian rivers. Sedimentology, 71(5), 1591-1614. https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.13188
Best, J., Wilson, C. A., Darby, S., & Esteves, L. (2024). The World Atlas of Rivers, Estuaries, and Deltas. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691244846
Brückner, M. Z. M., Aalto, R. E., Best, J., de Almeida, R. P., Nicholas, A. P., Ashworth, P. J., & Ianniruberto, M. (2024). Bank strength variability and its impact on the system-scale morphodynamics of the upper Amazon River in Brazil. Geology, 52(7), 533-538. https://doi.org/10.1130/G51862.1
Cisneros, J., & Best, J. (2024). Controls on the Leeside Angle of Dunes in Shallow Unidirectional Flows. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 129(3), Article e2023JF007520. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JF007520