Martin Ross

Martin Ross is an associate professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences whose research explores how past glaciations shaped the landscapes of Canada and other glaciated regions worldwide. He investigates how large ice sheets evolved over the last million years, how they eroded and modified the Earth’s surface and what their deposits reveal about past ice‑sheet behaviour.

His work focuses on glacial landscapes and sediments, particularly to improve our understanding of the processes that occur in the subglacial environment at the base of ice sheets. This is where glacial erosion happens, where distinctive glacial sediments are generated and where many glacial landforms take shape. Ross and his research group conduct fieldwork across Canada and internationally to better understand these environments and their geological signatures.

By studying glacial sediments and reconstructing past ice sheet dynamics, his group helps identify how minerals of economic interest, found in glacial sediments, can be traced back to their bedrock sources, which, in glaciated regions, are often covered and obscured by glacial sediments. In addition, Ross’s work sheds light on how the three‑dimensional structure and physical properties of unconsolidated sediments influence earthquake shaking hazards and groundwater systems.

Through open access research, teaching and online outreach, Ross aims to communicate the societal relevance of Earth’s glacial history. Understanding past ice sheets is essential not only for interpreting the landscapes we see today, but also for informing modern resource exploration, groundwater management and seismic‑hazard assessment in glaciated regions.

Learn more about graduate student opportunities being offered through his project entitled, "Understanding Past Climate Change: The Deglaciation of Northeastern Ontario and Northwestern Quebec"

• Past glaciations

• Glacial processes, sediments, and landforms

• Glacial sediment provenance analysis

• Influence of near-surface unconsolidated sediments on geohazard and groundwater systems

• Spatial and geological data analysis

• 2004, Doctorate Earth Sciences, Université du Québec (INRS Research Institute), Canada

• 1997, Master of Science Earth Sciences, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Canada

• 1994, Bachelor of Science (BSc) Earth Sciences, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Canada

• 2024 – 2025, Member of the Department Tenure and Promotion Committee

• 2021 – 2025, Associate Dean Graduate Studies, Faculty of Science

• 2019 – 2020, Associate Chair Graduate Studies, Department of Earth & Env. Sciences, U. Waterloo

• 2016 – 2022, Chair of the Canadian Sedimentology Research Group (CSRG)

• 2015, Vice-Chair, Canadian Sedimentology Research Group (CSRG)

• 2015, Guest Editor (Journal of Sedimentary Geology)

• 2012 – 2017, Graduate Officer, Department of Earth & Env. Sciences, U. Waterloo

• 2012 – 2014, Geological Association of Canada (GAC), Council member, Chair Science Program

• 2005 – Present, Reviewer for several national and international scientific journals and funding agencies

• Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario (Registered Professional Geoscientist)

• Geological Association of Canada

• Canadian Quaternary Association

• Waterloo Artificial Intelligence Institute

• Water Institute

• EARTH 333 - Introductory Sedimentology
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
• EARTH 440 - Quaternary Geology
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• For the full list of Martin Ross' publications, please see Google Scholar.

• Gauthier, M.S., Hodder, T.J., Ross, M., Kelley, S.E., Rochester, A., McCausland, P., 2019. The subglacial mosaic of the Laurentide Ice Sheet; a study of the interior region of southwestern Hudson Bay. Quaternary Science Reviews 214, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.04.015

• Hodder, T.J., Gauthier, M.S., Ross, M., Lian, O.B., 2023. Was there a nonglacial episode in the western Hudson Bay Lowland during Marine Isotope Stage 3? Quaternary Research 116, 148–161. https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2023.35

• Nastev, M., Parent, M., Ross, M., Howlett, D., Benoit, N., 2016. Geospatial modelling of shear-wave velocity and fundamental site period of Quaternary marine and glacial sediments in the Ottawa and St. Lawrence Valleys, Canada. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 85, 103–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2016.03.006

• Rice, J.M., Paulen, R.C., Campbell, H.E., Ross, M., 2024. The surficial geology record of ice stream catchment dynamics and ice-divide migration in the Quebec-Labrador sector of the Laurentide ice sheet. Quaternary Science Advances 13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.qsa.2023.100123

• Ross, M., Lajeunesse, P., Kosar, K.G.A., 2011. The subglacial record of northern Hudson Bay: Insights into the Hudson Strait Ice Stream catchment. Boreas 40, 73–91. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3885.2010.00176.x