People_

Dr Nicky Wright

Room 416

Email

nicky.wright@sydney.edu.au

Address

F09 - Madsen Building

The University of Sydney

Details

Member of The Net Zero Institute

Websites

Nicky is an ARC Early Career Industry Fellow and 2023–2024 Superstar of STEM in the School of Geosciences, where she works within the Earthbyte Group. Nicky received her PhD from the University of Sydney in 2018, and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Australian National University as part of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes and Research School of Earth Sciences from 2018 to 2021. Nicky's background is in marine geoscience and palaeoclimate, and her current research is focused on reconstructing palaeogeography.

Research interests

Nicky is interested in the relationship and interaction between past changes in Earth's geography and climate at a variety of timescales. Her research has primarily focused on how changes in plate tectonics and palaeobathymetry have influenced changes in long-term sea level and palaeo-ocean circulation during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. She has also explored the natural range of climate variability during the last millennium, where she uses palaeoclimate models to investigate changes and extremes in the Indian Ocean Dipole and Southern Annular Mode.

Awards and honours

2023: Australian Research Council (ARC) Early Career Industry Fellowship
2023–2024: Superstars of STEM, Science and Technology Australia
2017: Special Recognition Award, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney
2016: Postgraduate Research Prize for Outstanding Academic Achievement, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney
2015: Chris Powell Medal, Structural Geology and Tectonics Specialist Group (SGTSG), Geological Society of Australia
2014: Alumni Award, University of Sydney
2014: L.A. Richardson Memorial Prize in Exploration Geophysics, University of Sydney
2013: Ken Richards Memorial Scholarship in Geology or Geophysics, University of Sydney

Current research students

Project title	Research student
Carbon sequestration in the Pacific and Indian oceans since the Late Cretaceous	Faranak DALVAND
Deep-time reconstructions of earth's surface environments and elevations	Satyam Pratap SINGH

Publications

By Type

Expand all

Journals

Falster, G., Wright, N., Abram, N., Ukkola, A., Henley, B. (2024). Potential for historically unprecedented Australian droughts from natural variability and climate change. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 28(6), 1383-1401. [More Information]
Mather, B., Muller, D., Zahirovic, S., Cannon, J., Chin, M., Ilano, L., Wright, N., Alfonso, C., Williams, S., Tetley, M., et al (2023). Deep time spatio-temporal data analysis using pyGPlates with PlateTectonicTools and GPlately. Geoscience Data Journal. [More Information]
Mather, B., Muller, D., Alfonso, C., Seton, M., Wright, N. (2023). Kimberlite eruptions driven by slab flux and subduction angle. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 9216. [More Information]
Baldermann, A., Banerjee, S., Czuppon, G., Dietzel, M., Farkas, J., Lohr, S., Moser, U., Scheiblhofer, E., Wright, N., Zack, T. (2022). Impact of green clay authigenesis on element sequestration in marine settings. Nature Communications, 13(1527). [More Information]
Wright, N., Krause, C., Phipps, S., Boschat, G., Abram, N. (2022). Influence of long-term changes in solar irradiance forcing on the Southern Annular Mode. Climate of the Past, 18(6), 1509-1528. [More Information]
Williams, S., Wright, N., Cannon, J., Flament, N., Muller, D. (2021). Reconstructing seafloor age distributions in lost ocean basins. Geoscience Frontiers, 12(2), 769-780. [More Information]
Seton, M., Muller, D., Zahirovic, S., Williams, S., Wright, N., Cannon, J., Whittaker, J., Matthews, K., McGirr, R. (2020). A Global Data Set of Present-Day Oceanic Crustal Age and Seafloor Spreading Parameters. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 21(10), 1-15. [More Information]
Abram, N., Wright, N., Ellis, B., Dixon, B., Wurtzel, J., England, M., Ummenhofer, C., Philibosian, B., Cahyarini, S., Yu, T., et al (2020). Coupling of Indo-Pacific climate variability over the last millennium. Nature, 579(7799), 385-392. [More Information]
Abram, N., Hargreaves, J., Wright, N., Thirumalai, K., Ummenhofer, C., England, M. (2020). Palaeoclimate perspectives on the Indian Ocean Dipole. Quaternary Science Reviews, 237(Article 106302), 1-20. [More Information]
Merdith, A., Garcia del Real, P., Daniel, I., Andreani, M., Wright, N., Coltice, N. (2020). Pulsated Global Hydrogen and Methane Flux at Mid�]Ocean Ridges Driven by Pangea Breakup. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 21(4), 1-20. [More Information]
Wright, N., Seton, M., Williams, S., Whittaker, J., Muller, D. (2020). Sea-level fluctuations driven by changes in global ocean basin volume following supercontinent break-up. Earth-Science Reviews, 208, 1-21. [More Information]
Wright, N., Scher, H., Seton, M., Huck, C., Duggan, B. (2018). No Change in Southern Ocean Circulation in the Indian Ocean From the Eocene Through Late Oligocene. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 33(2), 152-167. [More Information]
Dutkiewicz, A., Muller, D., Wang, X., O'Callaghan, S., Cannon, J., Wright, N. (2017). Predicting Sediment Thickness on Vanished Ocean Crust Since 200 Ma. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 18(12), 4586-4603. [More Information]
Lunt, D., Huber, M., Anagnostou, E., Baatsen, M., Caballero, R., DeConto, R., Dijkstra, H., Donnadieu, Y., Evans, D., Wright, N., et al (2017). The DeepMIP contribution to PMIP4: Experimental design for model simulations of the EECO, PETM, and pre-PETM (version 1.0). Geoscientific Model Development, 10(2), 889-901. [More Information]
Muller, D., Seton, M., Zahirovic, S., Williams, S., Matthews, K., Wright, N., Shephard, G., Maloney, K., Barnett-Moore, N., Hosseinpour, M., Cannon, J., et al (2016). Ocean Basin Evolution and Global-Scale Plate Reorganization Events since Pangea Breakup. Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Science, 44, 107-138. [More Information]
Wright, N., Seton, M., Williams, S., Muller, D. (2016). The Late Cretaceous to recent tectonic history of the Pacific Ocean basin. Earth-Science Reviews, 154, 138-173. [More Information]
Wright, N., Muller, D., Seton, M., Williams, S. (2015). Revision of Paleogene plate motions in the Pacific and implications for the Hawaiian-Emperor bend. Geology, 43(5), 455-458. [More Information]
Seton, M., Whittaker, J., Wessel, P., Muller, D., DeMets, C., Merkouriev, S., Cande, S., Gaina, C., Eagles, G., Granot, R., Wright, N., Williams, S., et al (2014). Community infrastructure and repository for marine magnetic identifications. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 15, 1629-1641. [More Information]
Wright, N., Zahirovic, S., Muller, D., Seton, M. (2013). Towards community-driven paleogeographic reconstructions: integrating open-access paleogeographic and paleobiology data with plate tectonics. Biogeosciences, 10(3), 1529-1541. [More Information]

show 16 more

Conferences

Wright, N., Seton, M., Williams, S., Muller, D. (2017). Global sea level fluctuations and uncertainties through a Wilson cycle based on ocean basin volume reconstructions. 19th EGU General Assembly, EGU2017, Vienna: Copernicus Publications.
Zahirovic, S., Wright, N., Muller, D., Seton, M. (2015). Data-Driven Paleogeographic Reconstructions as Constraints for the Advance and Retreat of Australian Shallow Seas. International Conference and Exhibition, Melbourne, Australia 13-16 September 2015. Society of Exploration Geophysicists and American Association of Petroleum Geologists. [More Information]

By Year

Expand all

2024

Falster, G., Wright, N., Abram, N., Ukkola, A., Henley, B. (2024). Potential for historically unprecedented Australian droughts from natural variability and climate change. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 28(6), 1383-1401. [More Information]

2023

Mather, B., Muller, D., Zahirovic, S., Cannon, J., Chin, M., Ilano, L., Wright, N., Alfonso, C., Williams, S., Tetley, M., et al (2023). Deep time spatio-temporal data analysis using pyGPlates with PlateTectonicTools and GPlately. Geoscience Data Journal. [More Information]
Mather, B., Muller, D., Alfonso, C., Seton, M., Wright, N. (2023). Kimberlite eruptions driven by slab flux and subduction angle. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 9216. [More Information]

2022

Baldermann, A., Banerjee, S., Czuppon, G., Dietzel, M., Farkas, J., Lohr, S., Moser, U., Scheiblhofer, E., Wright, N., Zack, T. (2022). Impact of green clay authigenesis on element sequestration in marine settings. Nature Communications, 13(1527). [More Information]
Wright, N., Krause, C., Phipps, S., Boschat, G., Abram, N. (2022). Influence of long-term changes in solar irradiance forcing on the Southern Annular Mode. Climate of the Past, 18(6), 1509-1528. [More Information]

2021

Williams, S., Wright, N., Cannon, J., Flament, N., Muller, D. (2021). Reconstructing seafloor age distributions in lost ocean basins. Geoscience Frontiers, 12(2), 769-780. [More Information]

2020

Seton, M., Muller, D., Zahirovic, S., Williams, S., Wright, N., Cannon, J., Whittaker, J., Matthews, K., McGirr, R. (2020). A Global Data Set of Present-Day Oceanic Crustal Age and Seafloor Spreading Parameters. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 21(10), 1-15. [More Information]
Abram, N., Wright, N., Ellis, B., Dixon, B., Wurtzel, J., England, M., Ummenhofer, C., Philibosian, B., Cahyarini, S., Yu, T., et al (2020). Coupling of Indo-Pacific climate variability over the last millennium. Nature, 579(7799), 385-392. [More Information]
Abram, N., Hargreaves, J., Wright, N., Thirumalai, K., Ummenhofer, C., England, M. (2020). Palaeoclimate perspectives on the Indian Ocean Dipole. Quaternary Science Reviews, 237(Article 106302), 1-20. [More Information]
Merdith, A., Garcia del Real, P., Daniel, I., Andreani, M., Wright, N., Coltice, N. (2020). Pulsated Global Hydrogen and Methane Flux at Mid�]Ocean Ridges Driven by Pangea Breakup. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 21(4), 1-20. [More Information]
Wright, N., Seton, M., Williams, S., Whittaker, J., Muller, D. (2020). Sea-level fluctuations driven by changes in global ocean basin volume following supercontinent break-up. Earth-Science Reviews, 208, 1-21. [More Information]

show 2 more

2018

Wright, N., Scher, H., Seton, M., Huck, C., Duggan, B. (2018). No Change in Southern Ocean Circulation in the Indian Ocean From the Eocene Through Late Oligocene. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 33(2), 152-167. [More Information]

2017

Wright, N., Seton, M., Williams, S., Muller, D. (2017). Global sea level fluctuations and uncertainties through a Wilson cycle based on ocean basin volume reconstructions. 19th EGU General Assembly, EGU2017, Vienna: Copernicus Publications.
Dutkiewicz, A., Muller, D., Wang, X., O'Callaghan, S., Cannon, J., Wright, N. (2017). Predicting Sediment Thickness on Vanished Ocean Crust Since 200 Ma. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 18(12), 4586-4603. [More Information]
Lunt, D., Huber, M., Anagnostou, E., Baatsen, M., Caballero, R., DeConto, R., Dijkstra, H., Donnadieu, Y., Evans, D., Wright, N., et al (2017). The DeepMIP contribution to PMIP4: Experimental design for model simulations of the EECO, PETM, and pre-PETM (version 1.0). Geoscientific Model Development, 10(2), 889-901. [More Information]

2016

Muller, D., Seton, M., Zahirovic, S., Williams, S., Matthews, K., Wright, N., Shephard, G., Maloney, K., Barnett-Moore, N., Hosseinpour, M., Cannon, J., et al (2016). Ocean Basin Evolution and Global-Scale Plate Reorganization Events since Pangea Breakup. Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Science, 44, 107-138. [More Information]
Wright, N., Seton, M., Williams, S., Muller, D. (2016). The Late Cretaceous to recent tectonic history of the Pacific Ocean basin. Earth-Science Reviews, 154, 138-173. [More Information]

2015

Zahirovic, S., Wright, N., Muller, D., Seton, M. (2015). Data-Driven Paleogeographic Reconstructions as Constraints for the Advance and Retreat of Australian Shallow Seas. International Conference and Exhibition, Melbourne, Australia 13-16 September 2015. Society of Exploration Geophysicists and American Association of Petroleum Geologists. [More Information]
Wright, N., Muller, D., Seton, M., Williams, S. (2015). Revision of Paleogene plate motions in the Pacific and implications for the Hawaiian-Emperor bend. Geology, 43(5), 455-458. [More Information]

2014

Seton, M., Whittaker, J., Wessel, P., Muller, D., DeMets, C., Merkouriev, S., Cande, S., Gaina, C., Eagles, G., Granot, R., Wright, N., Williams, S., et al (2014). Community infrastructure and repository for marine magnetic identifications. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 15, 1629-1641. [More Information]

2013

Wright, N., Zahirovic, S., Muller, D., Seton, M. (2013). Towards community-driven paleogeographic reconstructions: integrating open-access paleogeographic and paleobiology data with plate tectonics. Biogeosciences, 10(3), 1529-1541. [More Information]

Selected Grants

2024

Hunting high and low: mapping ancient topography to find copper, Wright N, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Early Career Industry Fellowship

In the media

The Conversation: