Dr Annie Lau

Senior Lecturer

School of the Environment

+61 7 336 56654

annie.lau@uq.edu.au

Steele Building (3), Room 255

View researcher profile

Researcher biography

BSc.Hons. (HKU), MPhil. (HKU), PhD (NUS)

Dr Annie Lau is a coastal geomorphologist with a primary research interest in analysing past occurrences of coastal hazards, in particular extreme waves generated by storms and tsunamis, through sedimentary, geomorphological and historical records for assessing the future threat in coastal areas. For example, she has specialised in using the characteristics of large coastal boulders (e.g. size and distribution of rocks) to estimate the strength of extreme waves and to reconstruct the history of extreme events in the past millennia at a few tropical islands in the Asia-Pacific area. More recently, Annie investigates coastline evolution of the sandy Central to Southern Queensland coasts in the late Quaternary - Holocene by analysing sediments and using OSL quartz dating.

Annie teaches a range of courses in Geography, Marine Science, and Geoscience disciplines. She is interested in all types of natural hazards and disaster management, some research areas that she's expanding into since acquiring in-depth knowledge through leading the "Environmental Hazards" course. Students who are interested in researching hazard topics are encouraged to discuss their research ideas with Annie.

She is a project leader of the following research networks:

IGCP Project 725 - Forecasting Coastal Change: "From Cores to Code: Bringing together scientists from coastal geology and numerical modelling to improve the predictive capacity of numerical models to fore- and hind-cast coastal change"

ISROC - Inundation Signatures on Rocky Coastlines: This network serves as a focal point for researchers, educators, and students to understand Coastal Boulder Deposits (CBD) and the storms and tsunamis that generate them.

Publications

Book (1)

Book Chapter (1)

Journal Articles (18)

Conference Papers (3)

Research Report (1)

Book

Terry, James P., Lau, A. Y. Annie and Etienne, Samuel (2013). Reef-Platform Coral Boulders: Evidence for High-Energy Marine Inundation Events on Tropical Coastlines. Singapore: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-981-4451-33-8

Book Chapter

Lau, A.Y. Annie and Autret, Ronan (2020). Spatial patterns of subaerial coarse clasts. Geological Records of Tsunamis and Other Extreme Waves. (pp. 513-546) edited by Max Engel, Jessica Pilarczyk, Simon Matthias May, Dominik Brill and Ed Garrett. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-12-815686-5.00024-9

Journal Articles

Yu, Fengling, Switzer, Adam D., Zheng, Zhuo, Chen, Bishan, Pile, Jeremy, Jol, Harry, Huang, Zhaoquan and Lau, Annie (2024). Holocene geomorphological evolution of a sediment-starved coastal embayment in response to sea level change: Insights from the Qing'ao Embayment, southern China. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 633 111895, 1-12. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2023.111895

León, Tomás, Lau, A. Y. Annie, Easton, Gabriel and Goff, James (2023). A comprehensive review of tsunami and palaeotsunami research in Chile. Earth-Science Reviews, 236 104273, 1-25. doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2022.104273

Pilarczyk, Jessica E., Hawkes, Andrea D., Brain, Matthew J., Green, Andrew N., Hein, Christopher J., Lau, A.Y. Annie and Ramos, Noelynna (2023). Foreword: Remembering Professor David Scott’s contribution to the IGCP community. Journal of Foraminiferal Research, 53 (1), 1-2. doi: 10.2113/gsjfr.53.1.1

Terry, James P., Lau, A.Y. Annie, Nguyen, Kim Anh, Liou, Yuei-An and Switzer, Adam D. (2021). Clustered, stacked and imbricated large coastal rock clasts on Ludao Island, southeast Taiwan, and their application to palaeotyphoon intensity assessment. Frontiers in Earth Science, 9 792369. doi: 10.3389/feart.2021.792369

He, Lulu, Dominey-Howes, Dale, Aitchison, Jonathan C., Lau, Annie and Conradson, David (2021). How do post-disaster policies influence household-level recovery? A case study of the 2010-11 Canterbury earthquake sequence, New Zealand. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 60 102274, 102274. doi: 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102274

Terry, James P., Karoro, Robert, Gienko, Gennady A., Wieczorek, Marta and Lau, A. Y. Annie (2021). Giant palaeotsunami in Kiribati: converging evidence from geology and oral history. Island Arc, 30 (1) e12417, 1-18. doi: 10.1111/iar.12417

Yan, Shuang, Zhao, Jian‐xin, Lau, A.Y. Annie, Roff, George, Leonard, Nicole D., Clark, Tara R., Nguyen, Ai D., Feng, Yue‐xing, Wei, Gangjian, Deng, Wenfeng and Chen, Xuefei (2019). Episodic reef growth in the northern South China Sea linked to warm climate during the past 7000 years: potential for future coral refugia. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 124 (4) 2018JG004939, 1032-1043. doi: 10.1029/2018jg004939

Soria, Janneli Lea A., Switzer, Adam D., Pilarczyk, Jessica E., Tang, Hui, Weiss, Robert, Siringan, Fernando, Manglicmot, Michelle, Gallentes, Adonis, Lau, A.Y. Annie, Cheong, Amanda Yee Lin and Koh, Tracy Wei Ling (2018). Surf beat-induced overwash during Typhoon Haiyan deposited two distinct sediment assemblages on the carbonate coast of Hernani, Samar, central Philippines. Marine Geology, 396, 215-230. doi: 10.1016/j.margeo.2017.08.016

Terry, J. P. and Lau, A. Y. A. (2018). Magnitudes of nearshore waves generated by tropical cyclone Winston, the strongest landfalling cyclone in South Pacific records. Unprecedented or unremarkable?. Sedimentary Geology, 364, 276-285. doi: 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2017.10.009

Lau, A. Y. Annie, Terry, James P., Ziegler, Alan, Pratap, Arti and Harris, Daniel (2018). Boulder emplacement and remobilisation by cyclone and submarine landslide tsunami waves near Suva City, Fiji. Sedimentary Geology, 364, 242-257. doi: 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2017.12.017

Friess, Daniel A., Oliver, Grahame J. H., Quak, Michelle S. Y. and Lau, Annie Y. A. (2016). Incorporating “virtual” and “real world” field trips into introductory geography modules. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 40 (4), 546-564. doi: 10.1080/03098265.2016.1174818

Lau, A. Y. Annie, Terry, James P., Ziegler, Alan D., Switzer, Adam D., Lee, Yingsin and Etienne, Samuel (2016). Understanding the history of extreme wave events in the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia from large carbonate boulders on Makemo Atoll, with implications for future threats in the central South Pacific. Marine Geology, 380, 174-190. doi: 10.1016/j.margeo.2016.04.018

Yap, Wenshu, Lee, Yingsin, Gouramanis, Chris, Switzer, Adam D., Yu, Fengling, Lau, An Yi Annie and Terry, James P. (2015). A historical typhoon database for the southern and eastern Chinese coastal regions, 1951 to 2012. Ocean and Coastal Management, 108, 109-115. doi: 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2014.05.024

Lau, A Y Annie, Terry, James P, Switzer, Adam D and Pile, Jeremy (2015). Advantages of beachrock slabs for interpreting high-energy wave transport: Evidence from Ludao Island in south-eastern Taiwan. Geomorphology, 228, 263-274. doi: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2014.09.010

Legaspi, Kenoses, Lau, A. Y. Annie, Jordan, Phil, Mackay, Anson, Mcgowan, Suzanne, Mcglynn, Gayle, Baldia, Susana, Donne Papa, Rey and Taylor, David (2015). Establishing the impacts of freshwater aquaculture in tropical Asia: the potential role of palaeolimnology. Geo: Geography and Environment, 2 (2), 148-163. doi: 10.1002/geo2.13

Lau, A. Y. Annie, Etienne, Samuel, Terry, James P., Switzer, Adam D. and Lee, Ying Sin (2014). A preliminary study of the distribution, sizes and orientations of large reef-top coral boulders deposited by extreme waves at Makemo Atoll, French Polynesia. Journal of Coastal Research, 70, 272-277. doi: 10.2112/SI70-046.1

Yu, Fengling, Switzer, Adam D., Lau, An Yi Annie, Yeung, Hoi Yan Esther, Chik, Shun Wah, Chiu, Hon Chim, Huang, Zhaoquan and Pile, Jeremy (2013). A comparison of the post-storm recovery of two sandy beaches on Hong Kong Island, southern China. Quaternary International, 304, 163-175. doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2013.04.002

Lau, A. Y. A., Switzer, A. D., Dominey-Howes, D., Aitchison, J. C. and Zong, Y. (2010). Written records of historical tsunamis in the northeastern South China Sea: challenges associated with developing a new integrated database. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 10 (9), 1793-1806. doi: 10.5194/nhess-10-1793-2010

Conference Papers

Hein, Christopher J., Pilarczyk, Jessica E., Brain, Matthew, Green, Andrew N., Annie Lau, A. Y. and Ramos, Noelynna (2023). From cores to code: enhancing data-model integration to improve forecasts of coastal change – an introduction to IGCP Project 725. Coastal Sediments 2023 (CS23), New Orleans, LA USA, 11-15 April 2023. Hackensack, NJ USA: World Scientific Publishing. doi: 10.1142/9789811275135_0215

Lau, An Yi Annie, Switzer, Adam D., Dominey-Howes, Dale, Zong, Yongqiang and Aitchison, Jonathan C. (2014). Inconsistencies in historical records of tsunamis in the southeastern coast of China. South China Sea Tsunami Workshop 3, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, 3-5 November 2009. Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Lee, Y., Yu, F., Switzer, A. D., Gouramanis, C., Lau, A. Y. A. and Terry, J. P. (2012). Developing a Historical Typhoon Database for the Southeastern Chinese Coastal Provinces, 1951-2010. 1st Annual International Conference on Geological & Earth Sciences, City of Singapore, Singapore, 3-4 December 2012. Singapore: Global Science and Technology Forum.

Research Report

Vrinda Eswaran, Philip Gidley, Annie Lau and Iraphne Childs (2022). Binna Burra Trails Mapping Project. Brisbane, Australia: Royal Geographical Society of Queensland.

Areas of research

Geography

Marine biology and ocean science