HKU Department of Earth Science
Dr. Ali, Jason
Dr. Ali, Jason
Associate Professor
By training, I am a geologist/geophysicist. Currently, my main research focus is “biogeography”. I look principally at the geo-physical processes that control the distribution of life around the planet, a key target being the land animals on the marine islands. I am also interested in Mesozoic–Cenozoic biogeographic patterns across large swathes of the globe, and how they were shaped. Previously, I worked on the India–Asia tectonic-plate collision system; Emeishan large igneous province of southwest China (its generation mechanism, and the cause-effect link to the mid-Capitanian mass extinction); and the Permian breakup of Gondwana. Further back in time I was interested in Paleogene stratigraphy and the Paleogene time-scale; tectonic evolution of SE Asia and the West-SW Pacific; and the orientation of churches (Medieval structures in England and Wales, and the "Queen Anne" buildings [early 1700s] in London).
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Teaching
EASC2404 Introduction to atmosphere and hydrosphere
EASC2409 Regional field studies
EASC3404 Structural geology
EASC4407 Regional geology
GEOS7011 Advanced geology of Hong Kong
GEOS7034 Regional geology
GEOS8214 Structural geology
Selected Publications
- Ali, J.R. & Heaney, L.R. 2023. Alfred R. Wallace’s enduring influence on biogeographical studies of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. Journal of Biogeography, 50, 32–40.
- Ali, J.R. & Hedges, S.B. 2022. A review of geological evidence bearing on proposed Cenozoic land connections between Madagascar and Africa and its relevance to biogeography. Earth-Science Reviews, 232, Art. No. 104103.
- Ali, J.R. & Fritz, U. 2021. Origins of the Galápagos’ land-bound vertebrates: what, whence, when, how? Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 134, 261–284.
- Ali, J.R. & Heaney, L.R. 2021. Wallace’s Line, Wallacea, and associated divides and areas: history of a tortuous tangle of ideas and labels. Biological Reviews, 96, 922–942.
- Ali, J.R. & Hedges, S.B. 2021. Colonizing the Caribbean: new geological data and an updated land-vertebrate colonization record challenge the GAARlandia land-bridge hypothesis. Journal of Biogeography, 48, 2699–2707