John J.G. Reijmer received his BSc (1980) and MSc (1984) education at the University of Amsterdam and moved to the VU University Amsterdam for his PhD studies (1986-1991) that concentrated on the skeletal/non-skeletal compositional analysis of recent (Bahamas) and Triassic calciturbidites (Austria and Italy).
After a short Post-Doc in Amsterdam, he moved in 1992 to the GEOMAR Marine Research Institute in Kiel (Northern Germany near Denmark), where his research covered present-day carbonate systems in the Gulf of Aqaba and the Gulf of Panamá, and outcrop studies of Carboniferous (Spain) -, Jurassic (Morocco) – and Miocene (Egypt) carbonate platform systems. He was given tenure in 1997 and successfully defended his Habilitation (DSc equivalent) in general geology and palaeontology in 2003.
After 14 years at GEOMAR, he accepted a Full Professorship in Carbonate Sedimentology at the Université de Provence in Marseille (France) in 2005, where he studied Cretaceous calcidebrites and calciturbidites as well as cool-water carbonates.
He moved back to The Netherlands in 2007 to accept a Full Professorship in Carbonate Sedimentology and Marine Geology in his hometown of Amsterdam with the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He also occupied a part-time professorship at Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands) for six years (2008-2014). In 2014 he joined the TOTAL Research Laboratory in Pau (France) for an 8-month sabbatical.
Fall 2016 John transferred to the College of Petroleum Engineering & Geosciences (CPG) of the King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) in Dhahran (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) to accept the Saudi Aramco Chair of Geosciences.
January 2021, John took early retirement from CPG, and returned to The Netherlands. John remains a Full Professor (Emeritus) with the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and remained associated with KFUPM-CPG as Adjunct Full Professor for a brief period, up to August 2022.
In Fall 2022 John joined the Université de Fribourg / Universität Freiburg (Switzerland) for a three-months research and teaching semester with the research group of Prof. Anneleen Foubert.
In Fall 2024 and 2025 John visited the Université de Liège to deliver a short course on carbonate sedimentary systems (carbonate factories) with the research group of Prof. Anne-Christine da Silva.
John’s research interests concentrate on various aspects of carbonate sedimentology:
- Carbonate platform development, palaeoceanography and sequence stratigraphy,
- Carbonate source-to-sink system: Sediment transfer from shallow-water areas along slopes towards deep-water environments,
- Carbonate deep-water systems and carbonate grain transport,
- Petrophysics of non-marine and marine carbonates and mixed carbonate/siliciclastic systems,
- Fracture development in carbonates.
John’s hobbies include visiting music concerts (pop- and classical), theatre plays, cabaret/comedy acts, and ballet performances; Amsterdam is a superb, international-orientated town to pursue all these activities. I also love attending soccer games. Once in a while I visit the home games of Ajax Amsterdam (Dutch Champion 2022), a great soccer club, with old-time friends. Feijenoord-Rotterdam (Dutch Champion 2017 and 2023) is one of my other Dutch favourites. German soccer clubs that have my interest are Borussia Dortmund, St, Pauli (both Bundesliga), and Schalke 04, Holstein Kiel (both 2nd division). In addition, I love to read, do some painting (water colours), together with weekly personal training and fitness training (twice a week) and some occasional cycling.
My wife and I love old cars and own a Citroën DS21 (1971), an electric Citroën 2CVE (1976), and a Volvo 960 (1992).
John J.G. Reijmer 