Searle graduated from the University of Cambridge with a B.A. (with a major in physics) in 1966 and an M.A. in 1970. He received a Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1969. He was from 1970 to 1973 an assistant professor at Haile Selassie University in Addis Ababa. At the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences in Wormsley Park, Searle was a senior science officer from 1973 to 1978; a principal science officer, civil service grade 7, from 1978 to 1988; and a senior principal science officer, civil service grade 6 (Individual Merit), from 1988 to 1989. At the University of Durham, he was a professor of geophysics from 1989 until his retirement in 2011 as professor emeritus. During his professorship he supervised eleven doctoral students. He served as department head from 1990 to 1993 and from 1998 to 2002. He was from 1982 to 1983 a visiting scientist at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and in 2003 a guest investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.[4]
Searle is a marine geophysicist with an international reputation.[1] He is the author or co-author of more than 130 peer-reviewed scientific articles.[5] He has given invited keynote talks in 2002 in Italy, in 2002 in France and China, from 2003 to 2011 in the US and the UK, in 2008 in India, and in 2012 in China and the USA. He participated in 37 research cruises, including 18 as principal or co-principal scientist (i.e. leader or co-leader of the science team aboard the cruise).[4] He was the principal scientist for the 1979 cruise of the RRS Discovery in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea[6] and for the 2007 inaugural research cruise of the RRS James Cook.[1]
Searle is known as a leading pioneer in the processing and use of the GLORIA sidescan sonar system, developed in the UK.[1][7][8][9] In the 1970s and the 1980s he used sidescan sonar and topographic analysis to define plate boundaries at subkilometre resolution and did search on propagating rifts and oceanic microplates[1][4] (such as the Azores Microplate).[10] Later in his career, he studied the effects of mantle hot spots on plate accretion and, with co-workers, found some of the first evidence that extreme asymmetry can occur in short-term plate accretion.[1][11] He has done important research on seamount morphology and origin, the geodynamics of oceanic core complexes, and ultra-slow rates in seafloor spreading.[1][4]
He served from 1984 to 1987 as geophysical edifor for the Journal of the Geological Society of London and from 1986 to 1992 as joint editor for the journal Marine Geophysical Researches.[4] He became a member of the BRIDGE (British mid—ocean ridge) research programme, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).[4] One of the triumphs of the BRIDGE programme was mapping the bathymetry of the Reykjanes Ridge.[12] From 1992 to 1994 he was a member of the steering committee of BRIDGE. From 1994 to 1996 he chaired InterRidge.[4]
Kleinrock, Martin C.; Searle, Roger C.; Hey, R. N. (1989). "Tectonics of the failing spreading system associated with the 95.5°W Galapagos propagator". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 94 (B10): 13839–13857. Bibcode:1989JGR....9413839K. doi:10.1029/JB094iB10p13839.
Holcomb, Robin T.; Searle, Roger C. (1991). "Large landslides from oceanic volcanoes". Marine Geotechnology. 10 (1–2): 19–32. doi:10.1080/10641199109379880.
Searle, R.C.; Francheteau, J.; Cornaglia, B. (1995). "New observations on mid-plate volcanism and the tectonic history of the Pacific plate, Tahiti to Easter microplate". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 131 (3–4): 395–421. Bibcode:1995E&PSL.131..395S. doi:10.1016/0012-821X(95)00018-8.
Searle, R.C; Keeton, J.A; Owens, R.B; White, R.S; Mecklenburgh, R.; Parsons, B.; Lee, S.M (1998). "The Reykjanes Ridge: Structure and tectonics of a hot-spot-influenced, slow-spreading ridge, from multibeam bathymetry, gravity and magnetic investigations". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 160 (3–4): 463–478. Bibcode:1998E&PSL.160..463S. doi:10.1016/S0012-821X(98)00104-6.
Morris, A.; Gee, J.S.; Pressling, N.; John, B.E.; MacLeod, C.J.; Grimes, C.B.; Searle, R.C. (2009). "Footwall rotation in an oceanic core complex quantified using reoriented Integrated Ocean Drilling Program core samples". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 287 (1–2): 217–228. Bibcode:2009E&PSL.287..217M. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.08.007.
Searle, R.C.; Murton, B.J.; Achenbach, K.; Lebas, T.; Tivey, M.; Yeo, I.; Cormier, M.H.; Carlut, J.; Ferreira, P.; Mallows, C.; Morris, K.; Schroth, N.; Van Calsteren, P.; Waters, C. (2010). "Structure and development of an axial volcanic ridge: Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 45°N". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 299 (1–2): 228–241. Bibcode:2010E&PSL.299..228S. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2010.09.003.
Yeo, I.; Searle, R. C.; Achenbach, K. L.; Le Bas, T. P.; Murton, B. J. (2012). "Eruptive hummocks: Building blocks of the upper ocean crust". Geology. 40 (1): 91–94. Bibcode:2012Geo....40...91Y. doi:10.1130/G31892.1.
^Searle, R. C.; Le Bas, T. P.; Mitchell, N. C.; Somers, M. L.; Parson, L. M.; Patriat, PH. (1990). "GLORIA image processing: The state of the art". Marine Geophysical Researches. 12 (1–2): 21–39. Bibcode:1990MarGR..12...21S. doi:10.1007/BF00310560. S2CID128612701.
^Keeton, J. A.; Searle, R. C.; Peirce, C.; Parsons, B.; White, R. S.; Sinha, M. C.; Murton, B. J.; Parson, L. M. (1997). "Bathymetry of the Reykjanes Ridge". Marine Geophysical Researches. 19 (1): 55–64. doi:10.1023/A:1004266721393. S2CID126528995.
^"Union Fellows". American Geophysical Union. (Search on name=Searle.)
