This PhD attends to the earthy sounds of the wetlands and the drylands. Through fieldwork and practice, the project investigates the capacity of sound to measure and give voice to two contrasting terrestrial environments: the marshy bogs of the Northern Irish peatlands and the dune seas of the Rub’ al-Khali (Empty Quarter) desert in the UAE.

The subjects of focus are the sonics of two respective geophysical processes: peatland ebullition (subsurface bog bubbling of carbon dioxide and methane gas) and ‘singing' sand (a resonance effect in large sand dunes, caused by granular shear flow). The project seeks to better understand and experience two perplexing and rarely heard sounds; to record that which has not been recorded; to ascertain localised changes in these environments insofar as they are rendered audible; and to convey this research in creative formats. In doing so, the thesis aims to question the ways in which environments become knowable through sound, and interrogate the kinds of relationalities which are engendered from different modes of auditory attention and sonic practice.