Sutherland's research has included the deep ocean drilling of the Zealandian continent and ancient climate change. He has identified and named the ancient Moa tectonic plate.
He is a co-leader of the Deep Fault Drilling Project (DFDP) of the Alpine Fault. As a result of this project, exceptionally high heat flow was discovered on the West Coast. Sutherland was the lead author reporting this in Nature.
Sutherland is often used by the national and international media as an expert on seismic surveys, earthquakes and geology in general. His involvement of the promotion of Zealandia to a continent gained a particularly high amount of media attention.
Hutton Medal for "fundamental discoveries in global plate tectonics, the evolution of Zealandia and the implications for active faulting and large magnitude earthquakes in New Zealand".
↑Sutherland, R.; Kim, K.; Zondervan, A.; McSaveney, M. (2007). "Orbital forcing of mid-latitude Southern Hemisphere glaciation since 100 ka inferred from cosmogenic nuclide ages of moraine boulders from the Cascade Plateau, southwest New Zealand". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 119 (3–4): 443–451. Bibcode:2007GSAB..119..443S. doi:10.1130/B25852.1. ISSN0016-7606.