Lake Hawden, New Zealand, site of a study
on late glacial climate change in the Southern
Hemisphere using chironomids (non-biting midges)
and pollen from the sediments (PI: Dr Nicki Whitehouse)
Stable isotope results (delta 13C and delta 15N)
from a stratified hyraceum deposit
from South Africa (Collaboration with
Dr Brian Chase , co-I Prof Paula Reimer)
Palaeoecology and Chronology
The Palaeoecology and Chronology focus group in the School of Geography. Archaeology and Palaeoecology is an interdisciplinary group of researchers who work both independently and collaboratively on a broad range of topics. Past environmental change is studied using biological proxies including pollen, molluscs, insects, testate amoeboe, diatoms, macrofossils, tree-rings and peat humification, as well as stable isotopes. Chronological projects include constructing radiocarbon calibration curves and models for age-depth analysis, investigating marine and freshwater radiocarbon reservoir effects, analysis of tephra in ice cores and sediments and dendrochronology.
Members of the focus group meet to read and discuss pre-circulated papers. The meetings are open to interested individuals, postgraduate and staff, from other areas of academic study.
Research Projects
| Project 1 | Hydrological variability of the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone in equatorial East Africa over the past 25,000 years |
| Project 2 | Advances in Kamchatkan tephrochronology: age-modelling and micro-tephrochronology studies at QUB |
| Project 3 | Refining a late Holocene tephrochronology for the Northern Hemisphere using Greenland ice-cores |
| Project 4 | AMS 14C dating of the enamel organic fraction |
| Project 5 | 14C as a tool to trace terrestrial carbon in a complex lake: implications for food-web structure and carbon cycling. |
