Rachel Patterson

Rachel Patterson

Qualifications

BSc (Hons) 1st class, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, QUB
BSc (Hons.) 1st class, in Archaeology and Palaeoecology, QUB (2010)
MSc in Archaeology and Environment, QUB (2011)

Postgraduate

Email: rpatterson11@qub.ac.uk

Address

School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology (GAP)
Queen’s University Belfast
Belfast, BT7 1NN
Northern Ireland, UK

Telephone

+44 (0)28 9097 3838

Current Research: Environmental Change (EC)

Biotic responses to the evolution and drainage of glacial Lake McConnell, NW Canada

Background

This PhD will focus on sediment records from the central part of the Mackensie Basin, North West Canada, highlighting a 3000 year period between 10-7 Ka BP. The Northwest Territories and adjacent regions of northern Canada have witnessed dynamic landscape changes in response to climate change and deglaciation over long time frames. In late-glacial times, this area was occupied by a large ice-dammed lake, ‘glacial Lake McConnell’. This formed part of a large complex of pro-glacial lakes that extended along the western margins of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Recent studies have highlighted the importance of this area as the deglacial outlet route of meltwaters of the North American ice sheets and pro-glacial lakes into the Arctic Ocean. However, the character and impacts of the final phases of lake evolution and landscape change are poorly understood. My research aims to expand our knowledge of these past periods of complex climate change through detailed analysis of pollen and diatoms, improving our understanding of climate – environment linkages. In particular, I will examine the responses of wetland and forest communities to regional changes in lake discharge and sudden lake drainage, and successional changes as the forests evolved during climate warming.

Publications

McSparron, C. and Patterson, R. 2011. Excavations near the site of the Medieval Cistercian Abbey of Clarus Fons, Macosquin, Co. Derry. Ulster Journal of Archaeology, 67.