RISeR at the 2021 Quaternary Research Association online ADM

It seems crazy to think that a year has gone by since Natasha and the team at the University of Leeds hosted the Quaternary Research Association Annual Discussion Meeting in early 2020.  Of course much has changed since, and that was the last time most of us can remember eating a finger-buffet lunch with colleagues!  This year, the University of Portsmouth hosted the ADM online for the first time in its history, and as a result, received one of the highest attendance for this annual conference.  This virtual world we now live in does offer flexibility, which previously conferences have prevented.

The organising committee very kindly invited Natasha to present as a keynote speaker, kicking off the meeting with her talk ‘Under the sea: a buried archive of marine and coastal change’, during which she gave an update on the RISeR work so far, including a summary of the cores we collected last summer.  She was also honest – doing such work is hard and often doesn’t go perfectly, however good it looks in a finished presentation.

Víctor and Oliver also presented in the marine and coastal session.  Oliver gave an update on the Earth and ice sheet model sensitively work he has been doing as part of his GIA modelling.  Víctor summarised the huge amount of borehole stratigraphy data he has been working through (thanks to our collaboration with TNO) to reconstruct the palaeo landscape of the Eemian North Sea.  The stratigraphy of the North Sea is a huge challenge to unravel, so this is a significant task.

The RISeR team was joined online by one of Natasha’s former student, Andy Emery, who gave a talk on his PhD work reconstructing late Quaternary environmental change at Dogger Bank, in the central North Sea.  A great representation of the University of Leeds submerged landscape research. It was a real shame to not be able to see everyone in person, but it was great to start 2021 with some wonderful Quaternary science.