University of Leeds Quaternary Geochronology Laboratory

As part of the RISeR project, we have set up the new University of Leeds Quaternary Geochronology Laboratory within the School of Earth and Environment.  Understanding and constraining rates of sea level and environmental change is key to the RISeR project.  Previous work has set to understand the magnitude of the Last Interglacial highstand, but understanding rates of ice sheet and climate change in the past and future is critical for decision-making.  The challenge is working on timescales (>50 ka) where radiocarbon dating is not applicable, and the uncertainties associated with absolute dating techniques can be large.

We are approaching this challenge, alongside with our project partners, using a range of techniques.  For example, Dr Rachael Smedley at the University of Liverpool is conducting detailed OSL dating where our cores contain high sand content, though this can be challenging give the multiple sediment inputs into the North Sea.

A key chronological method in the late Quaternary of north west Europe is a relative chronology constrained by pollen biostratigraphy, which is work being led by Postdoctoral Research Fellow Amy McGuire.  We are also searching for Last Interglacial cryptotephras, which have never before been looked for in the southern North Sea.  Research Assistants within the RISeR team, Megan Edwards and Lydia Woods, have excitingly found some promising glass shards within our cores.

Our new Geochronology Laboratory, led by Amy, has been developed to support this work, providing bench-space, equipment and fume hoods to allow the preparation of the samples for a range of chronological analyses, as well as furthering the preparation space to support work in the Micropalaeontology Laboratory.