Our group uses cosmogenic nuclides, such as Beryllium-10 (10Be), Aluminium-26 (26Al), and Chlorine-36 (36Cl), to understand how quickly landscapes evolve and the timing of large climatic and tectonic events. The cosmogenic nuclide laboratory is hosted by both our group and Cryosphere. We use this facility to reconstruct glaciers and ice sheets and to quantify erosion of bedrock and hillslopes from point locations to the catchment scale. Visit the cosmogenic nuclide laboratory Tephrochronology is used to understand better the timing of glacier fluctuations, floods, periglacial processes and soil erosion. It is applied to refine how large radiocarbon datasets are used to date transformative events, such as the initial colonisation of Iceland and New Zealand by people. We are also developing ways to use the selective preservation of tephra layers to infer past land surface conditions. Current projects A new approach to ice-sheet history and landscape evolution in the Cairngorms, Scotland Researchers will utilise a 5 m bedrock core from a tor to understand ice history over multiple glacial cycles. This work is funded by the Carnegie Trust. More information on this project award on *ERE Tephrabase: a database of tephra (volcanic ash) from around the world Tephra layers are now an invaluable tool in palaeoenvironmental studies, as well as a record of volcanic activity. Group members helped to develop Tephrabase, a database of tephra layers found in Iceland, northwest, northern Europe, Russia, and central Mexico. Details on the location, name, age, and geochemistry of tephra layers are stored in the database and information about relevant volcanoes and volcanic systems. Further information about Tephrabase OCTOPUS OCTOPUS is an open cosmogenic, and luminescence database and our members developed the code for calculating basinwide erosion rates from cosmogenic nuclides lies behind. Visit the OCTOPUS website A manuscript describing the database in detail is available from the open-access journal Earth System Science Data (Discussions). Read the manuscript for more details about the OCTOPUS database Publications *Affiliated authors highlighted in bold (2015) Erosion during extreme flood events dominates Holocene canyon evolution in northeast Iceland. PNAS 112, 2355–2360. *Authors: Baynes, E.R.C., Attal, M., Niedermann, S., Kirstein, L.A., Dugmore, A.J., Naylor, M. View publication (2016) Evidence for the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet divide for 1.4 million years, Nature Communications, 7, 10325. *Authors: Hein, A.S., Woodward, J., Marrero, S.M., Dunning, S.A., Steig, E.J., Freeman, S.P.H.T., Stuart, F.M., Winter, K., Westoby, M.J., Sugden, D.E. View publication (2017) Regional mid-Pleistocene glaciation in central Patagonia. Quaternary Science Reviews 164, 77–94. *Authors: Hein, A.S., Cogez, A., Darvill, C.M., Mendelova, M., Kaplan, M.R., Herman, F., Dunai, T.J., Norton, K., Xu, S., Christl, M., Rodés, Á., View publication (2019) Detrital cosmogenic 21Ne records decoupling of source-to-sink signals by sediment storage and recycling in Miocene to present rivers of the Great Plains, Nebraska, USA. Geology 47, 3–6. *Authors: Sinclair, H.D., Stuart, F.M., Mudd, S.M., McCann, L., Tao, Z. View publication (2020) Extensive mountain glaciation in central Patagonia during Marine Isotope Stage 5. Quaternary Science Reviews 227. *Authors: Mendelova, M., Hein, A.S., Rodes, A., Xu, S. View publication (2020) The interpretative value of transformed tephra sequences. Journal of Quaternary Science, 35 (1-2) 23-38. *Authors: Dugmore, A.J., Thompson, P. I. J., Streeter, R.T., Cutler, N.A., Newton A.J., Kirkbride M.P. View publication (2018) The role of vegetation cover and slope angle in tephra layer preservation and implications for Quaternary tephrostratigraphy. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 489, 105-116. *Authors: Dugmore, A.J., Streeter, R.T., Cutler, N.A. View publication (2014) Late-Holocene land surface change in a coupled social-ecological system, southern Iceland: a cross-scale tephrochronology approach. Quaternary Science Reviews 86 (2014) 99-114. *Authors: Streeter R.T., Dugmore A.J. View publication * Edinburgh Research Explorer (ERE) is the University's research information system and is managed by Library and University Collections. This article was published on 2024-07-01
