Quaternary Environmental Change Research Group

QECRG aims to elucidate environmental change and human-environment linkages over timescales extending from tens of years to hundreds of thousands of years. Proxies for climatic change are retrieved from lake-sediment records, loess, coastal and desert dunes and historical archives.  The earth observation unit also focuses on characterizing terrestrial environments and their recent response to natural and anthropogenic change.

The group brings together expertise in:

• Luminescence Research Lab
• Palaeoecology (especially pollen and diatoms).
• Tephrochronology
• Volcanic activity

To enable this research, the group maintains state-of-the-art laboratories for luminescence dating (NERC-recognized), earth observation (including a Definiens Academic Centre of Excellence), palaeoecology and sediment analysis.

QECRG has eight academic staff (Geoff Duller, Henry Lamb, Nick Pearce, Helen Roberts, Sarah Davies, Richard Lucas, Peter Bunting and John Grattan), several postgraduate research students and research fellows.

Members of the group are leading research projects in records of Holocene tropical climate change in Africa and central America, southern African climates and the record of early modern humans, records of dust flux through the late Quaternary, the impact of volcanic activity on human health.  Our research in earth observation and ecosystem dynamics focuses on characterizing, mapping and monitoring terrestrial vegetation across a range of biomes.

To support training for research, the QECRG offers a Ph.D. program, and a one-year M.Sc. in Remote Sensing and GIS