Recent  

A novel technique for the uranium–lead dating of geologically young carbonates is described and tested. The technique expands our ability to date geological events such as fault movements and past climate records.

The µDose system is an innovative analytical instrument developed for the cost- and time-efficient determination of environmental radionuclide concentrations required for the calculation of sedimentation ages in palaeo-environmental and geo-archaeological research. The results of our study suggest that accuracy and precision of µDose measurements are comparable to those of well-established methods and that the new approach shows the potential to become a standard tool in environmental dosimetry.

Fission tracks are generated in minerals due to spontaneous fission of uranium-238. The initial track length decreases with time due to recrystallization. The age of a track can be calculated by counting the number of the shorter tracks per volume and including the decay constant. However, the theoretical order of the track length versus time is disrupted by uncertainties. We shown how the order can be re-established. The age of tectonic events such as uplift and burial can then be determined.

This research is part of a PhD thesis examining evaporite detachments characteristics. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology is employed to constrain the timing of formation and deformation events. A diagenetic age of ~514 Ma is interpreted from the oldest significant step age. Other step ages may represent a Cambrian–Permian deformation event or a complex mixing age of diagenetic Ar with partially reset Ar during the Cenozoic. We report the first closure temperature for polyhalite between 254 and 277 °C.

We apply new rock luminescence techniques to a well-constrained scenario of the Beinn Alligin rock avalanche, NW Scotland. We measure accurate erosion rates consistent with independently derived rates and reveal a transient state of erosion over the last ~4000 years in the wet, temperate climate of NW Scotland. This study shows that the new luminescence erosion-meter has huge potential for inferring erosion rates on sub-millennial scales, which is currently impossible with existing techniques.

Cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure dating is commonly used to constrain the timing of past glacier extents. However, Antarctic exposure age datasets are often scattered and difficult to interpret. We compile new and existing exposure ages of a glacial deposit with independently known age constraints and identify surface processes that increase or reduce the likelihood of exposure age scatter. Then we present new data for a previously unmapped and undated older deposit from the same region.