Quaternary Palaeoenvironments Group
Cambridge Quaternary
Welcome to the last 2.6 million years!
Knowledge of the palaeoenvironment and palaeogeography of the recent geological past is fundamental to our understanding of modern physical, biological and human environments. Understanding this period, the Quaternary, is the central focus of research in the Quaternary Palaeoenvironments Group (QPG).
The Quaternary, the last 2.6 million years of geological time, saw major climatic changes which caused ice sheets to advance into temperate latitudes. Repeated glacial episodes caused significant fluctuations in sea level, major geographical changes and major plant and animal population migrations. Sedimentary sequences record these changes in great detail and are central to unravelling past events.
We use a multidisciplinary approach which embraces wide ranging litho-, bio- and chronostratigraphical methods to unravel events during Quaternary and later Neogene time. Current research of the QPG includes:
- Quaternary stratigraphy (of glacial, terrestrial, fluvial and marine sediments)
- Palynology and palaeontology (of interglacial, cold period and post-glacial sequences)
- Vegetational and environmental development (throughout Europe and beyond)
- Biostratigraphy of Neogene/Quaternary deep sea and shallow marine sequences
- Sedimentation and landform evolution (throughout Europe and beyond)
- Historical human impact on natural environments (throughout the world)
- Global continental drainage systems of the late Quaternary and the Quaternary as a whole
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Featured pages
This site contains information about:
- Who we are , what we do and where to find us ,
- The group's research and publications
The group's Quaternary Master's course and Ph.D. projects for 2012 - note new early deadline for PhD applications!- Relevant seminars: QPG, Quaternary Discussion Group , Specials, Department of Geography, other Cambridge departments.
- News and photograph gallery.
And web publications on:
- the history and role of the QPG
- Drawings of the Quaternary of the North-east coast of Norfolk.a series of downloadable images by G.Slater and others.
- History of major rivers through the Quaternary and the Tertiary
- Controls on interglacial sedimentation in lowland British rivers.
- the Quaternary geology of the Cambridge region
- Protocol for AMS radiocarbon dating of plant macrofossil material
- Sediment Archive Store
- CUPOD - Cambridge University Palynological Online Database
The QPG is part of the Cambridge Quaternary (CQ - formerly the Godwin Institute of Quaternary Research - GIQR) ,
within the Department of Geography , University of Cambridge .
News
John Hutchinson
Old friend of the Cambridge Quaternary community, Professor John Hutchinson died very peacefully on Thursday 22 December.
Russell Coope
We are very sad to announce the untimely death of our longstanding colleague and friend G.Russell Coope. He died at home on Saturday 26 November 2011 after a heart attack (photograph by Mike Walker).
Richard Hey
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our friend and colleague, the geologist Dr Richard William Hey. He died on Monday 14 November 2011 aged 94 in Upton Bishop, Ross-on-Wye. He will be greatly missed. Richard was a founding Fellow of Churchill College. (Photograph P.L.Gibbard).
Phil Gibbard elected President of the INQUA Commission of Stratigraphy and Geochronology (SACCOM)
Phil Gibbard was elected President of the INQUA (the International Association of Quaternary Research) Commission of Stratigraphy and Geochronology (SACCOM) at the INQUA Congress in Bern on 28 July 2011. The post is initially for four years.
Jean-Pierre Lautridou
Click on the image for details:
The recent geological history of Cudmore Grove, Mersea Island
Countryfile (BBC TV):
The recent geological history of Cudmore Grove, Mersea Island, Essex was covered by BBC Countryfile on Friday 25th February. The report was screened on BBC1 TV on Sunday 13th March 2011.
With BBC Countryfile presenter Matt Baker (second from left) are Dougal Urquhart (Park Ranger, Cudmore Grove, MerseaIsland, Essex), Dr Steve Boreham and Chris Rolfe (Department of Geography, University of Cambridge):
Quaternary Glaciations - Extent and Chronology, Volume 15: A closer look
Now available to pre-order from Amazon and Tesco! Quaternary Glaciations - Extent and Chronology, Volume 15: A closer look (Developments in Quaternary Science) [Hardcover]
J. Ehlers (Editor), P.L. Gibbard (Editor), P.D. Hughes (Editor)
The Anthropocene: a new epoch of geological time?
Now published (1 February 2011) - The Anthropocene: a new epoch of geological time? Theme Issue 'compiled and edited by Mark Williams, Jan Zalasiewicz, Alan Haywood and Mike Ellis. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A369, 835-1112.
The West Runton Freshwater Bed and the West Runton Mammoth
Now published (1 December 2010) - The West Runton Freshwater Bed and the West Runton Mammoth. Edited by Adrian Lister and Antony J. Stuart Quaternary International Volume 228, Issues 1-2, Pages 1-248. The detailed monograph includes 19 papers from the exhaustive study of the West Runton mammoth and the sediments of the West Runton Freshwater Bed (Cromer Forest Bed Formation), Norfolk, England - the Cromerian-Stage type locality.
Mammoth-killing space blast 'off the hook'
31 August 2010 Mammoth-killing space blast 'off the hook' BBC News. North American mystery: At least 17 groups of large animals die out in a very short space of time. The theory that the great beasts living in North America 13,000 years ago were killed off by a space impact can now be discounted, a new study by Professor Andrew Scott, of Royal Holloway, University of London claims.
Ash from the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano in Iceland
Ash from the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano in Iceland, which fell in Northern Ireland in 2010; a shard photographed by Professor Valerie Hall .
British stamps feature Nick Shackleton
The British Royal Mail Post Office stamps celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society includes a design including the image of Nick Shackleton.
An animated journey through the Earth's climate history
BBC - An animated journey through the Earth's climate history - P.Gibbard consultant.
Clay minerals in onshore and offshore strata of the British Isles
Clay minerals in onshore and offshore strata of the British Isles. 2006 (edited C.V.Jeans & R.J.Merriman) Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 550pp. Available from the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain & Ireland.
Quaternary geologists win timescale vote
'Quaternary geologists win timescale vote - redefinition rescues once-threatened terminology from extinction' - read report in NATURE 4.5.09, SCIENCE on 5.5.09 and on Dept of Geography website. Formal ratification letter of base Quaternary and Pleistocene at 2.6 ma. Read Wiley-Blackwell news release.
From Brandon to Bungay
Now published - From Brandon to Bungay by Richard G. West, an exploration of the landscape history and geology of the Little Ouse and Waveney rivers on the Suffolk - Norfolk border of East Anglia. Available from Suffolk Naturalist's Trust, Ipswich.
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Juha-Pekka Lunkka wins national book prize
Old friend of the QPG and ex-graduate of the SDQR wins national book prize! Juha-Pekka Lunkka of the Department of Geosciences, University of Oulu was awarded the Finnish National Science book of the year prize for 2009 for his book entitled: Maapallon ilmastohistoria: kasvihuoneista jääkausiin (Global climate history: from greenhouse to ice age) published by Gadeamus - Helsinki University Press. Read about it (in Finnish
) in newspaper reports in Helsingin Sanomat and Kaleva.
A concise geologic time scale
Now published - Ogg, J.G., Ogg, G. & Gradstein, F.M. (eds) 2008 A concise geologic time scale. University Press: Cambridge. - Quaternary chapter 15 by P. Gibbard, K. Cohen & J. Ogg.
Episodes special issue
Now published - Episodes special issue 31, No. 2 , June 2008 - The Quaternary.
'A timewar over the Period we live in'
'A timewar over the Period we live in' - an article by Richard Kerr on the debate surrounding use and definition of the term Quaternary. Science 319, 25 January 2008.
Are we now living in the Anthropocene?
Are we now living in the Anthropocene? - coming soon, the opinion of the Geological Society's Stratigraphy Commission. Watch GSA Today. Read report in the Independent Newspaper 26.1.08. Report on BBC website 'An Epoch in the making' 2.2.08.
Second Nature lectures
Phil Gibbard presented the third in a new series of lectures entitled 'Second Nature', for the journal Nature. The lectures take place on the Second Life website where they are streamed live.
Access to the lectures is through this site but details are available from Nature Network and is published on Nature Precedings.
Phil's lecture, which is a follow up to the News & Views article he published in Nature in July, was called 'How Britain became an island'. It went out on Thursday 27 September. See also the report on the University's main website. Report in Cambridge Evening News.
QPG members on BBC Countryfile
QPG members joined BBC presenter John Craven to present the vegetational history of the famous Hockham Mere (Cranberry Rough) site on Monday 17 September 2007 for the programme Countryfile (watch a clip!). The report was screened on BBC1 TV on Sunday 23 September. With John Craven (second from left) are Chris Rolfe, Phil Gibbard and Antti Pasanen.
PhD studentship topics
PhD studentship topics beginning in October 2011 are now available.
Global chronostratigraphical correlation table for the last 2.7 million years
Global chronostratigraphical correlation table for the last 2.7 million years . Compiled by P.L.Gibbard, S.Boreham, K.M.Cohen & A.Moscariello, published for the International Commission on Stratigraphy's Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy. New version now available.
Subcommission on European Quaternary Stratigraphy website
Subcommission on European Quaternary Stratigraphy website online.
Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science
Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science. S.A. Elias (Editor), Elsevier: Amsterdam.
Compilation maps for the Last Glacial Maximum
New compilation maps for the Last Glacial Maximum - compiled from the Quaternary glaciations - Extent and Chronology by Jürgen Ehlers & Philip Gibbard (see below). Click on the map below to see the new plot based on Google Earth projection.
Projects
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- bilingual pages Histoire Cénozoïque de la Manche/Cenozoic history of the English Channel.
- BALTEEM
- Global continental drainage systems
- TOPO-WECEP
- Land, Water and Settlement: Environmental constraints and human responses in northwest India between 2000 and 300 BC
The Glacigenic Reservoirs Analogue Programme.
The London Basin Forum
Group gallery
click photograph for gallery.
site archived by the British Library - UK Web Archiving Consortium.