This article is taken from: Davies, B.J., 2022. CRYOSPHERIC GEOMORPHOLOGY: Dating Glacial Landforms I: archival, incremental, relative dating techniques and age-equivalent stratigraphic markers. (link) Introduction to relative dating Relative dating techniques aim to order landscape features. It assumes that moraines closer to the ice limit are usually assumed to be younger, and those further are […]
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This article is taken from: Davies, B.J., 2022. CRYOSPHERIC GEOMORPHOLOGY: Dating Glacial Landforms I: archival, incremental, relative dating techniques and age-equivalent stratigraphic markers. (link) Dating boulder exposure age with lichens Lichenometry, mostly using the species Rhizocarpon subgenus Rhizocarpon, has been widely used to date Late Holocene (last ~1000 years) glacial landforms, including the Northern Hemisphere
Learn more about how cosmogenic nuclide samples are collected in this example from Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. There is a more detailed explanation of cosmogenic nuclide dating in this series of articles:
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This section draws on two book chaper publications by Bethan Davies. Authors accepted versions can be viewed below, along with the link to the published chapters. Not all dating methods are covered here; please refer to the published book chapters for more information. Archival, incremental and relative dating techniques Davies, B.J., 2022. 4.12: Dating Glacial
Cryospheric Geomorphology: Dating Glacial Landforms Read More »
Article written by Alex Clark (Royal Holloway University of London) Fieldwork is all about making discoveries. It’s an opportunity to take what you have learned at your desk and see for yourself if it is true, or if there is more to be said. Usually, it is the latter. Though probably not at the top
Co. Antrim Fieldwork: searching for boulders Read More »
This page was written by Dr Keir Nichols, who is using 14C exposure age dating to unravel the past behaviour of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). Given that the ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland contain enough water to raise global sea level by about 65 metres, it is important to understand how ice
Case study: In situ 14C exposure age dating in Antarctica Read More »
What are cosmic rays? | The cosmic ray cascade | The cosmic ray intensity flux | Formation of cosmogenic nuclides | Further reading | Glossary | References | Comments | What are cosmic rays? Cosmic rays are high energy particles that flow into our solar system from outer space. They are essential for the production
By Richard Selwyn Jones, from the Antarctic Research Centre at Victoria University of Wellington. In this article, Richard describes his research and how he uses cosmogenic nuclide ages to estimate rates of ice sheet thinning in Antarctica. All images are copyright Richard Selwyn Jones. An Antarctic expedition to estimate ice sheet thinning Antarctica might seem
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What’s the difference between precision and accuracy? In the sciences, it is important to distinguish between precision and accuracy. If we use the analogue of a clock we can investigate this further. Your wrist watch may measure time with a precision of one second. A stop watch may time your race with a precision of
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This section of the website introduces some of the very many different ways in which we can date glacial environments. These techniques have evolved through time, and different techniques are applied in different circumstances. For example, where organics are available, sediments can be dating using radiocarbon dating. This may be applied in glacial environments by,
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