[Aqualist] INQUA session: Frontiers in drylands research

[Fitzsimmons, Kathryn]

Dear colleagues,



INQUA Dublin 2019 abstract submissions are due next week, 9 January!

http://www.inqua2019.org/call-for-abstracts/



We hope you'll consider submitting an oral or poster presentation to our session:



“Frontiers in drylands research”



Convenors: Kathryn Fitzsimmons, Sallie Burrough, Joy Singarayer, Alexandra Engström Johansson, Abigail Stone, Dave Thomas, Nick Lancaster

INQUA Commission: Terrestrial processes, deposits and history



Session description:
Dryland environments, spanning hyper-arid to sub-humid climates, cover ~40% of the terrestrial surface, host some 40% of the world’s human population, and are characterised by considerable seasonal and inter-annual variations in precipitation. Climatic and environmental variability in drylands has been a key characteristic throughout the Quaternary over a range of timescales, including glacial to interglacial-paced impacts on temperature and hydroclimate; precessional-insolation forcing of global monsoon systems; and teleconnections with millennial-scale climate events deriving from the North Atlantic. These climatic oscillations have influenced dryland landscapes, ecology and hominin populations. Dryland responses to climatic variation are recorded in landforms (geoproxies) and in the sediments themselves, including biomarkers, soils and chemical precipitates such as speleothems, mound springs and tufas.

This session focuses on showcasing innovative new approaches to interpreting archives of environmental change in drylands. We welcome discussions on new proxies, geochronology and age modelling, and model-data integration. Developments in proxies include records from soils (sediment production and soil dynamics), biomarkers preserved in dryland sediments, and interpretations of geoproxies. Some of the recent advances in age models and geochronology, include the application of changepoint analysis to luminescence datasets and developments in calibrating the portable luminescence reader as a rapid age assessment tool.



We look forward to seeing you in Dublin!
Cheers

Kat, Sallie, Joy, Alex, Abi, Dave and Nick

Kathryn Fitzsimmons
Research Group for Terrestrial Palaeoclimates<http://www.mpic.de/en/research/further-groups/gruppe-fitzsimmons.html>
Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
Hahn-Meitner-Weg 1
55128 Mainz

+49 (0)6131 305 6600
k.fitzsimmons at mpic.de<mailto:k.fitzsimmons at mpic.de>