Details of Award
NERC Reference : NER/B/S/2003/00841
Human Impact signals from peat bogs - a combined pollen and Geochemical sensitivity test
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor KE Barber, University of Southampton, School of Geography
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor I Croudace, University of Southampton, Sch of Ocean and Earth Science
- Grant held at:
- University of Southampton, School of Geography
- Science Area:
- Earth
- Overall Classification:
- Earth
- ENRIs:
- Global Change
- Science Topics:
- Science-Based Archaeology
- Quaternary Science
- Technol. for Environ. Appl.
- Abstract:
- Detecting, characterising and explaining past human impact on the environment has been a mainstream activity of research into environmental change for many decades. Much of this research has used pollen analysis as a key technique, often allied to other analyses such as the analysis of diatoms and chemicals in lake sediments. This proposal breaks new ground in using a recently developed method of rapid non-destructive chemical analysis using an instrument which scans whole cores of sediment using X-Ray Fluorescence - the ITRAX scanner at the Southampton Oceanography Centre. We intend to use high-resolution XRF to detect episodes of erosional inputs from exposed soils to raised peat bogs - these inputs must come from the atmosphere since the bogs are raised above the ground water table. Once identified at two contrasting sites in northern England and Germany we will conduct high-resolution pollen analyses on the same cores at the Palaeoecology Laboratory at the University of Southampton. We will then compare the pollen indicators of human impact - pollen of grasses, cereals, arable and pastoral weeds - with the chemistry of the cores to see if particular chemicals can be associated with different types of agriculture as defined by the pollen assemblages. We will also test which of the two methods is most sensitive at detecting low level human impacts and whether any rare elements are useful in detecting agriculture. We will also attempt to link percentages of pollen indicator species with concentrations of specific elements, and we will contribute data to international efforts at deciphering past human impacts which are baseline data for present and future environments. The total cost of this proposal is modest (#29,494) but its potential importance is high, as it should result in a tried and tested method of rapid and sensitive detection of past human impacts via chemical 'fingerprints' which can be followed up by the much more time-consuming methods of pollen analysis which tell us exactly what people in the past were doing to the landscape.
- NERC Reference:
- NER/B/S/2003/00841
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Small Grants Pre FEC
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Small Grants
This grant award has a total value of £31,020
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - T&S | Total - Staff | Total - Other Costs | Total - Indirect Costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| £718 | £18,930 | £2,665 | £8,708 |
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