Environmental Processes and Change |
| This lively and welcoming research cluster comprises 10 academic and research staff, 7 research students and 6 support staff. It focuses upon a wide range of themes which are encompassed within its two sub-groups of Environmental Processes and Environmental Change. Personnel in both sub-groups are involved in a number of joint projects with other universities and research institutions. Research is funded by a range of external sources, including NERC, and members of the research cluster have successfully competed for well over £1 million in grants and contracts since 1995. Research work has been widely disseminated in over 100 refereed papers during the same time period. |
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| The Environmental Processes Sub-group |
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| Research within this area has a particular commitment to field and modelling studies in catchment hydrology and glaciology. In addition to research in process hydrology, studies have focused on catchment hydrochemistry, groundwater-surface water interactions and hydroecology. The group has a strong record in competing for major grant funding (including NERC, Leverhulme Trust and Scottish Natural Heritage). There is extensive collaboration with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute (MLURI), the Freshwater Laboratory (FL), as well as numerous universities in the UK, North America and Europe. A major current research theme focuses on up-scaling process understanding and modelling approaches from small (<10 km2) to large (ca 250 km2) catchments. This work was initially facilitated by involvement in a NERC-funded thematic project on Large Scale Processes in Ecology and Hydrology and a NERC/JIF initiative which will establish the River Feshie in the Cairngorms Mountains as one of seven catchments established as part of its National Infrastructure for Catchment Hydrology Experiments (NICHE). Research in hydroecology is looking at the hydraulic requirements of salmonids. Collaborative research initiatives have commenced with the CEH and the Freshwater laboratory of the Scottish Executive which are seeking to establish the hydraulic controls on bioenergetics of salmonids at different life stages. Glaciological research interests focus on two main topics: (1) the influence of glacier hydrology on the 3-D flow patterns of valley glaciers, particularly during glacier-wide speed-up events; and (2) determining the patterns and causes of recent changes in the mass-balance and geometry of High Arctic ice-caps. These projects have been funded by NERC, Leverhulme Trust and Carnegie Trust and involve strong collaboration with Universities from across the UK (Cambridge, Glasgow and Aberystwyth), Switzerland and Canada. New research initiatives are being developed with UCL (CPOM) and European Space Agency (CRYOSAT). |
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| The Environmental Change Sub-group |
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| Research within this area is concentrated on palaeoecology, glacial geomorphology, environmental archaeology and luminescence dating. With a particular focus on Scotland, the North Atlantic area and South America, the group has been successful in attracting funds from bodies such as NERC, AHRB, the Royal Society, the Leverhulme Trust, Historic Scotland and Shetland Amenity Trust. Methodological and empirical investigations of pollen-based palaeoecology, especially involving long-term human impacts upon the environment and climate change, have concentrated on sites in The Inner and Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland, eastern Scotland, the Faroe Islands and Iceland. Much of this is collaborative interdisciplinary work involving tephrochronology, palaeoentomology, sedimentology, radiocarbon-dating and isotope geochemistry. There has been a research strengthening of expertise in peat formation processes and conservation, bryophyte ecology and environmental archaeology. Multi-proxy approaches to the prediction of vegetation changes due to climatic and anthropogenic influences include pollen, Sphagna, testate amoebae and humification. |
| Research on the links between glacier drainage systems, sediment transfer processes and moraine formation has involved the application of conceptual models to field sites in Iceland. Refinement of existing models of glaciated valley land-systems includes comparative studies of glaciers in Iceland, the Arctic and the Alps. New research is testing alternative hypotheses of basal ice formation linked to glacier hydrology. The Departmental luminescence laboratory has been involved in the furtherance of Quaternary studies in the Andes of Ecuador and the Chilean Lake District, as well as collaboration work on investigations in the Middle East and Namibia. A series of experimental investigations into the utility of various luminescence techniques for dating sedimentary deposits of glacial and glacifluvial origin will be following methodological themes on the reliability of luminescence techniques and the intra-site consistency of TL/OSL dates. |
| The philosophy of physical geography, especially its relationship to 'scientific method' and including contextual explanations and quantum mechanical analogues is also being actively pursued. |
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