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Dr Kaja Fenn
Quaternary Geochronologist, Geochemist, and Sedimentologist
MY RESEARCH INTERESTS
I am interested in the interactions between Quaternary environments and climate. In particular reconstructing local and regional palaeoenvironmental changes and using them to better understand the past climate.
PALAEOCLIMATE AND PALEOENVIRONMENT
SEDIMENT
PROVENANCE
Sediment source, whether geomorphological (more immediate) or geological (the proto-source), can provide information about past landscapes and sediment transport including sediment production, atmospheric circulation, landscape evolution, and the wider dust cycle.
To answer provenance and Quaternary change research questions I utilise loess - palaeosol deposits. Loess preserves alternating layers of loess (dust) and palaeosol (soils), which represent large scale palaeoclimatic changes, glacials and interglacials. It is one of the longest terrestrial archives of past climatic and environmental change.
LOESS-PALAEOSOL DEPOSITS
The key techniques I use to address provenance questions revolve around sediment geochemistry, in particular single grain zircons. Zircon U-Pb dating and isotopic hafnium content enable tracing individual loess grains to the bedrock(s) they were eroded from.
GEOCHEMISTRY - ZIRCON DATING AND ISOTOPES
Geochronology provides a basis for a robust comparison of environmental change between sites, regions, and archives. I am an OSL specialist with an extensive background in dating quartz and feldspars minerals, and using luminescence dating to determine the timing of loess deposition.
GEOCHRONOLOGY - LUMINESCENCE DATING (OSL)
Loess typically provides lithological evidence of past processes. In my research I focus on stratigraphic description and sedimentological proxies, such as grain size, colour, magnetic susceptibility, and organic and carbonate content.
SEDIMENTOLOGY
Research Interests
Sample locations
PROJECTS LOCATIONS
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