INQUA 2023 is being held in Rome, Italy. See below a compiled list of sessions convened and co-convened by AQUA members.
Session 21: Records of climate change from MIS 3 and MIS 2 in the Southern Hemisphere: The Lynda Petherick Memorial Session
James Shulmeister, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, Kathryn Fitzsimmons, University of Tuebingen, Germany, Jasper Knight, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, Lydia MacKenzie, Zhejiang University, China
Session description: The Southern Hemisphere is a critical but still under studied part of the global climate system. This session aims to bring new insights into climate change from across the hemisphere focusing on the period leading up to and including the Last Glacial Maximum. The session invites both paleodata and modelling studies from across all latitudes and both terrestrial and marine environments. This session commemorates the life and career of Dr Lynda Petherick who died unexpectedly in February 2022. She was a driving force behind research into climate change during the LGM in the Southern Hemisphere. She undertook pioneering work on using dust records for reconstructing atmospheric circulation and was the leader of the Southern Hemisphere Last Glacial Maximum (SHeMax) project. The purpose of this session is also for the community to develop new directions and a new project for paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental science in the Southern Hemisphere for the next inter-INQUA period.We are hoping for papers from this session to be included in a special issue of the Journal of Quaternary Science (to be confirmed).We invite papers covering any or all of the topics below;- New data and reconstructions of paleoclimate in MIS 3 and 2 (can include earlier and older records) from any part of the Southern Hemisphere- Paleoclimate modelling studies of the Southern Hemisphere- Paleoclimate data syntheses and reviews from the Southern Hemisphere- Human-environmental interactions in the Southern Hemisphere from MIS 3 to MIS 1- New methodologies and geochronological approaches- Papers that specifically honour the memory of Lynda Petherick
Session 126: Sub-annual to decadal records of environmental change
Amy Prendergast, University of Melbourne, Australia
Abstract: Understanding past climate and environmental change at high-resolution timescales (annual to sub- annual) is important as it allows current and future climate change to be contextualized within long-term frameworks; it provides data for numerical simulations that will allow climate modellers to better predict anthropogenic impacts on the natural climate system; and it facilitates evaluations of the relationship between past environmental changes and human behaviour. In the past decade, advances in technology, methodology, model development, and proxy calibration have enabled the extraction of more robust palaeoenvironmental records from marine, freshwater, and terrestrial palaeoenvironmental archives. Many of these archives including mollusc shells, corals, otoliths, speleothems, and tree rings have periodic growth increments. Studying the growth and chemistry of these increments allows the reconstruction of high-resolution, temporally constrained palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironmental data from varied regions of the globe and are allowing correlations between continental and marine systems. This session invites presentations on high-resolution climate and environmental records from marine, terrestrial and freshwater archives. We encourage contributions on both
palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, and proxy calibration studies.
Session 153: Beyond the microscope: molecular, chemical, imaging techniques at the frontier of Quaternary palaeoecology and environmental reconstructions
Katherine Holt, Massey University, New Zealand, k.holt@massey.ac.nz, (lead convener) Alistair Seddon, University of Bergen, Norway
Abstract: Ongoing technological advances are continuing to expand the toolkit available to paleoecologists. Notable developments in recent years, related to both imaging and to biomolecular analyses have offered opportunities to greatly improve the taxonomic resolution the fossil record, which in turn can result in more accurate paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. While other developments related to biomolecular analyses have opened up new proxies for application to Quaternary timeframes.
The purpose pf this session to showcase the latest research applying molecular, chemical and imaging/image classification techniques in the fields of palynology and palaeoecology. We welcome presentations in methods for, or applications of any of the following: eDNA/aDNA and/or related molecular techniques; chemotaxonomy; pollen chemistry as an environmental proxy; and imaging and image classification for palaeoecology applications. We also welcome presentations involving other novel methods for paleoecology & palynology.
Session 162: Astronomical forcing and nonlinear climate feedbacks during the Pleistocene Epoch
Xu Zhang, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS, China; Helen Bostock, University of Queensland, Australia; Stephen Barker, Cardiff University, UK; Gregor Knorr, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany
Abstract:: Astronomical forcing is the most important known external driver of the climate system. Nevertheless, resultant internal climate feedbacks that invoke different climate components on different time scales, play a critical role in past climate change, which cannot be explained simply by orbital changes alone (e.g. Dansgaard-Oeschger events, glacial inception and termination, the mid-Brunhes transition, the mid-Pleistocene transition, etc.). In this session, we aim to bring together modeling, theoretical and proxy-based studies as well as novel methodologies that combine the above approaches, to study roles of centennial-to-orbital scale interactions among the atmosphere-ocean system, cryosphere and carbon cycle, advancing our understanding of the dynamics of the nonlinear climate system during these climate transitions.
Session 118: Cave deposits for in deep understanding Quaternary climate and environment
Andrea Columbu, Parma University, Italy, Valdir Novello, University of Tübingen, Germany, Barbara Wortham, NOAA Climate and Global Change, USA, Yassine Ait Brahim, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Benguerir, Morocco, Micheline Campbell, UNSW Sydney, Australia
Abstract: Cave deposits efficiently record past climatic and environmental conditions. Either clastic sediments or chemically precipitated deposits (speleothems) can indeed retain important insights about variation in temperatures, rainfall amount and source, seasonality, vegetation and soil status, hydrology as well as many other key-aspects of the Quaternary Period. This is accomplished throughout the study of physic-bio-geochemical, petro- mineralogic and sediment-stratigraphic characteristic of cave deposits, which can be rigidly anchored to low- uncertainty geochronology thanks to the modern dating techniques (ie. U-Th, U-Pb, 14C, OSL, etc.). Furthermore, the association of these geological archives with models can help to improve the understanding of Quaternary conditions from a regional to a global perspective. This session welcomes cave-deposit based novel studies with special regard to those presenting: 1) chronologies for key Quaternary events, 2) new records from underrepresented Quaternary time-slices and/or geographical areas; 3) novel palaeoclimate/environment proxies and/or techniques; 4) Models using data in global repository (ie. SISAL, NOAA, etc) and 5) cave monitoring. The aim of this session is to summarise and possibly update the state of the art of Quaternary palaeoclimate-
environment research based on cave deposits from a multi-disciplinary perspective, as well as discuss the potential scientific directions for the near future.