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Dating of recent lake sediments in the United Kingdom and Ireland using spheroidal carbonaceous particle (SCP) concentration profiles

Environmental Change Research Centre, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London, WC1H OAP, UK

S. Harlock

Environmental Change Research Centre, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London, WC1H OAP, UK

P.G. Appleby

Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Liverpool, P.O. Box 147, Liverpool, L69 3BX, UK

R.W. Battarbee

Environmental Change Research Centre, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London, WC1H OAP, UK

Spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs) produced from fossil-fuel combustion are found in lake sediments and provide a historical record of atmospheric pollutant deposition. The sediment record of these particles is remarkably consistent and the main features are now seen throughout Europe and beyond. Once the SCP record from a region has been established using accurately dated cores, SCP profiles can be used to determine dates at other sites in the region. This technique was developed in Sweden but until recently has had limited use in the UK and Ireland as the most useful dating feature, the subsurface peak, was not present in all cores. In recent cores this can now almost always be observed. Dating features for UK and Irish cores are found to differ slightly between regions. The potential exists for extra dates to be allocated to a profile by using characterisation of SCP surfaces to determine changes in fuel-type use. Dates could then be allocated to these changes using documentary sources to derive combustion histories. In future years, SCP dating will become increasingly valuable especially for mid- to late-nineteenth-century sediments as continual decay renders²¹⁰ Pb progressively less useful for this time interval.

Key Words: Sediment dating • carbonaceous particles • SCP • lake sediments • fly-ash • atmospheric pollution • United Kingdom • Ireland.

The Holocene, Vol. 5, No. 3, 328-335 (1995)
DOI: 10.1177/095968369500500308


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