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Understanding the nature and timing of past environmental change is key to our understanding of contemporary events and processes. This module aims to provide students with an introduction to the concepts and techniques used for studying the nature of environmental change from the end of the last glacial, around 15,000 years ago, to the Holocene. The time between the last glacial and the onset of the Holocene was a dynamic period and investigations of this interval tell us a great deal about how the earth’s environment can respond rapidly to natural forcing. The Holocene is the most recent interglacial, covering the last c. 11,700 years. It is inextricably linked to human cultural evolution and our study of natural and anthropogenic changes within the Holocene is central to our understanding of human impacts on the earth. Indeed, in recent years a new human-forced geological epoch, called the Anthropocene, has been proposed.

The following topics are covered: (i) the range of natural archives of environmental change (e.g. lake and marine sediments, ice cores, speleothems); (ii) the chronological techniques used to date these archives, with specific focus on 210Pb and 14C; (iii) proxies used to reconstruct past environments; (iv) case studies based on palaeoclimate and on human impact on the environment.

Geography students are strongly advised to take GEOG0008 Environmental Change. GEOG0021 is alsoÌýrelevant to Earth Science and Archaeology students, who are strongly advised to take relevant 1st year courses in theirÌýown departments if they have not taken GEOG0008. Students in other departments who wish to take GEOG0021 are strongly advised to take relevant 1st year courses if they have not taken GEOG0008.