Geochronology Summer School

Dating Techniques in Environmental Research

Dating techniques

numerical methods (radiocarbon, exposure dating with ¹⁰Be, ²⁶Al, ³⁶Cl, etc.),
dendrochronology, Ice-core chronologies,
relative methods like soil weathering and Schmidt-hammer technique, palaeosoils, palaeomagnetism

Reconstruction of environmental parameters

(using dendroecology, stable isotopes, ....)

Climate and landscape history

(case studies: dendrochronology, ice cores, varves, loess-stratigraphies, ….)

Reconstructing geomorphic processes

(avalanches, mud flows, land slides, rock fall)

Forest fires

(charcoal: identification, dating, …)

Lectures and field trips

Presentation of the participants own research

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Study geochronology in one of Switzerland’s most spectacular landscapes

More about Study geochronology in one of Switzerland’s most spectacular landscapes

How can we determine when certain landscape changes took place? What are appropriate dating techniques? How should the results be interpreted in terms of landscape history? And what does this mean for reconstruction of past climates? These were some of the guiding questions of the 14th edition of the Geochronology Summer School, which took place in Morteratsch in the Upper Engadine from August 27 to September 2, 2023.