A seminar by Chris Marshall from the University of Nottingham
The Modern peatlands are globally important as biodiversity hotspots, and carbon and freshwater stores, with origins at the past glacial maximum. Current changes in climate are unprecedented within the timescale of the Holocene (past 11,000 years) and therefore to predict how these peatlands will react we need look towards the geological record. Ancient peatlands are abundant throughout the geological record, preserved as coal and lignite. These formed in a variety of different climates from the arid Permian (300-250Ma) to the rapid warming of the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal maximum (c. 65Ma). Coal seams show peatlands can persist for period of up to 1 million years, and provide a time capsule – akin to the ice cores – of the environmental conditions present during their deposition. This seminar will present examples from my research showing how the coal record can be used to predict the future fate of peatlands such as the Flow Country, and most importantly show that coal is too interesting to burn!
Thursday 6th December at 5.15pm, ERI Castle Street, Thurso
Please find attached the seminar poster:
