DATING OF RECENT LAKE-SEDIMENTS IN THE UNITED-KINGDOM AND IRELAND USING SPHEROIDAL CARBONACEOUS PARTICLE (SCP) CONCENTRATION PROFILES

Spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs) produced from fossil-fuel com bustion are found in lake sediments and provide a historical record of atmospheric pollutant deposition. The sediment record of these partic les is remarkably consistent and the main features are now seen throug hout Europe and beyond. Once the SCP record from a region has been est ablished using accurately dated cores, SCP profiles can be used to det ermine dates at other sites in the region. This technique was develope d in Sweden brit until recently has had limited use in the UK and Irel and as the most useful dating feature, the subsurface peak, was not pr esent in all cores. In recent cores this can now almost always be obse rved. Dating features for UK and Irish cores are found to differ sligh tly between regions. The potential exists for extra dates to be alloca ted to a profile by using characterisation of SCP surfaces to determin e changes in fuel-type use. Dates could then be allocated to these cha nges using documentary sources to derive combustion histories. In futu re years, SCP dating will become increasingly valuable especially for mid- to late-nineteenth-century sediments as continual decay renders(2 10) Pb progressively less useful for this time interval.