Christine Lane

Tephrochronologist studying Quaternary environmental change and explosive volcanism.

Research Area

My research aims to understand the pace, spatial complexity and environmental responses to Quaternary climate variability, as well as the timing and impacts of explosive volcanic eruptions. My primary expertise is in tephrochronology – the detection, geochemical characterisation and correlation of far-travelled volcanic ash (tephra) isochrons, which can precisely align volcanic, palaeoenvironmental and archaeological sequences. In the Cambridge Tephra Laboratory, we have a specialist facility for studying microscopic ash deposits, termed “cryptotephra”, within diverse sediment archives.

I’m interested in the role of environmental changes on hominin evolution and dispersal during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. Using tephra layers to date and directly connect archaeological archives to the palaeoenvironmental record, precise correlations between climatic changes and human histories can be made. I have also worked extensively using cryptotephra layers to date and synchronise archives of abrupt climate change from the Lateglacial and MIS 3. 

Recent research collaborations are contributing to Late Pleistocene and Holocene tephrostratigraphies for eastern African rift volcanoes. Through correlation of visible and crypto- tephra layers in lake sediment archives, stratified tephra records are contributing both to dating and correlation of important tropical palaeoclimate archives and to a better understanding of past explosive volcanism and hazard in an understudied region.

Project Interests

I would be interested in co-creating projects that apply tephrochronology (+/- cryptotephra methods) to Quaternary environmental, archaeological or volcanological questions. I am keen to “fill in the gaps” in regional tephrostratigraphies in understudied areas or timeframes, using cryptotephra records. Examples could include the Holocene or Last Interglacial time periods in Europe, active volcanic systems along the East Africa Rift, South America, or elsewhere with poorly known long-term eruption records. Closer to home, I have growing interests in UK Fenland landscapes, where cryptotephra could help support the correlation of Holocene peatland archives of regional environmental change and Neolithic archaeology.