Late Quaternary Tephrochronology of North Europe: A look back and prospects for the future

Chronological control and the resultant ability to examine the degree of synchrony among records of different origin are critical for the understanding of climate and environmental variability. There is an increasing demand for exact time markers in the palaeoclimate community as more investigations now aim at high temporal resolutions. Tephrochronology, which is an age-equivalent dating method, exploits these time-synchronous markers and offers a unique possibility to test hypotheses regarding synchronous or non-synchronous responses to climate forcing. Few, if any geochronological methods can match the precision it offers both temporally and spatially. A new generation of tephrochronologists has been undertaking novel research into cryptotephras (layers of nonvisible volcanic ash encompassed within sediments) in ice-cores, the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and several adjacent areas. The range of tephrochronology has radically been extended into geographic areas not previously considered suitable for this approach and many more records can now be integrated in a 'tephra lattice' for precise linking of sequence. In this talk, I will give a comprehensive overview of the state-of-art of cryptotephrochronology of North Europe with a special focus on Scandinavia and I will also present some prospects for the future.