Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English en
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Dating rEcent climaTE Changes To fOrecast the futuRe

Project description

Dating climate changes in islands and deserts

Climate change and human history are linked. Past climate studies help us understand modern global warming. There is evidence of migrations and economic shifts from 12 000 years ago. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the DETECTOR project will target niche environments like islands and deserts, which provide critical evidence of climate change and human activity. Field campaigns will take place in the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Crete, Cyprus, and Sardinia, as well as deserts in Argentina, California, and Texas, using advanced portable instruments for in situ absolute dating. The findings will be validated through laboratory analyses to ensure the instruments’ reliability and performance.

Objective

Climate change and human history are closely linked. Paleoclimate studies are essential for improving climate models, particularly for the 60–12 ka period, characterized by glacial conditions and rapid millennial-scale climatic fluctuations. Investigating these oscillations is crucial for assessing modern global warming and its impact on extreme weather events and sea level rise. Conversely, the millennial-scale climate shifts after 12 ka drove mass migrations and economic transformations, leaving significant archaeological evidence.
Paleoclimate studies and archaeology share methodologies like stratigraphic event definition and absolute dating, which are based mainly on 14C (up to 50 ka for organic materials) and luminescence techniques (up to 1 My for quartz and k-feldspar-rich samples).
This study focuses on niche environments like islands and desert regions. The former preserve strong evidence of climate change and human activity, particularly in the Mediterranean, while the latter are considered modern analogues of past glacial arid conditions. Key sites include Sardinia, Crete, Cyprus, Balearic, Canaries islands and deserts in California, Texas and Argentina.
DETECTOR builds on the IN-TIME project (IN-SITU INSTRUMENT FOR MARS AND EARTH DATING APPLICATIONS, G.A. 823934), which developed and validated a portable luminescence dating prototype (compared to lab analyses) through Alma Sistemi S.r.l. and the Luminescence Laboratory of the University of Sassari, Italy.
Proposed studies will include field campaigns using updated portable instruments for in situ absolute dating. Measurements will be cross-verified with laboratory analyses to assess the instrument’s functionality, operational reliability, and performance, paving the way for a novel scientific instrumentation product. DETECTOR unite the expertise of partners from Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Greece, USA & Argentina.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-SE - HORIZON TMA MSCA Staff Exchanges

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-SE-01

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

ALMA SISTEMI SRL
Net EU contribution
€ 320 640,00
Address
VIA DEI NASTURZI 4
00012 GUIDONIA MONTECELIO RM
Italy
SME
Yes
Region
Centro (IT) Lazio Roma
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost
No data

Participants (9)

Partners (2)