Meta-analysis of Holocene fluvial sedimentary archives: A methodological primer

Abstract

This paper describes developments in the analysis and interpretation of Holocene fluvial chronologies over the past 25 years. Particular consideration is given to meta-analysis approaches pioneered by Macklin and Lewin (2003), using radiocarbon-dated fluvial deposits in Britain, which have transformed fluvial geochronologies and correlations with climate and land-use records worldwide. During the last decade methodological developments have addressed issues such as correction for the shape of the radiocarbon calibration curve in the probability analysis of dated fluvial units and for variable alluvial unit preservation. The number of regional database analyses of fluvial sedimentary archives has also expanded significantly during the past decade, with studies now available for Africa, the Mediterranean region, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Poland, the Rhine catchment and the UK. Methods for incorporating optically stimulated luminescence ages in the probability analysis have also been developed and are illustrated using the database of Eastern Mediterranean dated fluvial deposits. There is considerable potential for meta-analysis research to inform long-term flood risk assessment, to evaluate short-term climate and land-use change impacts on flooding and river behaviour, and to test landscape evolution models.

Human occupations and environmental changes in the Nile valley during the Holocene: The case of Kerma in Upper Nubia (northern Sudan)

“…If the radiocarbon calibration curve (Intcal 13; Reimer et al, 2013) has an influence on the shape of the 14 C density curves because of the fluctuations in atmospheric 14 C (Chiverrell et al, 2011), it has no influence on the validity of the two chronological gaps. More elaborate methods are now available to interpret 14 C density curves (Jones et al, 2015).…”

Reconstructing a millennial‐scale record of flooding in a single valley setting: the 2011 flood‐affected Lockyer Valley, south‐east Queensland, Australia

“…Concerns have also been raised about the environmental significance of what is being dated and their relationship to changes in precipitation and stream flow. Initially, databases incorporated channel and overbank deposits but subsequent revisions in some studies involved distinguishing between those indicative of landscape ‘change’ versus those reflecting more gradual floodplain deposition (Lewin et al , ; Croke et al , ; Cohen et al , ; Jones et al , ). Some workers now believe that robust chronological datasets at a catchment and reach scale are an essential precursor to overcoming the limitations of regional databases and are a more robust data source in their own right (Chiverrell et al , ).…”

Extracting palaeoflood data from coarse‐grained Pleistocene river terrace archives: an example from SE Spain

“…One of the challenges is to understand the higher magnitude, lower frequency events that occur beyond the human record. Recent research initiatives have attempted to address this challenge by applying meta‐analysis (Jones et al , ) to large databases of better dated [typically using carbon‐14 ( 14 C) and optically stimulated luminescence techniques] flood deposits at catchment scale and beyond (e.g. Benito et al , ).…”