Mr Christopher Kemp

Marine isotope stage 5 and stage 7 (MIS5 and MIS7) are the last periods in Earth’s history when sea level was high and the global climate was generally warm and wet, like today. However, the climate conditions in Australia during these two periods are little understood due to lack of data. Understanding what climate changes occurred in Australia during these periods and how Australian flora reacted to those changes both helps the understanding of large-scale climate drivers and may guide projections of future climate change.

To investigate past climate change during MIS5 and MIS7, a new set of cores from Fern Gully Lagoon wetland on North Stradbroke Island were recovered in 2015 and dated to ~205,000 in age. These cores are being studied using micro-XRF ITRAX systems, charcoal flux and pollen analysis detailing past island fire events and plant varieties. Comparison of local dust flux (from ITRAX, LOI, and magnetic susceptibility), charcoal flux (both micro and macro charcoal) and vegetation show broad coherence.

Planned publications will focus on MIS5 and MIS7 comparisons with changes in local dust flux and its drivers, a multi-proxy study of late MIS7/early MIS6 and a comparison between the MIS1, MIS5 and MIS7 interglacials.