My research is centred on the use of cosmogenic nuclides - rare isotopes produced at the surface of the Earth by cosmic rays - to understand the past extent and timing of changes in glaciers and ice sheets, particularly the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. See below, and my Google Scholar page, for information on my published work.
Cosmogenic in situ C-14
My PhD research was (and my new role at SUERC is) centred on measuring and applying the cosmogenic nuclide in situ C-14. This cosmogenic nuclide - which you can learn more about on this page I wrote for AntarcticGlaciers.org - is particularly useful for understanding changes in glaciers in the Holocene because it has such a short half-life. However, it wasn't until the mid- to late-2010s that measuring in situ C-14 in quartz became relatively routine. In the list below, you'll find a short review paper on in situ C-14 in Antarctica published in Annals of Glaciology, a methods paper I wrote as part of my PhD research, and another I co-authored with my PhD advisor on the in situ C-14 extraction line I worked with at Tulane University. In the two sections below, you'll find papers applying in situ C-14 measurements (made by either myself or colleagues).
Published papers:
A decade of cosmogenic in situ 14C in Antarctica (Nichols, 2023, Annals of Glaciology)
Isolation of quartz for cosmogenic in situ 14C analysis (Nichols and Goehring, 2019, Geochronology)
Holocene readvance of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet
As part of my postdoctoral research, I am investigating the recent history of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica. Dubbed the "Doomsday Glacier", Thwaites is roughly the size of the island of Great Britain and contains enough ice to raise global sea level by 0.65 m. Specifically, as part of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC), I'm measuring long-lived cosmogenic nuclides (Be-10 and Al-26), together with collaborators measuring a short-lived cosmogenic nuclide (in situ C-14) in subglacial bedrock to test if/when Thwaites has been smaller than present. I've also i) measured Be-10 and Al-26 in cobbles collected from a moraine adjacent to Thwaites Glacier that we hypothesise was formed as a smaller glacier readvanced in the Late Holocene and ii) co-authored a study (led by Scott Braddock, below) summarising progress made on shallow subglacial bedrock drilling (for cosmogenic nuclide analysis).
Published papers:
Direct constraints on the timing of a Late Holocene readvance near Thwaites Glacier (submitted to GRL, also presented at EGU 2024).
Antarctic surface exposure dating
As part of the ITGC, I'm also measuring cosmogenic Be-10 in erratic cobbles collected from surfaces adjacent to Pine Island Glacier (recently submitted to Geology). Neighbouring Thwaites Glacier, Pine Island is of a comparable size and, owing to their vulnerability to future runaway retreat, the two glaciers are collectively known as the "weak underbelly of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet".
My main PhD work focussed on applying in situ C-14 surface exposure dating to investigate how ice in the Weddell Sea Embayment, Antarctica has changed over the last ~20,000 years (in The Cryosphere). I was involved in many of the papers listed below through measuring in situ C-14 in samples for external collaborators whilst working toward my PhD at Tulane University. For the most recent co-authored paper (Marschalek et al., 2024), I measured Be-10 in a sample of bedrock collected from a recently discovered island between Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers as part of the ITGC project.
Published papers (first author):
Co-authored:
