Research fields

Mountain glaciers

Glaciers form an important water supply in mountain ranges such as the Himalaya and the Andes, and are sensitive indicators of palaeoclimate change.

Past climate and environmental change

Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years.

Ice sheets and glaciers

Ice sheets and glaciers are major components of the Quaternary environment. Knowledge about glacial history and present glacier activity are therefore essential for our understanding of climate history as well as past and future sea level changes.

Coring an isolation basin, Western Norway.

Sea level fluctuations and isostatic movements

During the Quaternary, Scandinavia has been affected by large and rapid sea level variations. These changes were caused by the growth and decay of large continental ice-sheets during the Quaternary, and are a combined effect of global changes in ocean volume (eustasy) and local movements of the...

Cave science (Speleology)

Caves are an essential part of landscapes formed in soluble rocks, like limestone and marble (called karst landscapes). Karst caves are created by groundwater flowing through the rock.

Geoarchaeology

This is a multidisciplinary approach that applies concepts and methods of earth sciences in connection with archaeological studies of past human lives and cultures.

Landscape evolution

How have landscapes come to be as they are?

Sampling boulder for exposure dating. The Hardangerfjord in the background.

Quaternary dating (geochronology)

Determining the timing of climatic changes and events, and of their impact on the environment, is an important aspect of Quaternary research.