Research
Research groups
Research interests
- Antarctic palaeoceanography and palaeoclimate
- West Antarctic iceberg-rafted debris provenance
- Geological history of the Antarctic Ice Sheet
Current research
Tom Arney's research concerns the palaeoceanography of the Amundsen Sea and the stability and dynamics of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene (~1-3 million years ago).
A major part of this research is analysing marine sediment cores from the West Antarctic margin. He is reconstructing the environment of the region using stable isotope stratigraphy, biostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, sedimentology, x-radiography, and geochemistry.
He is using the School of Ocean and Earth Science's laser-ablation mass spectrometry facilities to gather evidence from trace elements and lead isotopes about the provenance of iceberg-rafted debris (IRD). As the climate changes and the ice sheet responds, the sources of IRD also change, and so Tom hopes to find these signals and interpret the environmental changes they represent, including sea level rise as a result of melting ice in Antarctica – an issue with modern-day consequences.