Chris Oldknow is a research student studying for the degree of Ph.D in Physical Geography at the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom, under the supervision of Professors Janet Hooke and Andreas Lang.
The research that we are conducting on the Ganora farm is concerned with exploring the age of sediments/soils overlying bedrock, the timing of erosion and how long it takes for the tributaries to convey material through the system. The anticipated research outputs are highly significant in relation to current debates regarding the causes of land degradation (are they natural or driven by human impacts?) as well as exploring what fluvial (river) sediments can tell us about climate change over 100s-1000s of years . The project is in the first stages but in the first field season we have mapped both the soils and sediments in a river valley and are now analysing samples in the laboratory.