Regional Applications of Lake Sediment Dating by Spheroidal Carbonaceous Particle Analysis I: United Kingdom

Spheroidal carbonaceous fly-ash particles (SCPs) are produced by the high temperature combustion of fossil-fuels such as coal and oil. They are not produced by any natural processes and therefore are unambiguous indicators of atmospheric deposition from power generation and other industrial sources. In lake sediments, SCP concentration profiles are robust, replicable and often regionally characteristic such that the main profile features can be used for sediment dating. Previous work in the UK provided dates for the three main SCP profile features for Scotland, North Wales and Northern Ireland and also highlighted the lack of information for the rest of the UK. In this study, archived SCP data and new SCP concentration profiles were compiled from 80 radionuclide-dated sediment cores from across the whole of the UK in order to determine the regional coherence of temporal trends. Using SCP cumulative percentage profiles, with the SCP concentration peak set as 100%, dates for each 10% were produced for each core. Comparing these dates, eight distinct regions were found within the UK and dated cumulative profiles, with errors, were determined for each. Despite this regionality, the whole of the UK showed the same date for the start of the record (1850±25 years) and for the 40- and 50% (1940±15 and 1955±15, respectively). The national coherence of the former is thought to be due to the large confidence limits in the radionuclide dates for this period, whilst the latter is thought to be due to the impact from the major increase in electricity demand following the Second World War and the widespread introduction and use of cheap fuel-oil. Since the 1960s the trend has been one of increasing regionalisation resulting from the introduction of particle arrestor technology, the decline of heavy industry, the move to fewer and larger sources, particularly power stations, and an increase in accuracy for the dates of recent horizons. Regional trends are seen to compare well with industrial development in the UK and in some western areas influenced by emissions from Ireland. Areas of uncertainty remain in South Wales and the northern isles. A cumulative percentile was also calculated for each region for 1963 in order that this can be compared with the ²⁴¹Am and ¹³⁷Cs peaks.