Professor David Richards
B.Sc., Ph.D.(Bristol)
Expertise
Expert in dating geological material that can provide information about past climate change of the last few million years. Also working on new methods to explore low-levels of radioactive contamination in more recent sediments.
Current positions
Professor of Physical Geography
School of Geographical Sciences
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
Climate change - Using a wide-range of deposits, especially stalagmites from caves, but also bone, coral and sediments, to obtain high-resolution records of past temperature, sea levels, vegetation change, faunal evolution.
Geochronology -High-precision dating techniques to obtain chronological control on change in the Earth System (principally uranium-series and radiocarbon methods).
Environmental radioactivity - Developing novel protocols to explore source and pathways of radionuclides, particularly caesium, plutonium and uranium.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Investigating the carbon cycle using caves and corals
Principal Investigator
Role
Principal Investigator
Description
Tracing carbon in the carbon cycle for the past 50,000 years using geological deposits from caves or the deep ocean. Such data provides valuable constraints on the exchanges of…Managing organisational unit
School of Earth SciencesDates
01/03/2016 to 01/09/2017
Ice sheet and climate interaction - Implications for Coastal Engineering
Role
Co-Investigator
Description
A collaborative multidisciplinary workshop, funded by the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), held in June 2012 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, focused on understanding the extent and distribution of future sea-level…Managing organisational unit
Dates
01/12/2011 to 01/12/2012
Sharpening the U-Th chronometer
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Geographical SciencesDates
01/05/2011 to 01/04/2015
Dwarf Elephants in Mediterranean
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Geographical SciencesDates
01/05/2009 to 01/11/2012
Thesis supervisions
Publications
Recent publications
19/03/2026The relative role of direct orbital forcing versus CO2 and ice feedbacks on Quaternary climate
Nature Communications
In memoria
The Geographical Journal
The Gulf Stream moved northward at the end of the Little Ice Age
Communications Earth & Environment
Development of the IntCal database
Radiocarbon
Exploring exogenous controls on short- versus long-term erosion rates globally
Earth Surface Dynamics
Teaching
Field-based teaching (Year 2 and 3) is a principal focus. I have taught on field trips in SW England, Wales, Spain and France.
More advance units (Year 3) have considered past sea level and climate change, isotope geochemistry and paleoceanography.
