Geography Research Seminar: Dr. Julie Durcan (University of Oxford) - Landscape dynamics and change on the Ghaggar-Hakra floodplain, India: implications for the Indus Civilisation
| Dates: | 15 March 2017 |
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| Times: | 16:00 - 17:30 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | School of Environment, Education and Development |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, Adults, Alumni, Current University students, General public |
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Title: Landscape dynamics and change on the Ghaggar-Hakra floodplain, India: implications for the Indus Civilisation
Abstract:
The area around the ephemeral Ghaggar-Hakra River system in India and Pakistan is associated with a dense concentration of Indus Civilisation archaeological sites. It has been suggested that a decline, and ultimately cessation, of flow in this river system in response to the weakening of the Asian Monsoon was influential in the collapse of the Indus Civilisation around 4,000 years ago and palaeoclimatic studies in the region have shown abrupt drying events during the mid-Holocene, which are superimposed onto a longer-term insolation driven decline in Asian Monsoon intensity. Further work is required to understand the dynamics of this river system during the Holocene and to assess the importance of changing landscape dynamics, as well as climatic variability, in the decline of the Indus Civilisation. This presentation presents optically stimulated luminescence dates from palaeochannel sediments and associated dune deposits in the Ghaggar-Hakra river system in Northwest India, with the aim of understanding late Quaternary geomorphological and palaeoenvironmental change and the link between the demise of the Indus Civilisation.
Bio:
Julie is researcher in the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford. Her research is focused on the development and application of luminescence dating to provide an improved understanding of Quaternary environmental change and geomorphological process, with a view to understanding human response to changing Holocene landscapes.
Seminar Chair: Abi Stone
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