Developing novel geochemical and spectroscopic techniques to extend existing bushfire records

National and global fire regimes are evolving in the face of climate change, threatening ecosystems, water quality, townships and air quality. Our existing modelling techniques rely primarily on remote sensing data, which is limited to the last 30-50 years, or the analysis of charcoal which informs only on the occurrence of fire but does not distinguish fire characteristics. This project will test boron isotopes and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy as novel proxies to combat these limitations. Whilst sites in the Upper Nepean Catchment, the Upper Blue Mountains and Namadgi National Park will form the basis for this project, if successful, these methods can be employed in other fire hotspots both nationally and globally. The use of boron isotopes as a proxy for past fire occurrence has only been explored in one existing study centred in Finland, whilst existing FTIR studies have focussed on charcoal fragments.