Dr Helen Roberts

Senior Lecturer
Photograph of Dr Helen Roberts.

Contact

Email: hmr@aber.ac.uk
Office: F6
Phone: +44 (0)1970 622 604
Fax: +44 (0)1970 622 659

Responsibilities

  • F800, Geography Degree Scheme Leader

Teaching Areas

Module coordinator for:

  • GG33120: Palaeoenvironmental Change Beyond the Ice Sheets
  • GG20130: Research Skills in Geography
  • GG20230: Research Skills in Physical Geography
  • Physical Analysis of Materials - subcomponent of GG20130 and GG20230

Contributes to:

  • Chemical Aspects Of Pollution (ES30110)
  • Current Issues In Quaternary Research (EAM2410)
  • Dissertation Planning: Quaternary Environmental Change (EAM2510)
  • Research Techniques In Quaternary Science (EAM2630)
  • Research Dissertation In Quaternary Environmental Change (EAM3450)

Research

Group Affiliation

Research Interests

The development and application of luminescence geochronology, with particular interest in rates of geomorphic change, and also studying deposits of wind blown dust (‘loess’) and the dust record. Dust in the atmosphere has a potentially significant impact on the climate system, but its role in climate change is not well understood. The application of high resolution OSL dating to loess provides an unparalleled record of changing dust deposition rates, giving important information regarding atmospheric dust fluxes for use in climate models.

Current PhD Students

Biography

Dr Helen Roberts joined the Institute in 1998 as a post-doctoral research assistant in the Aberystwyth Luminescence Research Laboratory, and was appointed to a lectureship in Physical Geography in 2005. Prior to coming to Aberystwyth, Helen worked in the Luminescence Laboratory at the University of Durham, and also taught in the Department of Geography at the University of Exeter.

Staff Publications

Peer Reviewed Book Chapters & Journal Articles

2012

  1. Chapot, M.S., Roberts, H.M., Duller, G.A.T., Lai, Z.P. 2012, in press. A comparison of natural- and laboratory-generated dose response curves for quartz optically stimulated luminescence signals from Chinese Loess. Radiation Measurements XX, xx-xx. DOI
  2. Roberts, H.M. 2012. Testing Post-IR IRSL protocols for minimising fading in feldspars, using Alaskan loess with independent chronological control. Radiation Measurements 47, 716-724. DOI
  3. Smedley R.K., Duller, G.A.T., Pearce, N.J.G, Roberts, H.M. 2012. Determining the K-content of single-grains of feldspar for luminescence dating. Radiation Measurements 47, 790-796. DOI
  4. Stirling, R., Duller, G.A.T., Roberts, H.M. 2012. Developing a single-aliquot protocol for measuring equivalent dose in biogenic carbonates. Radiation Measurements 47, 768-777. DOI
  5. Porat, N, Duller, G.A.T., Roberts, H.M., Piasetzky, E., Finkelstein, I. 2012. OSL dating in multi-strata Tel: Megiddo (Israel) as a case study. Quaternary Geochronology 6, 359-366. DOI
  6. Rowan, A.V., Roberts, H.M., Jones, M.A., Duller, G.A.T., Covey-Crump, S.J., Brocklehurst, S.H. 2012. Optically stimulated luminescence dating of glaciofluvial sediments on the Canterbury Plains, South Island, New Zealand. Quaternary

2010

  1. Davids F, Roberts HM, Duller GAT. 2010. Is X-ray core scanning non-destructive? Assessing the implications for Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of sediments. Journal of Quaternary Science, 25: 348-353 DOI
  2. Davids F, Duller GAT and Roberts HM. 2010. Testing the use of feldspars for optical dating of hurricane overwash deposits. Quaternary Geochronology 5: 125- 130.
  3. Durcan JA, Roberts HM, Duller GAT, Alizai AH. 2010. Testing the use of range-finder OSL dating to inform field sampling and laboratory processing strategies. Quaternary Geochronology. 5: 86-90. DOI
  4. Kim JC, Duller GAT, Roberts HM, Wintle AG, Lee Y I, Yi SB. 2010. Re-evaluation of the chronology of the palaeolithic site at Jeongokri, Korea, using OSL and TT-OSL signals from quartz. Quaternary Geochronology. 5: 365-370. DOI
  5. Adamiec G, Duller GAT, Roberts HM, Wintle AG. 2010. Improving the TT-OSL SAR protocol through source trap characterisation. Radiation Measurements 45: 768-777.

2009

  1. Madsen AT, Duller GAT, Donnelly JP, Roberts HM, Wintle AG. 2009. A chronology of hurricane landfalls at Little Sippewissett Marsh, Massachusetts, USA, using optical dating. Geomorphology, 109(1-2): 36-45. DOI
  2. Plater AJ, Stupples P, Roberts HM. 2009. Evidence of episodic coastal change during the Late Holocene: The Dungeness barrier complex, SE England. Geomorphology, 104: 47-58. DOI
  3. Kim JC, Duller GAT, Roberts HM, Wintle AG, Lee Y I, Yi SB. 2009. Dose dependence of thermally transferred optically stimulated luminescence signals in quartz. Radiation Measurements, 44: 132-143. DOI
  4. Preoteasa L, Roberts HM, Duller GAT, Vespremeanu-Stroe A. 2009. Late-Holocene coastal dune system evolution in the Danube delta, NW Black Sea basin. Journal of Coastal Research, SI 56: 347-351.
  5. Kim JC, Roberts HM, Duller GAT, Lee Y I, Yi SB. 2009. Assessment of diagnostic tests for evaluating the reliability of SAR De values from polymineral and quartz fine grains. Radiation Measurements, 44: 149-157. DOI
  6. Porat N, Duller GAT, Roberts HM, Wintle AG. 2009. A simplified SAR protocol for TT-OSL. Radiation Measurements, 44: 538-542. DOI
  7. Roberts HM, Durcan JA, Duller GAT. 2009. Exploring procedures for the rapid assessment of optically stimulated luminescence range-finder ages. Radiation Measurements, 44: 582-587. DOI

2008

  1. Muhs DR, Bettis III EA, Aleinikoff JN, McGeehin JP, Beann J, Skipp G, Marshall DR, Roberts HM, Johnson WC, Benton R. 2008. Origin and paleoclimatic significance of late Quaternary loess in Nebraska: Evidence from stratigraphy, chronology, sedimentology, and geochemistry. GSA Bulletin, 120: 1378-1407. DOI
  2. Roberts HM. 2008. The development and application of luminescence dating to loess deposits: a perspective on the past, present, and future. Boreas, 37: 483–507. DOI

2007

  1. Roberts HM, Plater AJ. 2007. Reconstruction of Holocene foreland progradation using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating: an example from Dungeness, UK. Holocene, 17: 495-505. DOI
  2. Roberts HM. 2007. Assessing the effectiveness of the double-SAR protocol in isolating a luminescence signal dominated by quartz. Radiation Measurements. Radiation Measurements, 42: 1627-1636. DOI
  3. Plater AJ, Stupples P, Roberts HM. 2007. The depositional history of Dungeness Foreland. In: Long, A.J., Waller, M.P., and Plater, A.J. (ed), Dungeness and Romney Marsh: Barrier Dynamics and Marshland Evolution. Oxbow Books, Oxford, ISBN 978-1-84217-288-9.
  4. Hamilton D, Marshall P, Roberts HM, Bronk Ramsey C, and Cook G. 2007. Appendix 1 Gwithian: scientific dating. Return to Gwithian: Shifting the Sands of Time. Cornish Archaeology 46: 13-76 In: Nowakowski, J.A., Quinnell, H., Sturgess, H., Thomas, C., and Thorpe, C., Return to Gwithian: Shifting the Sands of Time. Cornish Archaeology 46, 13-76. ISSN 0070 024X.
  5. Hamilton D, Marshall P, Roberts HM, Bronk Ramsey C, and Cook G. 2007. Gwithian: scientific dating (AMS) programme. In: J.A. Nowakowski (ed), Excavations of a Bronze Age landscape and post-Roman industrial settlement 1953-61, Gwithian, Cornwall. Assessment of key datasets 2005-6, II, 249-63 (Historic Environment Service, Cornwall County Council), HES report 2007R017.

2006

  1. Burbidge C I, Duller GAT, Roberts HM. 2006. D-e determination for young samples using the standardised OSL response of coarse-grain quartz. Radiation Measurements, 41: 278-288. DOI
  2. Roberts HM. 2006. Optical dating of coarse-silt sized quartz from loess: Evaluation of equivalent dose determinations and SAR procedural checks. Radiation Measurements, 41: 923-929. DOI
  3. Roberts HM, Muhs DR, Bettis III EA. 2006. North American Loess Records. . In: The Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science (Ed: S. Elias), p. 1456-1465, Elsevier, ISBN 10: 044451919X.

2005

  1. Reheis MC, Reynolds RL, Goldstein H, Roberts HM, Yount JC, Axford Y, Cummings LS, Shearin N. 2005. Late Quaternary eolian and alluvial response to paleoclimate, Canyonlands, southeastern Utah. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 117: 1051-1069.

Reports

2007

  1. Roberts HM. 2007. Gwithian, Cornwall: optically stimulated luminescence dating of sands from a Bronze Age archaeological site. English Heritage Research Department Report Series 103/2007, : 16.
  2. Duller GAT, Roberts HM. 2007. Swale/Ure Washlands: Single grain optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) measurements of fluvial and fluvioglacial sediments. English Heritage Research Department Report Series 31/2007, : 16.

2005

  1. Roberts HM, Plater AJ. 2005. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of sands underlying the gravel beach ridges of Dungeness and Camber, southeast England, U.K. English Heritage Research Department Report Series 27/2005, : 84.
  2. Goldstein H, Reynolds R, M Reheis, Yount J, Lamothe P, Roberts HM, McGeehin J. 2005. Particle-size, CaCO3, chemical, magnetic, and age data from surficial deposits in and around Canyonlands National Park, Utah. US Geological Survey Open File Report 2005-1186, : 201 pp.