معرفی
Stefan Wastegård is Professor of Quaternary Geology with a specialisation in Quaternary Stratigraphy at Stockholm University's Department of Physical Geography, where he actively teaches bachelor's and master's courses. He leads the research group SUQuaTeSt (Stockholm University Quaternary Tephra Studies), focusing on volcanic ash layers as geochronological tools for correlating Late Quaternary climate records across marine, ice-core, and terrestrial archives in Scandinavia, the Azores, Patagonia, and the North Atlantic region.
Wastegård's research centers on resolving uncertainties in Late Quaternary chronologies, particularly addressing radio-carbon dating limitations (radiocarbon plateaux, reservoir effects) and the scarcity of dating methods for periods before 40 ka BP. His work utilizes diverse climatic archives to examine climate synchrony across the North Atlantic, with emphasis on tephrochronology for identifying isochrons in peat bogs, lake sediments, and marine cores. Key interests include Younger Dryas dynamics, Holocene climate events, and volcanic ash dispersal mechanisms.
Analysis of his recent publications reveals a sustained effort to expand tephrochronological frameworks geographically and temporally. Major contributions include the first geochemical confirmation of Laacher See Tephra in southern Sweden, extension of Azores tephra dispersal to Ireland, and identification of cryptotephras from moderate Icelandic eruptions in Finland. His studies consistently address methodological challenges while establishing new chronological markers for climate events like the 4.2 ka BP anomaly and Younger Dryas ice-sheet behavior.
No scientific awards, prizes, or fellowships are documented in the provided texts.
Wastegård has served as main supervisor for seven PhD students: Hans Johansson, Ewa Lind, Carl Lilja, Sofia Andersson, Anders Borgmark, Simon Larsson, and Christos Katrantsiotis. His current research project "Precise linking of late Quaternary palaeoclimate records in the North Atlantic region" compares climate signals across high-resolution archives to understand rapid climate transitions. He has secured funding for numerous completed projects including Holocene tephrochronology for the Faroe Islands and cryptotephra studies in Patagonia.
As head of SUQuaTeSt, he directs Stockholm University's Quaternary Tephra Studies group which has pioneered tephrochronological applications in Scandinavia for decades. The team specializes in extracting and analyzing both visible and cryptotephra layers from organic-rich sediments using electron probe microanalysis, collaborating internationally on projects like PASADO in Patagonia and contributing to frameworks such as INTIMATE for glacial-interglacial transitions.
