Latest developments

  • 16th International Geochronology Summer School 2025
    16th International Geochronology Summer School 2025

    The 16th International Geochronology Summer School 2025 – Dating Techniques in Environmental Research will be held between 31 August to 4 September 2025 in Morteratsch (Pontresina, Engadine, Switzerland). For more details visit the website.

  • Paleopedology Newsletter Issue 35 is now out!
    Paleopedology Newsletter Issue 35 is now out!

      The Paleopedology Newsletter is a collaborative initiative of the IUSS Commission 1.6 – Paleopedology and the INQUA Paleopedology Working Group. Stay updated on the latest events, research advances, and upcoming opportunities in paleopedology. For…

  • INQUA-SEQS Meeting
    INQUA-SEQS Meeting

    Quaternary stratigraphy and Quaternary maps as a base to understand the environment of mankind.

  • Workshop on Palaeosoil Analysis in Late Glacial Sandy Terrains Across Europe
    Workshop on Palaeosoil Analysis in Late Glacial Sandy Terrains Across Europe

    The multidisciplinary international team of the INQUA Project PAST invites you to participate in a workshop focused on Late Glacial palaeosoils in sandy terrains across Europe.

INQUA 2453 my: Palaeo-Hydrology: Ancient disasters, modern application (PHADMA)

PHADMA project targets the global spatial and temporal distribution of past hydrological extremes, to improve the quality of risk assessments, and modern flood event attribution.

Abstract

A rapidly warming climate has led to an intensification of the hydrological system, notably with an increase in extreme hydroclimatic events, such as floods and droughts. Risk assessment studies and mitigation strategies for the present and future depend heavily on monitored data. Unfortunately, the length of monitored series is limited, rarely spanning more than a century, and usually significantly shorter for peripherical regions. Hence, true evidence-based precedents for extreme hydrological events are often missing. The lack of such crucial baseline information is increasingly recognised as a weakness in modern event attribution studies. Such, there is a growing concern that our fundamental knowledge of the natural variability within the hydroclimate system may be limited. The field of palaeohydrology can greatly strengthen attribution studies and further our understanding of the potential future of hydroclimatic extremes. As part of the GLOCOPH (INQUA’s Global Continental Palaeohydrology working group), the PHADMA project aims to bridge the gap between the palaeo-data community, climate modellers and risk managers by seeking new approaches to utilise and implement information on extreme hydrologic events (floods and droughts) derived from palaeo-environmental and historical research.

Objectives:

  • To increase our knowledge of the global spatial and temporal distribution of past hydrological extremes;
  • To support risk assessments and modern extreme event attribution studies;
  • To stimulate the transfer of knowledge and to develop multi-disciplinary skills.

Project Leaders:

  • Dr. Willem Toonen, the Netherlands
  • Dr. Ray Lombardi, United States of America
  • Dr. Ankit Agarwal, India

Events

  • Kick-off meeting/workshop, 24-25th Nov 2024, Amsterdam (the Netherlands)
  • Mid-term GLOCOPH conference and fieldtrip, 9-14th Jun 2025, Bonn (Germany)
  • Summer school extreme event attribution, Summer 2026 (dates tbc), Amsterdam (the Netherlands)
  • Pre-INQUA workshop and field trip, 2027, Roorkee (India)

Explore more on this subject

Publications

INQUA serves the Quaternary Research community by supporting the publication of two scientific journals published by Elsevier: Quaternary International (QI), a hybrid Journal launched in 1989 that publishes 36 volumes/year, Quaternary Environments and Humans (QEH),…