Methodology: Development and Calibration of Proxies for Paleoscience

Proxies serve as indispensable tools for indirectly inferring and interpreting historical climate conditions. The accuracy and reliability of proxy-based reconstructions greatly depend on the calibration and validation of the chosen proxy. This topic involves creating and continuously refining proxy methods to ensure their accuracy and reliability in reconstructing past phenomena. The ultimate goal is to establish these proxy methods as dependable and effective tools for understanding the complex mysteries of Earth’s historical climates, environmental changes, and the multitude of factors that have shaped our planet’s past.

Figure. Measurement bias registered in the employment of different carbon quantification methods (measured using identical samples). ([Li et al., 2020](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2019.104276)).

Selected reference

• Li, N., Yu, F., Chambers, F., Huang, Z., Lin,W., Zhu, Z., Yang, H., and Lin, J., 2023. A humification-basedmethod towards refining Holocene radiocarbon chronologies: wetland records from southeastern China. The Holocene 33: 605-615. [link]
• Li, N., Sack, D., Sun, J., Liu, S., Liu, B., Wang, J., Gao, G., Li, D., Song, Z. and Jie, D., 2020. Quantifying the carbon content of aeolian sediments: Which method should we use? Catena 185: 104276. [link]