Radioisotopes in Quaternary geochronology: Recent advances

Reliable age control is essential for understanding Quaternary environmental change, from recent human impacts to long-term climate and landscape evolution. Over the past decades, a wide range of geochronological methods has been developed and refined, allowing researchers to date different archives. At the same time, advances in computational tools and statistical modelling have fundamentally changed how ages are calculated, calibrated, and interpreted. This review synthesizes recent developments in key Quaternary geochronology methods, including ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs dating, radiocarbon (¹⁴C) dating, meteoric ¹⁰Be dating, U-series dating, K-Ar/⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar dating. We found that recent progress in Quaternary geochronology has been driven not only by analytical improvements in individual dating methods, but also by the rapid expansion of computational tools for calibration, uncertainty assessment, and age-depth modelling. Overall, this synthesis highlights the increasing importance of method integration, transparent uncertainty treatment, and reproducible modelling for building reliable chronological frameworks in future Quaternary research.