Stephen Gale has research interests in environmental change over timescales extending up to hundreds of millions of years. Most of his work, however, deals with the last few decades and centuries, and with the environmental impact of human activity over this period. He is interested in dating the recent past and in reconstructing detailed records of environmental change in order to tackle modern environmental problems. He has investigated the behaviour of hydrological systems, particularly in response to human activity. He has worked in glaciated, karstic and alpine terrains, in tropical humid landscapes and in arid and lacustrine environments. He has undertaken research in Canada, the USA, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Greece, Libya, Malaysia, Australia, Fiji and Samoa
