Reconstruction of climatic variability in Eurasia using biomarkers in lacustrine archives

• Applicant: Dr. Susanne Fietz
• Subject Area: Hydrogeology, Hydrology, Limnology, Urban Water Management, Water Chemistry, Integrated Water Resources Management
• Term: from 2006 to 2009
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 27463502

Global warming will occur gradually over the next 50 to 100 years. It is therefore important that we are fully able to understand the extent and rate of past climate variability to decipher the human impact on natural conditions. The scientific community agrees that the Earth s climate changed very abruptly in the past and that weather systems in one region of the world can have significant effects on climate elsewhere, many thousands of kilometers away. There is currently an important gap in our knowledge of how large-scale climate processes affect continental regions. As yet, continental climate changes were inferred from a range of geochemical or palaeontological proxies, but these approaches are often influenced by factors other than temperature (e.g. salinity) or diagenetic processes. Therefore, a novel independent quantitative temperature proxy is highly desirable. Recently, a novel molecular proxy (TEX86), based on membrane lipids of bacteria, has been proposed as palaeothermometer in marine systems. The aim of the current project is to validate and apply this new valuable climatic proxy in continental lakes. Temperature calibration of TEX86 will be expanded and refined and new quantitative palaeotemperature reconstructions will be derived.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: Spain
• Host: Professor Dr. Antoni Rosell-Melé