The green past of the Saharo-Arabian Desert: Isotope analyses of limestone cave deposits reveal recurrent humid intervals in the #SaharoArabianDesert over the last eight million years / International research project led by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry with participation of #MainzUniversity and Goethe University Frankfurt, supported by the Saudi Heritage Commission and the Ministry of Culture 👉 https://press.uni-mainz.de/the-green-past-of-the-saharo-arabian-desert/

#paleoclimate #hydroclimate #geochemistry #stalagmites #speleothems

New Scientist story on cave records of past fire

Any thanks to Liza McDonough (ANSTO) for agreeing to be interviewed for this article, which includes a summary of our recent Australian Research Council funded project to reconstruct past fire history using cave stalagmites
...

http://andy-baker.org/2024/12/07/new-scientist-story-on-cave-records-of-past-fire/

#wildfire #academia #caves #stalagmites #research

#Sulphur variations in annually #layered #stalagmites using benchtop micro #XRF

#xray #fluorescence is a great tool for #geochemistry and #paleoclimate studies!

#science #spectra #traceelements

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0584854722000106

Mapping organic matter in stalagmites using synchrotron infrared energy

It was April 2021, and myself and Pauline Treble (ANSTO) had emails about a forthcoming online XFM and IRM microscopy workshop at the Australian Synchrotron. That's x-ray fluorescence mapping and infra-red mapping at very high spatial and optical resolution. We already used XFM to map elements in stalagmites, but what about using IRM to map organic matter...?

http://andy-baker.org/2024/08/09/mapping-organic-matter-in-stalagmites-using-synchrotron-infrared-energy/

#caves #research #geology #earthscience #synchrotron #infrared #wildfire #stalagmites #academia

Dating Speleothems and Speleothem Growth

On Sunday I was invited to give a Science Forum webinar to the Australasian Cave and Karst Management Association. The topic was 'Dating Speleothems and Speleothem Growth'. The recording is now up on the ACKMA website. Although the talk was aimed as cave managers and guides, I hope it will be useful for anyone interested in caves and how they can be dated, as well as educators in the field of landscape evolution, Quaternary Science, stalagmite paleoclimate and caves and karst geomorphology.

http://andy-baker.org/2024/07/31/dating-speleothems-and-speleothem-growth/

#caves #karst #stalagmites #science #QuaternaryScience #earthscience #geology #geochronology

PhD positions available

The Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship ‘Caves and their stalagmites: linking climate to groundwater recharge’ awarded to Andy Baker (UNSW Sydney, Australia) has opportunities for PhD projects in the following areas. Positions are for start in 2025 or 2026 and will remain open until filled....

http://andy-baker.org/2024/07/17/phd-positions-available/

#PhD #science #climate #groundwater #hydrology #caves #stalagmites #UNSW #Sydney