Ancient monsoons on the Roof of the World

August 21, 2017
WDG

Natasha Barbolini

Natasha Barbolini getting a free mud treatment after some heavy rain.

Recent findings of monsoonal activity in Asia as old as 45 million years raises the fascinating possibility that these Monsoons may have triggered a global shift from the warm ice-free Greenhouse world, to the bi-polar Icehouse conditions the Earth still experiences today. Increased erosion and weathering of the uplifted Tibetan Plateau and Himalayas is currently advocated as the primary trigger for the enigmatic pCO2 drawdown that led to global cooling and rapid growth of the Antarctic ice sheet.

I am Natasha Barbolini, a new postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Ecosystem & Landscape Dynamics. Hosted by Dr Carina Hoorn, I joined the University of Amsterdam working on the MAGIC research project: (Monsoons of Asia caused Greenhouse to Icehouse Cooling). This ERC-funded project is headed by Dr Guillaume Dupont-Nivet at the University of Potsdam, Germany.

Xining Basin

A playa lake in the Xining Basin, surrounded by Oligocene red beds.

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Published open access:

Hoogakker, B.A.A., Smith, R.S., Singarayer, J.S., Marchant, R., Prentice, I.C., Allen, J.R.M., Anderson, R.S., Bhagwat, S.A., Behling, H., Borisova, O., Bush, M., Correa-Metrio, A., de Vernal, A., Finch, J.M., Frechette, B., Lozano-Garcia, S., Gosling, W.D., Granoszewski, W., Grimm, E.C., Gruger, E., Hanselman, J., Harrison, S.P., Hill, T.R., Huntley, B., Jimenez-Moreno, G., Kershaw, P., Ledru, M.-., Magri, D., McKenzie, M., Muller, U., Nakagawa, T., Novenko, E., Penny, D., Sadori, L., Scott, L., Stevenson, J., Valdes, P.J., Vandergoes, M., Velichko, A., Whitlock, C. & Tzedakis, C. (2016) Terrestrial biosphere changes over the last 120 kyr. Climate of the Past 12, 51-73. DOI: 10.5194/cp-12-51-2016

 

Introducing Corine Driessen

July 7, 2015
corine102

DriessenCHi Everyone,

It’s very nice to be invited to write something for this blog, let me introduce myself a little bit.

I am a MSc Earth Sciences student at the University of Amsterdam. Currently I am working on my master thesis at Naturalis Biodiversity Center, under supervision of Niels Raes, Willem Renema and William Gosling. We are looking at species migration between Australia and Asia during the Miocene, and we compare it to migration between N and S America at the dawn of the Great American Biotic Interchange. To do so I’m analysing data on fossil occurrences in Australia and Southeast Asia. Hopefully this research will lead to interesting new insights.

Before starting my MSc Earth Sciences I did a bachelor in Biology at Leiden University. I decided to do a master’s in Earth Sciences because it offered a broader perspective of the natural world and its processes.

I like analysing and sorting out data like I’m currently doing for my thesis with fossil occurrence data. It also played a major role in my internship at TNO – Caribbean Branche Office, where I was involved in starting a database containing information on Aruba’s subsurface. During my internship I also experienced the “Green Aruba” conference and was involved in organising a geological excursion for some of the attendants. I am very interested in environmental issues and solutions, such as the transition to renewable energy. New technologies spike my interest a lot and I like being aware of innovations in a whole lot of fields.

Hopefully I will have my thesis ready within a couple of months, and can give an update about some of the findings.

Corine

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