Yama Dixit

Past 500 ka rainfall variability in the western Mediterranean basin: lessons from the marine sediments off East Corsican margin

PostDoctoral Fellow: Dr Yama Dixit
Scientific Sponsors: Dr Samuel Toucanne, Laboratoire Environnments Sédimentaires (LES), Unité Géosciences Marines, Ifremer.
LabexMER Research Axis 4:Sediment transfer from the coast to the abyss

It is demonstrated that during the last decade of the 20^th century, Mediterranean sea level has increased 10 times faster than on global scale, which has caused a hydrological dis-equilibrium on marine ecosystems in the Mediterraean Sea. Therefore for better mitigation processes to be in place to tackle the future anthropogenic-induced climate change, it is necessary to understand the past climate dynamics in the Mediterranean. My research in UBO aims at reconstruction of past climate variability in the western Mediterranean basin using stable isotopes and trace elements in single celled foraminifera calcite, to evaluate past changes in rainfall, both in terms of its cyclicity and intensity to ultimately understand the forcings and elucidate its potential societal implications in the Mediterranean. This study will bridge the gap in our knowledge of the rainfall variability from the Western Mediterranean Sea, which remains largely less explored.

The proposed research is being carried out with Dr. Samuel Toucanne as my host and in collaboration with Dr. Gwénaël Jouet and Dr. Christophe Fontanier (marine micropaleotologists) at the Laboratoire Environnements Sédimentaires, IFREMER-Géosciences Marines along with paleoclimatologist, Prof Aradhna Tripati (University of California, Los Angeles), currently based in Brest as the LabexMER chair for stable isotopes.