Image description: I enjoy the sedimentology and stratigraphy of the lacustrine records we work on. This is a photo describing sediments from Schliersee Lake, located in southern Germany.
Rodrigo Martínez-Abarca
Germany
February 10, 2026
Climate and environmental variability in the eastern equatorial Atlantic and the northern tropical Americas: from orbital cycles to human activity
This talk explores climate and environmental variability in the eastern equatorial Atlantic and northern Neotropics during the Late Quaternary. Marine sediments from ODP Site 663, analyzed with X-Ray Fluorescence geochemistry, reveal orbital- and half-precessional-scale dynamics of the West African Monsoon over the last 1.25 million years. In contrast, lipid biomarkers and elemental data from Lake Petén Itzá sediments document hydroclimate variability during the past 400 thousand years, shaped by hemispheric-scale changes and human activity in Central America. Together, these records highlight the sensitivity of tropical systems to external and internal forcing and their relevance for understanding past and future climate change in densely populated regions.
Pal(a)eoPERCS 