December 2023 – February 2024

Parth Shah

Shah Parth, a person with a smile and wearing a hat, grey shirt, and shorts, stands beside a sedimentary rock formation near the Dead Sea in Israel. He shares a moment of laughter with his colleagues, who crack a joke about his unfamiliarity with biblical sites in Israel.

University of Haifa, Israel

December 5, 2023

Late Holocene climate reconstruction from the southern Arabia: A tale of two monsoons and two lakes

The Arabian Desert is considered a climate-sensitive zone that is susceptible to changes in the Indian monsoon fronts. Its unique location offers a valuable opportunity to study the interactions between monsoons, shifts in the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), and regional environmental changes. This talk will provide an overview of the lack of information on climate variability in the southern margins of the Arabian Peninsula through the integration of a set of physical, chemical, and biological proxies on sedimentary core sequences retrieved from volcanic crater lake Karif Shawran and karstic lake Gayal el Bazal. Furthermore, this study reveals for the first time a continuous lacustrine record from southern Yemen that reliably responds to climate variability associated with the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and Little Ice Age (LIA). Moreover, this talk aims to explore the onset and extent of climatic events, the main driving forcing behind hydroclimatic changes in the region, and shed light on the role of the ITCZ vis-à-vis monsoonal dynamics.

Alejandro Izquierdo López

The speaker, Alejandro Izquierdo López, sitting in an office. He is wearing a black button-down shirt,and there are books and small decorations on shelves behind him.

University of Toronto, Canada

January 30, 2024

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Bivalved arthropods: exploring the Cambrian origins of mandibulate arthropods

The arthropod group Mandibulata, which includes crustaceans, centipedes and insects, accounts for the majority of animal species on Earth. Understanding its evolutionary origins is a crucial question that may depend on a series of carapace-bearing arthropods discovered across Cambrian sites of exceptional preservation. Recent discoveries of their anatomy, analyses of their morphological diversity and ecological inferences provide us with valuable clues but also open the door for new questions.

Frederick Tolchard

A white male standing between two large shelves of a fossil collection holding a
specimen in view of the camera.

University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

February 06, 2024

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The Triassic of Southern Africa: Life and rebirth from mass extinction to extinction

The Triassic Period (250-200 mya) represents a pivotal time in the evolution of life on earth. The Triassic is bound by two mass extinction events: the devastating end- Permian Mass Extinction which and the faunal turnover of the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event which gave rise to the age of dinosaurs. Most major amniote
lineages (including mammals, crocodilians, birds, and turtles) originate in the Triassic. In this talk, I will be discussing the rich Triassic fossil record of southern Africa and its implications for our understanding of the evolution of terrestrial vertebrates globally.

Karen Gariboldi

Karen Gariboldi is a white woman with glasses and short light-colored hair. She is standing at a lecturn at a recent workshop on paleoclimates held a the Escuela Centroamericana de Geología, Universidad de Costa Rica

Pisa University, Italy

February 20, 2024

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Diatoms, from their morphology to their importance for palaeoceanography: an example from the Upper Miocene of the Ica Desert, Peru

In some cases, microfossils are the main constituent of sedimentary rocks. Diatoms, a type of microalgae with a siliceous exoskeleton, form vast marine or lake deposits known as ‘diatomites’. They thrive in every wet environment, from your garden ponds to the Pacific Ocean, thus being a great tool for paleoclimatic reconstructions. During this talk, we will investigate how they can be used as a proxy for the physical properties of the oceanic waters (temperature, stratification, presence of sea-ice etc.). This seminar will also illustrate a paleoceanographic reconstruction from the Upper Miocene of the Ica Desert, Peru.

Gabriel Osés

Gabriel is a white, brown-eyed, dark-haired and bearded man, wearing a beige shirt, white hat with dark band and jeans. He is holding a hammer and a fossil sample, in front of an outcrop among bushes.

University of São Paulo, Brazil

February 27, 2024

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Applying cutting-edge technology to investigate exciting research topics in biomineralization and soft-tissue preservation

Fossils provide a window into ancient worlds. The task of analyzing fossils gives to paleontologists a reward unique to their job: “time travel” with samples and tools on hand. Fascinating research is conducted everyday with simple tools. Other equally important investigations require cutting-edge technology, which enable a deep knowledge of fossil samples. The talk will be focused on how a multiproxy approach can test hypotheses in studies involving structure, composition and affinities of the early biomineralizing metazoans, and in research dealing with morphology and composition of preserved soft tissues.