Objective
Past glaciations profoundly shaped Earth's climate and surface systems throughout geologic time. However, our understanding of ice sheet responses to orbital forcing, greenhouse gases and tectonics is severely limited by the lack of a clear, robust, and widely applicable method for tracing oxygen-18-depleted ice in deep time (>100 ka). Reconstructing ice sheet oxygen-18, a key factor sensitive to hydrology, climate, and the geometry of ice sheets (extent, continentality, altitude), would provide unprecedented insights into the Earth's history.
I propose to fill this gap by establishing clumped + triple oxygen isotopes in marine carbonates as a widely applicable tracer of meltwater oxygen-18 and ice sheet dynamics. I will create a one-of-a-kind analytical facility with cutting-edge spectroscopic techniques and calibrate this new tracer on modern carbonates and waters, then apply it to well-preserved micro- and macrofossils (foraminifera, bivalves, ammonites...) to detect and characterize ice sheets of Pleistocene to Late Paleozoic ages. This will yield key insights into (a) oxygen-18 ratios in now-extinct Pleistocene ice sheets; (b) Pleistocene megaflood events linked to European glacial dynamics; (c) Antarctic ice inception, dynamics and composition in the Cenozoic, with major implications for interpreting benthic carbonate oxygen-18 records; (d) highly debated glaciations in the greenhouse Mesozoic era; (e) the paleo-latitudinal isotopic gradient of Late Paleozoic ice sheets. Numerical models will link these local seawater reconstructions to meltwater sources and volumes.
My research will challenge canonical assumptions of constant seawater oxygen-18 during allegedly ice-free periods, reveal ice sheet dynamics over short & long timescales and open new research frontiers in Earth system science. The spectroscopic tools developed here will bring about a technical revolution in the isotopic analysis of CO2 and other gases, with broad multidisciplinary applications.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry inorganic compounds
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences hydrology
- social sciences political sciences political transitions revolutions
- natural sciences mathematics pure mathematics geometry
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences physical geography glaciology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-ADG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
75794 Paris
France
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.