WORK PERFORMED AND MAIN RESULTS
The project has been set up as 3 main objectives overlapping in time:
Objective A. Three PhDs date and describe each sedimentary environmental record from NE Tibet (China), SE Asia (Myanmar) and the Paratethys region (Western China and Tajikistan).
Objective B. Postdocs apply and develop various environmental proxies to these sedimentary records with the goal to characterise environmental changes.
Objective C. An integrative climate modeler integrates dated proxy records to constrain simulations.
Objective A on stratigraphy has been fully completed. We have been able to access, sample and date the three targeted records.
Objective B on proxies has been fully completed. The work included exciting cross-calibration of multi-proxy tools developed within MAGIC.
Objective C on climate modeling has been completed. It has finally been carried out by 2 PhDs. One in the ERC and one in collaboration.
General circulation models have been coupled with vegetation models validated by vegetation and climate proxy data obtained in the project.
However, we have not been able to run carbon cycle models in the scheme of the project and remains to be done in the aftermath of the project in collaboration.
OVERVIEW OF THE RESULTS
- The discovery that Myanmar used to be at the equator enabled the reconstruction in time and space of the controversial India-Asia collision and opened a new pathway to understand Asian biotic evolution.
- The precise chronology of the uplift of the Tibetan plateau since 40 Myrs ago enables to understand the role of the plateau on surface, atmospheric and biotic processes.
- The complete record of the birth, fluctuations and retreat of the former Eurasian epicontinental sea and the discovery of its major role as a carbon sink on global climate during greenhouse conditions is has implication for understanding current climate change and its mitigation.
- The precise record of the onset of loess-like dust generation in Central Asia 40 Myrs ago and its evolution and the role of dust in the greenhouse to icehouse climate transition.
- The precise temperature shift associated with the greenhouse to icehouse transition using a newly developed proxy helps understand monsoons and westerly moisture under climate change.
- The drivers of a very peculiar of Asian monsoons in a greenhouse world with Asia being very arid was revealed by climate models integrating proxy records enable to better understand monsoons in high CO2 world.
- The complete record of steppe-desert biome and the driving mechanisms of its collapse 34 Myrs ago and recovery 15 Myrs ago showing its fragility under climate change.
EXPLOITATION AND DISSEMINATION
The discoveries described above have been published in top scientific journals and made available to the public by multiple medias.
The participation at international meetings presenting respective results has started to establish the MAGIC team as a major player in the field.
Over 40 publications in scientific journals so far including Science and Nature journals.
Our results and methods have been included in classes to university students as well as secondary school programs.
Our results have been disseminated to various outreach media to the general public (dedicated website, newspaper, TV shows, Youtube, Twitter, etc...).
New proxies developed in the project have been disseminated to the scientific community through meeting and publications.
An important spinoff of the project has been the development of past geographies and tools to create them with a related database.
These enable to convey our results and methods to the scientific community but also outreach to the general public.
These are disseminated through publication and meetings but also a dedicated interactive website and an open source software (see below).
These tools are for the use of climate modellers as well as broader Earth and Life Science applications and for teaching university, secondary school classes, and the general public where they have raised broader interest.
