Dr Bianca Cavazzin
I am currently a Research Assistant for the ERC ALKENoNE project and I am based in the School of Geographical & Earth Sciences. I am interested in the development of biomarkers for quantitative environmental and climatic reconstruction aiming at the understanding of continental-scale environmental responses to rapid climate variability in North America for the past 2,000 years.
My recently completed PhD was the first study of lacustrine downcore application of biomarkers in the Canadian Great Plains, focusing on past climatic and hydrologic variability in this region over the past 2,000 years. Two long lacustrine sediment cores from the northern and southern Great Plains, were retrieved to investigate shifts in air and water temperature, hydrology and lake productivity over the past 2000 years within the two lakes and their catchment. A multi-proxy approach was adopted combining biomarkers (Long Chain Alkenones, Long Chain Diols, and Glycerol Dialkyl Glycerol tetraethers - GDGTs), XRF and sedimentary organic analysis.
Prior to the current position, I completed my PhD at the University of Glasgow under the supervision of Jaime Toney, Emma Pearson and Stephen Juggins. I also obtained a MSc in Environmental Monitoring Modelling and Reconstruction at the University of Manchester, after receiving my BSc in Geography at the University of Brighton.
