Climate History: Miocene to Recent Precipitation History of the Atacama and Namib Deserts (A02)

• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2016 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 268236062

Subproject A02 focuses on the reconstruction of precipitation and vegetation changes of the Atacama Desert since the Miocene/Pliocene, their drivers and spatial heterogeneities. Therefore, a continuous deep-drilling record from the Paranal clay pan in the Coastal Cordillera of the southern CRC focus area will be investigated for sedimentological, mineralogical, geochemical, and ecological variations. This record shall close crucial gaps in the existing precipitation history of the Atacama and may expand it back to the postulated onset of hyperaridity during the Miocene. The research in the Atacama Desert will be complemented by a site survey to the Namib Desert to identify potential long-term climate records for the 3rd CRC phase.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1211: Earth - Evolution at the Dry Limit
• Applicant Institution: Universität zu Köln
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Martin Melles; Dr. Volker Wennrich