Iberian Miocene Paleosols as Analogues for future Climate Transitions (IMPACT)

• Applicant: Dr. Niels Meijer
• Subject Area: Palaeontology ; Geology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 550797628

The Mediterranean region has been drying due to anthropogenic climate change, but the mechanisms driving this trend remain unclear and climate model predictions for the future vary significantly. Geological records of past warm climate states during the Miocene might hold valuable information on the relation between global warming and aridification and on possible thresholds driving Mediterranean ecosystem collapse. The evolution of terrestrial environments is recorded in soil carbonates which typically form during the dry season and are abundant on the Iberian Peninsula. In IMPACT, I aim to utilize these pedogenic carbonates collected from well-dated Miocene records to reconstruct the evolution of aridification derived from stable isotopes. In addition, I aim to use clumped isotopes for soil temperature reconstructions which are biased towards the dry season and can thus be used to infer the seasonal timing of soil drying. These paleo-environmental reconstructions will be combined with the exceptionally complete mammal fossil record of the region to assess whether two recorded mammal turnover events are driven by environmental changes. This 2-year project will consist of two parts: 1) Applying stable and clumped isotope measurements to reconstruct the evolution of seasonal rainfall distribution from the warm middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO) to the colder late Miocene (17.0 to 9.2 Ma). 2) Comparing these reconstructions with a re-assessment of mammal biodiversity, turnover and morphological adaptations observed in the fossil assemblages of the Iberian Peninsula.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigators: Professor Dr. Jens Fiebig; Professor Dr. Andreas Mulch; Professorin Dr. Silke Voigt