Online seminar by Sophie F. Warken from Institute of Earth Sciences and Institute of Environmental Physics, Heidelberg University
26 June 2025
KST 16:00
The Online seminar is being held in Room 1010 (Jasmin) – Integrated mechanical engineering building. Click here for the campus map.
Dear climate enthusiasts,
We invite you to join us on Thursday, June 26 2025 at 16:00 KST with speaker Dr. Sophie F. Warken from the Institute of Earth Sciences and Institute of Environmental Physics, Heidelberg University. This online speleothem lecture series at the IBS Center for Climate Physics, Busan, South Koreawelcomes participation from colleagues from all career paths.
Abstract:
Volcanic sulfur emissions can not only be traced in ice cores but also in speleothems. The near-annually resolved geochemical record of the late Glacial Laacher See eruption (LSE) from Herbstlabyrinth Cave, Central Germany permits a direct link between volcanogenic sulfur spikes, climate proxy records, and absolute age. In the speleothem, the LSE is identified by a distinct increase of speleothem sulfur and fluorescent organic matter contents as well as ash-leached trace element abundances. In this talk, I discuss how our record allows to assess the local and regional environmental impact of the LSE, with the speleothem proxies (δ18O values, annual lamina thickness, and trace element abundances. Precise 230 Th U dating of the volcanic spike further allows to link the LSE, which deposited a key chronostratigraphic marker in European terrestrial archives, to a previously unidentified sulphate spike in the Greenland ice core record. This establishes the LSE as a first near-absolute time marker in the ice core chronology for the late Pleistocene-Holocene transition, thus synchronizing radiometric and ice-core calendars back in time.
Bio:
Dr. Sophie F. Warken is a leading scientist of speleothem science and tropical climate variability at the chair of Prof. Norbert Frank (Physics of Environmental Archives) at the Institute of Earth Sciences and Environmental Physics Heidelberg. Her main research objective project is to quantify climate variability and extreme events such as tropical storms, droughts or volcanic eruptions. In this context, she with her team are developing novel methods for geochemical analysis and dating of stalagmites and corals, which allow inferences to be made about past climate changes. Her main areas of work are the Caribbean region, in particular Mexico and Puerto Rico, as well as Europe and other parts of the world.
Time: June 26, 2025, 16:00 PM Seoul
Link: https://pusan.zoom.us/j/85025183981?pwd=iv8gWhVPgc7qQYDan3QTLsNLRiAUu8.1
Meeting ID: 850 2518 3981
Passcode: 239857
We encourage you to share the meeting link with your peers. As always, please let us know if you have any questions or concerns!