Distinguished Lectures in Earth Sciences

Per il ciclo delle Distinguished Lectures in Earth Sciences, mercoledì 9 Luglio alle ore 11 nell'Aula del Consiglio (DISTAR, complesso universitario di Monte Sant'Angelo), Kathrin Fitzsimmons (School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment; Monash University, Melbourne, Australia), si terrà un seminario dal titolo:

 Chi semina vento raccoglie tempesta: what aeolian sediments can tell us about changing landscapes and climate

 

Sarà possibile seguire il seminario anche su Zoom e Youtube ai seguenti link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84710859733?pwd=N00nubrMxjI7TZkACmZ9BcwnNKVbag.1https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84710859733?pwd=N00nubrMxjI7TZkACmZ9BcwnNKVbag.1

Meeting ID: 847 1085 9733

Passcode: 411690

https://www.youtube.com/live/vS034a1w6dg

 

Kathryn Fitzsimmons

School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment

Monash University

Melbourne, Australia

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Almost half of the Earth’s land surface is represented by drylands - deserts and their semi-arid and subhumid margins. Drylands are often dominated by unconsolidated, aeolian sediment, which preserve information about past conditions and interactions between the atmosphere and land surface. Desert margins in particular are hypothesized to become increasingly unstable and unable to support human populations in a future dominated by accelerating global change. Since drylands also host some 40% of the world’s human population, this increasing instability will become a central concern for the future.

In this talk I will take you on a tour of the information we can reap from aeolian sediments in drylands: what they can tell us about landscape and hydroclimate change through time. We will take a look at the evidence for past environments across a range of scales, starting with the what charge held within the crystal lattice of individual quartz grains can tell us about the timing of aeolian deposition and sediment routing. We will then scale up to examine the morphology of lake margin shorelines and dunefields which provide the key to interactions between landforms, hydroclimate and synoptic-scale climate circulation. I hope to convince you that even at the geological level, there is truth to the saying “chi semina vento raccoglie tempesta”: who sows the wind, reaps a storm!

Biography:

QUALIFICATIONS

2016                                        Habilitation, Physical Geography, University of Leipzig

                                                Dissertation title: Addressing the challenge of reconstructing palaeoenvironments in studies of human-environmental interactions

2003 - 2007                            PhD, Quaternary Geology, Australian National University (ANU)

                                                Thesis title: The late Quaternary history of aridity in the Strzelecki and Tirari Desert dunefields, South Australia

1998 - 2002                            Bachelor of Science (Honours), University of Melbourne

1998 - 2001                             Diploma of Modern Languages (German), University of Melbourne

EMPLOYMENT

Nov 2024 -                           Associate Professor of Physical Geography

                                               School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Australia

                                               Adjunct Associate Professor

                                               Monash University European Research Foundation, Prato, Italy

                                               Associate Investigator

                                                      ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous & Environmental Histories & Futures

Sept 2021 – Oct 2024         Professor of Terrestrial Sedimentology

                                               Department of Earth Sciences, University of Tübingen, Germany

Dec 2016 – Aug 2020         Max Planck Research Group Leader (W2 Professor)

                                               Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany

Nov 2016 – Dec 2020         Privatdozentin / Associated Professor

                                               Institute for Geography, University of Leipzig, Germany

Feb 2010 – Nov 2016          Junior Researcher, Luminescence dating group manager                     

                                               Dept Human Evolution, MPI for evolutionary Anthropology,   Leipzig, Germany

Sept 2007 – Jan 2010          Postdoctoral Fellow, Luminescence dating laboratory manager

                                               Research School of Earth Sciences, ANU, Canberra, Australia                   

RESEARCH GRANTS AND FUNDING (Selection)

Total funding awarded: AUD >5 900 000

2023 -                     International Quaternary Association Network Projects (2)

                                Warm intervals in the Southern Hemisphere (WiSH). EUR 24 000.

                                Integration of ice core, marine and terrestrial records. EUR 32 000.

2023-2024               German Academic Exchange Service – Universities Australia Exchange Programme

                                Hydroclimate change in expanding and vulnerable desert margins. EUR 17 584.

2023-2024               RGS-IBG Thesiger-Oman International Fellowship Assessing the risk of sediment mobilization in Central Asian drylands in the context of climate change. GBP 7832.

2017-2022               Max Planck Society Independent Group for Terrestrial Palaeoclimates. EUR 2 000 000.

2017-2019               Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Sachbeihilfe (as PI) Terrestrial system response to North Atlantic climate oscillations during the last full glacial cycle. EUR 258 000.

2012-2013               DFG International Cooperation Grant (Mongolia-Germany) EUR 8 300.

2011-2013                Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project (as Co-I) The last glaciation maximum climate conundrum and environmental responses of the Australian continent to altered climate states. AUD 360 000.

2010-2012               ARC Discovery Project (as PI) Human responses to long term landscape and climate change in the Willandra Lakes WHA. AUD 406 462.

 

GRADUATE STUDENT AND ECR SUPERVISION

Current: 2 PhDs; 1 MSc

Graduated/completed: 8 Postdocs; 4 PhDs; 8 MSc; 4 BSc; 6 Practica

 

LEADERSHIP, COMMITTEES, COMMUNITY SERVICE (last 5 years)

2023-                      Vice President, International Focus Group for Loess and Palaeopedology

2023-                      Steering committee (senior scientist mentoring ECR Speakers), WiSH project

2017-                      Mentor (female scientists), 4 programmes: Australasian Quaternary Association; European Geosciences Union; Minerva FemmeNet (Max Planck Society); Athene Programme (University of Tübingen)

2022-2024              Deputy Speaker, Geology Pillar, Department of Geosciences, University of Tübingen

2019-2021               Speaker for independent Max Planck Research Group Leaders

 

PRIZES

2016                        Hans-Bobek-Preis für Geographie, ÖGG. EUR 2 000.

2014                        Albert Maucher-Preis für Geowissenschaften, DFG. EUR 10 000.

2007                       Director’s Prize for Scientific Communication, ANU

PUBLICATIONS

98 peer-reviewed journal articles (67 in Q1 journals)

9 book sections

17 other reports

h-index 38/34 (google scholar/scopus)

4281/3218 citations (google scholar/scopus)

ORAL PRESENTATIONS

60 Conference papers as presenter/first author, of which 10 invited/plenary/keynotes

59 Invited seminars, Highlights: Geological Society of India (2024); University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa (2018); University of Oxford, UK (2017); College de France, Paris, France (2016); Michigan State University, USA (2016); Aberystwyth University, UK (2008).