Garcin Yannick

Specialised in palaeoclimatology and geochemistry, I study the environments and climates of sub-Saharan Africa. I am mainly interested in terrestrial sedimentary systems (lake and peat) and in environmental, climatic and anthropogenic tracers preserved in sedimentary material. I use a wide range of mineralogical, geochemical and isotopic tools (e.g., plant wax δD composition) to characterise and quantify environmental changes (vegetation, soil surface conditions), climatic variability (location of the ITCZ, monsoon system), as well as the potential impact of anthropogenic activities (deforestation, agricultural practices) on the environment that these changes may inform. My multidisciplinary work covers time windows ranging from the last climate cycles (glacial/interglacial variability, rapid Holocene climate variability) to the present (instrumental scale) and my main study sites are currently concentrated in Central Africa (Cameroon, Gabon and Republic of Congo).