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).
Project ANR ORACLE (Holocene Hydroclimate and Carbon Cycle Dynamics in the Central Congo Basin): The Congo River Basin, the second largest in the world, contains extensive tropical swamp forests in its central part, known as the « Cuvette Centrale Congolaise », which accumulates peat and represents a globally important underground carbon reservoir. Here we propose to reconstruct the history of these peatlands using new molecular and isotopic techniques.
Technopole Environnement Arbois-Méditerranée
BP 80 13545 Aix-en-Provence, cedex 04 – France
Tél. : (+33) (0)4 13 94 91 00
