Robin Dawson

My current research focuses on using geochemical proxies for temperature, hydrology, and organic carbon source to reconstruct past tropical climate using speleothem records from Madagascar. Combining my background in carbonate stable isotopes (δ18O, δ13C, Δ47) along with organic geochemical proxies for major plant types (e.g. δ13Cn-alkanes and chain lengths of n-alkanes), which are less commonly used in speleothems, I’m investigating the cause of the megafauna extinctions in northwestern Madagascar. In southwestern Madagascar, I’m using temperature proxies (e.g. speleothem fluid inclusion δ18O) to better understand the response of the tropics to higher latitude changes such as continental glaciations.