Palaeoclimatology Lab

The Palaeoclimatology Lab of the University of Vigo aims at the paleoclimatic record of the last million years to quantitatively determine: (i) the pace, magnitude and rate of oceanic climate change in the past; and (ii) the relationships between forcing, feedback and responses of the climate system under natural conditions (not anthropogenic).

We use geochemical, micropaleontological and sedimentological tools, as well as probabilistic statistics to reconstruct key oceanographic and climatic parameters such as temperature, salinity, oceanic carbon chemistry and CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere.

Staff

GIANLUCA MARINO

Principal Investigator (PI)

Maider Plaza Morlote

MAIDER PLAZA MORLOTE

Posdoctoral Research Fellow

Elisabeth Losa-Adams

ELISABETH LOSA ADAMS

Posdoctoral Researcher

Natalia Bienzobas Montavez

NATALIA BIENZOBAS MONTAVEZ

PhD Student

Mattia Ferraro

MATTÍA FERRARO

Erasmus+ Student

Vanessa Cavucci

Erasmus+ Student

Projects

2024

NOVel Approaches to decipher MonsOOn dyNamics (NOVAMOON, 2024–2026).

Project member: Marino, G. (PI)

Funding organization: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica, Técnica y de Innovación para el período 2021-2023, en el marco del Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia.

2021

IRMS facility for carbonate stable oxygen, carbon, and clumped isotope analyses (2021–2022).

Project members: Marino, G. (PI), Diz Ferrero, P., Fernández Fernández, A., Varela Gonzaléz, S., Rubio Armesto, B., Fernández Covelo, E.
Funding organization: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017-2020.

2020

TRopical Indian Ocean variability versus global (PAlaeo)Climate Change (TRIOPACC, 2020–2024).

Project members: Marino, G. (PI), Rey García, D. (PI), Rubio Armesto, B., Plaza Morlote, M.
Project partners: M. Bernasconi (ETH, Zurich, Switzerland); E.J. Rohling & J. Yu (Australian National University, Canberra, Australia); K. Thirumalai (University of Arizona, Tucson, USA).
Funding organization: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017-2020.

2018

Universidade de Vigo start-up research package, programme to attract excellent research talent (2018–2022).

Project member: Marino, G. (PI)
Funding organization: Universidade de Vigo

Publications

Myers, S, Rohling, E.J., Donders, T., Grant, K.M., Keller, J., Marino, G., Sangiorgi, F., Caridi, F., Morigi, C., Sabbatini, A., Negri, A., 2024. The “glacial” sapropel S6 (172 ka; MIS 6): A multiproxy approach to solve a Mediterranean “cold case”. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 650, 112384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2024.112384
Hu, H.-M., Marino, G., Pérez-Mejías, C., Spötl, C., Yokoyama, Y., Yu, J., Rohling, E.J., Kano, A., Ludwig, P., Pinto, J.G., Michel, V., Valensi, P., Zhang, X., Jiang, X., Mii, H.-S., Chien, W.-Y., Tsai, H.-C., Sung, W.-H., Hsu, C.-H., Starnini, E., Zunino, M., Shen, C.-C., 2024. Sustained North Atlantic warming drove anomalously intense MIS 11c interglacial. Nature Communications 15, 5933. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50207-1
N. Bienzobas, K. Thirumalai, Marino, G., 2024. Shell Reworking Impacts on climate variability reconstructions using indiviudal foraminiferal analysis. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. DOI: 10.1029/2023PA004663
Bolton, C.T., Gray, E., Kuhnt, W., Holbourn, A.E., Lübbers, J., Grant, K., Tachikawa, K., Marino, G., Rohling, E.J., Sarr, A.-C., Andersen, N. 2022. Secular and orbital-scale variability of equatorial Indian Ocean summer monsoon winds during the late Miocene. Climate of the Past 18, 713-738. DOI: 10.5194/cp-18-713-2022.
Giaccio B, Marino, G., Marra F., Monaco L., Pereira, A., Zanchetta, G., Gaeta, M., Leicher, N., Nomade, S., Palladino, D.M., Sottili, G., Guillou, H., Scao, V., 2021. Tephrochronological constraints on the timing and nature of sea-level change prior to and during glacial termination V. Quaternary Science Reviews 263, 106976. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.106976
Yu, J., Menviel, L., Jin, Z.D., Anderson, R.F., Jian, Z., Piotrowski, A.M., Ma, X., Rohling, E.J., Zhang, F., Marino, G., McManus, J.F., 2020. Last glacial atmospheric CO₂ decline due to widespread Pacific deep-water expansion. Nature Geoscience 13, 628–633. DOI: 10.1038/s41561-020-0610-5.
Highlighted in Nature Geoscience News & Views
Rohling, E.J., Hibbert, F.D., Grant, K.M., Galaasen, E.V., Irvali, N., Kleiven, H.F., Marino, G., Ninnemann, U., Roberts, A.P., Rosenthal, Y., Schulz, H., Williams, F.H., Yu, J., 2019. Asynchronous Antarctic and Greenland ice-volume contributions to the last interglacial sea-level highstand. Nature Communications 10, 5040. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12874-3
Amies, J.D., Rohling, E.J., Grant, K.M., Rodríguez-Sanz, L., Marino, G., 2019. Quantification of African monsoon runoff during last interglacial sapropel S5. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology 34 (8), 1487–1516. DOI: 10.1029/2019PA003652
Rohling, E.J., Marino, G., Grant, K.M., Mayewski, P.A., Weninger, B., 2019. A model for archaeologically relevant Holocene climate impacts in the Aegean-Levantine region (easternmost Mediterranean). Quaternary Science Reviews 208, 38–53. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.02.009
Bolton, C.T., Bailey, I., Friedrich, O., Tachikawa, K., de Garidel-Thoron, T., Vidal, L., Sonzogni, C., Marino, G., Rohling, E.J., Robinson, M.M., Ermini, M., Koch, M., Cooper, M.J., Wilson, P.A., 2018. North Atlantic midlatitude surface-circulation changes through the Plio-Pleistocene intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology 33, 1186–1205. DOI: 10.1029/2018PA003412

Rohling, E.J.*, Marino, G.*, Foster, G.L., Goodwin, P.A., von der Heydt, A.S., Köhler, P., 2018. Comparing climate sensitivity, past and present. Annual Review of Marine Science 10, 261–288. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-marine-121916-063242. *Joint lead authorship (invited contribution)

Rodríguez-Sanz, L., Bernasconi, S.M., Marino, G., Heslop, D., Muüller, I.A., Fernandez, A., Grant, K.M., Rohling, E.J., 2017. Penultimate deglacial warming across the Mediterranean Sea revealed by clumped isotopes in foraminifera. Scientific Reports 7, 16572. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-16528-6
Rohling, E.J., Hibbert, F.D., Williams, F.H., Grant, K.M., Marino, G., Foster, G.L., Hennekam, R., de Lange, G.J., Roberts, A.P., Yu, J., Webster, J.M., Yokoyama, Y., 2017. Differences between the last two glacial maxima and implications for ice-sheet, d¹⁸O, and sea-level reconstructions. Quaternary Science Reviews 176, 1–28. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.09.009. (invited contribution)
Chen, L., Heslop, D., Roberts, A.P., Chang, L., Zhao,
X., McGregor, H.V., Marino, G., Rodríguez-Sanz, L., Rohling, E.J., Pälike, H., 2017. Remanence acquisition efficiency in biogenic and detrital magnetite and recording of geomagnetic paleointensity. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 18, 1435–1450. DOI: 10.1002/2016GC006753
Thirumalai, K., Quinn, T.M., Marino, G., 2016. Constraining past seawater d¹⁸O and temperature records developed from foraminiferal geochemistry. Paleoceanography 31, 1409–1422. DOI: 10.1002/2016PA002970.
Clemens, S.C., Kuhnt, W., LeVay, L.J., and the Expedition 353 Scientists (including Marino, G.), 2016. Indian Monsoon Rainfall. Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program 353: College Station, TX (International Ocean Discovery Program, IODP).
DOI: 10.14379/iodp.proc.353.2016
Incarbona, A., Martrat, B., Mortyn, P.G., Sprovieri, M., Ziveri, P., Gogou, A., Jordà, G., Xoplaki, E., Luterbacher, J., Langone, L., Marino, G., Rodríguez-Sanz, L., Triantaphyllou, M., Di Stefano, E., Grimalt, J.O., Tranchida, G., Sprovieri, R., Mazzola, S., 2016. Mediterranean circulation perturbations over the last five centuries: Relevance to past Eastern Mediterranean Transient-type events. Scientific Reports 6, 29623, DOI: 10.1038/srep29623
Grant, K.M., Grimm, R., Mikolajewicz, U., Marino, G., Ziegler, M., Rohling, E.J., 2016. The timing of Mediterranean sapropel deposition relative to insolation, sea-level and African monsoon changes.
Quaternary Science Reviews 140, 125–141. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.03.026

Yu, J., Menviel, L., Jin, Z., Thornalley, D.J.R., Barker, S., Marino, G., Rohling, E.J., Cai, Y., Zhang, F., Wang, X., Dai, Y., Chen, P., Broecker, W.S., 2016. Sequestration of carbon in the deep Atlantic during the last glaciation. Nature Geoscience 9, 319–324 DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2657.
Marino, G., Rohling, E.J., Rodríguez-Sanz, L., Grant, K.M., Heslop, D., Roberts, A.P., Stanford, J.D., Yu, J., 2015. Bipolar seesaw control on last interglacial sea level. Nature 522, 197–201, DOI: 10.1038/nature14499. Highlighted in Nature News & Views
Clemens, S.C., Kuhnt, W., LeVay, L.J., and the Expedition 353 Scientists (including Marino, G.), 2015. Expedition 353 Preliminary Report: Indian Monsoon Rainfall. International Ocean Discovery Program. DOI: 10.14379/iodp.pr.353.2015.
Rohling, E.J., Marino, G., Grant, K.M., 2015. Mediterranean climate and oceanography, and the periodic development of anoxic events (sapropels). Earth-Science Reviews 143, 62–97, DOI: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.01.008. (Web of Science highly cited paper)
Martínez-Botí, M.A.*, Marino, G.*, Foster, G.L., Ziveri, P., Henehan, M.J., Mortyn, P.G., Vance, D., 2015. Boron isotope evidence for oceanic carbon dioxide leakage during the last deglaciation. Nature 518, 219–222, DOI: 10.1038/nature14155. *Joint lead authorship.
Highlighted in Nature News & Views

Scussolini, P., Marino, G., Brummer, G.-J., Peeters, F.J.C., 2015. Saline Indian Ocean waters invaded the South Atlantic thermocline during glacial termination II. Geology 43, 139–142, DOI: 10.1130/G36238.1
Kim, J.-H., Schouten, S., Rodrigo-Gámiz, M., Rampen, S., Marino, G., Huguet, C., Helmke, P., Buscail, R., Hopmans, E.C., Pross, J., Sangiorgi, F., Middelburg, J.J., Sinninghe Damsteé, J.S., 2015. Influence of deep-water derived isoprenoid tetraether lipids on the paleothermometer in the Mediterranean Sea. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 150, 125–141, DOI: 10.1016/j.gca.2014.11.017
Marino, G., Zahn, R., 2015. Agulhas Leakage: the missing link in the interhemispheric climate seesaw? Past Global Changes Magazine 23(1), 22–23. DOI: 10.22498/pages.23.1.22 (Invited Contribution).
Mejía, L. M., Ziveri, P., Cagnetti, M., Bolton, C., Zahn, R., Marino, G., Martínez-Méndez, G., Stoll, H., 2014. Effects of midlatitude westerlies on the paleoproductivity at the Agulhas Bank slope during the penultimate glacial cycle: Evidence from coccolith Sr/Ca ratios. Paleoceanography 29, 697–714. DOI: 10.1002/2013PA002589
Horigome, M.T., Ziveri, P., Grelaud, M., Baumann, K.-H., Marino, G., Mortyn, P.G., 2014. Environmental controls on the Emiliania huxleyi calcite mass. Biogeosciences 11(8), 2295–2308. DOI: 10.5194/bg-11-2295-2014.
Rohling, E.J., Foster, G.L., Grant, K.M., Marino, G., Roberts, A.P., Tamisiea, M., Williams, F., 2014. Sea-level and deep-sea-temperature variability over the past 5.3 million years. Nature 508, 477–482.
DOI: 10.1038/nature13230. (Web of Science highly cited paper)
Highlighted in Nature News & Views
Marino, G., Zahn, R., Ziegler, M., Purcell, C., Knorr, G., Hall, I.R., Ziveri, P., Elderfield, H., 2013. Agulhas salt-leakage oscillations during abrupt climate changes of the Late Pleistocene. Paleoceanography 28, 599–606. DOI: 10.1002/palo.20038
Zonneveld, K.A.F., Marret, F., Versteegh, G., Bogus, K., Bonnet, S., Bouimetarhan, I., Chen, L., Crouch, E., de Vernal, A., Elshanawany, R., Edwards, L., Esper, O., Forke, S., Grøsfjeld, K., Henry, M., Holzwarth, U., Kielt, J.-F., Kim, S.-Y., Ladouceur, S., Ledu, D., Limoges, A., Londeix, L., Lu, S.-H., Mahmoud, M.S., Marino, G., Matsouka, K., Matthiessen, J., Mildenhal, D.C., Mudie, P., Neil, H.L., Pospelova, V., Qi, Y., Radi, T., Richerol, T., Rochon, A., Sangiorgi, F., Solignac, S., Turon, J.-L., Verleye, T., Wang, Y., Wang, Z., Young, M., 2012. Atlas of dinoflagellate cyst distribution based on 2405 datapoints. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 191, 1–197. DOI: 10.1016/j.revpalbo.2012.08.003. (Web of Science highly cited paper).
Grelaud, M., Marino, G., Ziveri, P., Rohling, E.J., 2012. Abrupt shoaling of the nutricline in response to massive freshwater flooding at the onset of the last interglacial sapropel event. Paleoceanography 27, PA3208.
DOI: 10.1029/2012PA002288
Kotthoff, U., Pross, J., Schmiedl, G., Bornemann, A., Kaul, C., Koutsodendris, A., Marino, G., Peyron, O., Schiebel, R., 2011. Impact of late glacial cold events on the Northern Aegean region reconstructed from marine and terrestrial proxy data. Journal of Quaternary Science 26(1), 86–96. DOI: 10.1002/jqs.1430
Osborne, A.H., Marino, G., Vance, D., Rohling, E.J., 2010. Eastern Mediterranean surface water Nd during Eemian sapropel S5: monitoring northerly (mid-latitude) versus southerly (sub-tropical) freshwater contributions. Quaternary Science Reviews 29(19-20), 2473–2483.
DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.05.015
Marino, G., Rohling, E.J., Sangiorgi, F., Hayes, A., Casford, J.L., Lotter, A.F., Kucera, M., Brinkhuis, H., 2009. Early and middle Holocene in the Aegean Sea: interplay between high and low-latitude climate variability. Quaternary Science Reviews 28 (27–28), 3246–3262. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.08.011
Triantaphyllou, M.V., Ziveri, P., Gogou, A., Marino, G., Lykousis, V., Bouloubassi, I., Emeis, K.-C., Kouli, K., Dimiza, M., Rosell-Melé, A., Papanikolaou, M., Katsouras, G., Nunez, N., 2009. Late Glacial-Holocene climate variability at the south-eastern margin of the Aegean Sea. Marine Geology 266(1-4), 182-197. DOI: 10.1016/j.margeo.2009.08.005
Van der Meer, M.T.J. Baas, M., Rijpstra, W.I.C., Marino, G., Rohling, E.J., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., Schouten, S., 2007. Hydrogen isotopic compositions of long-chain alkenones record freshwater flooding of the Eastern Mediterranean at the onset of sapropel deposition. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 262(3–4), 594–600. DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2007.08.014
Marino, G., Rohling, E.J., Rijpstra, W.I., Sangiorgi, F., Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., 2007. The Aegean Sea as driver of hydrographic and ecological changes in the eastern Mediterranean. Geology 35(8), 675–678. DOI: 10.1130/G23831A.1

Outreach

Participation in the TV programme “Vivir Aquí: Augas que van e veñen”, broadcast on Televisión de Galicia (TVG). Staff involved: G. Marino (2022).

Presentation for general public “Emisiones de CO₂ y calentamiento global, evidencias y estrategias de mitigación” within the framework of the Galician Night of Researchers (GNIGHT), Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (European Commission). Staff involved: G. Marino (2021).

Article in The Conversation “El desprendimiento de los mayores icebergs antárticos, una señal de alarma” by G. Marino and E. Losa Adams (2021).

Presentations in high schools of Vigo and Nigrán (Galicia, Spain) “El CO₂, ¿ayuda o amenaza la vida en nuestro planeta?” pre-events within the framework of the initiative “European Researchers Night”, Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (European Commission). Staff involved: E. Losa Adams, N. Bienzobas Montavez & G. Marino (2021).

Conference “Emisions de CO2 and global warming, evidences and mitigation strategies” G-Nights events – Staff involved: G. Marino (2021).

In the press

We have appeared a few times in the press:

– Burbujas en el hielo y conchas fósiles: cómo entender el clima del pasado (Climática)

– La Uvigo detecta vida en Marte hace 3500 millones de años (Atlántico Diario)
– Clays found in Martian crater hint that the planet was once habitable (New scientist)
– Marte reunía hace 3.500 millones de años condiciones para albergar vida (RTVE)
– Marte fue habitable hace 3500 millones de años, según un estudio liderado por la UVigo (El Español)
– La UVigo despeja el futuro climático (Faro de Vigo)
– El suceso climático que congeló la Tierra (La Voz de Galicia)

– Discípulos del profeta del cambio climático (Faro de Vigo)

– Vigo participa en un estudio internacional sobre el deshielo de la Antártida (Faro de Vigo)

– El deshielo aumentó el nivel del mar tres metros por siglo (Atlántico Diario)

– Un investigador vigués participa en un estudio sobre el deshielo (La Región)

– O nivel do mar subiu ata tres metros por século no último interglaciar (G ciencia)

– Un investigador de la UVIGO descifra el origen del deshielo en Groelandia hace 400.000 años (Faro de Vigo)

Job oppportunities

The Palaeoclimatology Lab seeks enthusiastic, early-career researchers interested in the quantitative analysis of (past) ocean and climate change. If you want to work and/or collaborate with us get in touch: