My Ph.D research is focused on climate variability in Western Asia over the last glacial-interglacial cycles.

West Asia, which extends from Iran and the Arabian Peninsula to eastern Mediterranean Sea, is one of the most climatically dynamic regions in the northern hemisphere. The interactions between the mid-latitude Westerlies, the Siberian Anticyclone (  SA) and the Indian Ocean Summer Monsoon (  IOSM) control precipitation and atmospheric dust content across West Asia. There is mounting evidence that rise and fall of some of the earliest human societies in the "Fertile Crescent" may be related to periods of abrupt climate change during the Holocene.

Nevertheless, high-resolution records of climate variability are scarce from this region and the existing archives are, in part, contradictory; while pollen and planktonic abundances from lakes in central and east Turkey and western Iran suggest dry conditions during the early-middle Holocene, geochemical data indicate relatively wet conditions prevailed during this interval.

In order to address these discrepancies and study the interplay between major synoptic regimes in West Asia, we propose a multi-proxy approach to reconstruct changes in moisture and atmospheric dust at interannual to decadal time-scales during the last glacial termination and centennial reconstruction of paleo-moisture based on organic biomarkers, from ombrotrophic (  rain-fed) peat mires in NW Iran.

Current Research

The most important aspect of my project is the combination of organic and inorganic geochemical proxies, which will allow me to document a detailed history of atmospheric exchange between West Asia, the North Atlantic and the African-Asian monsoon system, and their influence on the dominant climate regime in West Asia. High-resolution records from this study will also present a rare opportunity to examine possible links between solar activity and changes in mid-latitude atmospheric circulation pattern on interannual to millennial timescales.

High-resolution radio carbon dating, discrete analyses of organic biomarkers, trace elements and stable, radiogenic isotopes, and high resolution intervals (approximately at seasonal level) XRF scanning in peat cores from NW Iran and stalagmites from western Iran will be conducted to investigate abrupt climate change in West Asia and its potential influence on human civilizations.