Joost Frieling

Institute of Environmental Biology, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University

Short CV

Born 21^st of August 1987 in Nijmegen, The Netherlands
1999-2005 Stedelijk Gymnasium Nijmegen, in Nijmegen, The Netherlands
2005-2009 BSc Earth Sciences at Utrecht University

BSc Thesis

The Evolution of the Beaver (Castor fiber) in NW Europe

Supervision

Dr. W. Wessels Utrecht University
Prof. dr. J. Reumer Utrecht University

2009-2011 MSc Biogeology at Utrecht University

MSc Thesis

Tropical climate, ecology and hydrology during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

Supervision

Dr. A. Sluijs Utrecht University
Dr. G.-J. Reichart Utrecht University
Prof. dr. ir. S. Schouten NIOZ / Utrecht University

2011 Start PhD project

The project will essentially revolve around two main subjects, the first being the expansion of my master’s research into a higher resolution study. The second subject will fill the largest part of the PhD and is focussed on the development of a new pCO₂ proxy using the carbon chemistry of dinoflagellate cysts.

The tropical Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is an interesting missing piece of the puzzle that must be completed to fully understand the past greenhouse climate. Here we are dealing with the most anomalous and extreme period of greenhouse warming, during an already warm period. Previous hypotheses and research showed no significant warming across the tropics and temperature estimates for the Paleocene and Early Eocene were approximately ~25 °C. The progress of the past few decades has learned that these estimates are extremely conservative and in 2003 a study by Zachos and others recorded a 5 °C rise across the PETM in the tropical pacific. This estimate is amongst one of the few temperature records in the tropics for this time period. Recently, the material from near Lagos, Nigeria I used for my Master’s research proved to be promising in terms of obtaining absolute temperature estimates. Preliminary TEX₈₆ derived temperatures reach up to 37 °C from a background of 32 °C. Given the potential of the material and the fact that this study was done with extremely low-resolution sampling, our aim is to increase the resolution and extent of this record.

The second research project I am involved in is the “From Protist to Proxy” collaboration between the Alfred Wegener Institut (AWI) and Utrecht University. This project involving three PhD students has been divided into four main aspects, two of which involve dinoflagellate culturing (Mirja Hoins) under different pCO₂ and two which involve coupling and testing the proxy on sediments from more recent (Mariska Datema) and deep time geological time periods. I will focus on the deep time extreme climate transitions and greenhouse periods. When the proxy is in the stadium of testing on sediments, we aim to test it on, amongst others, the PETM, the Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM2 or Elmo), the Eocene-Oligocene transition and the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum.

Ultimately, we aim to establish a reliable and accurate pCO₂ proxy that is useable into deep time to grasp the dynamics of greenhouse and icehouse climate.