Profile:

Francien Peterse is the daily leader of the Organic Geochemistry group since 2014. Her research focuses on studying carbon cycle dynamics and past climate change, for which she uses specific molecules, so-called biomarkers, derived from (micro)organisms and plants. Information on (past) environmental conditons can be extracted based on variations in the occurrence, distribution, and isotopic composition of these biomarkers in sedimentary archives.

Francien is challenged by finding suitable climate archives on land and to generate continuous temperature records for the continent. This has resulted in paleotemperature records for e.g., monsoonal East Asia, Pliocene Northwestern Europe, the Carpathian Basin, and equatorial East Africa. Another line of research focuses on the organic carbon cycle, and the fate of terrestrial organic matter in the (coastal) marine realm in particular.

Her current projects focus on understanding the environmental response of GDGTs in lakes, and reconstructing precipitation changes in the Himalaya.

Research highlights:
- The fate of soil OC in the marine environment: Read about our recent Gulf of Mexico expedition (February 2020) here and here. Or check the report of our pevious GoM expedition as part of NICO (leg 7, April 2018)
- ICDP DeepCHALLA expedition blog (November 2016)
- Public lecture on my love for molecules (at Betweterfestival 2018 - in Dutch)