A speleothem is a geological formation by mineral deposits that accumulate over time in natural caves. Speleothems most commonly form in calcareous caves due to carbonate dissolution reactions. They can take a variety of forms, depending on their depositional history and environment. Their chemical composition, gradual growth, and preservation in caves make them useful paleoclimatic proxies.
Flowstones are sheetlike deposits of calcite or other carbonate minerals, formed where water flows down the walls or along the floors of a cave. They are typically found in "solution caves", in limestone, where they are the most common speleothem. However, they may form in any type of cave where water enters that has picked up dissolved minerals. Flowstones are formed via the degassing of vadose percolation waters.
Paul Goldberg is a geologist specializing in geomorphology and geoarchaeology who had done extensive worldwide field researches.
Gideon Mark Henderson FRS is a British geochemist whose work focuses on low-temperature geochemistry, the carbon cycle, the oceans, and on understanding the mechanisms driving climate change. Henderson was the head of department at the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, and is presently the chief scientific advisor at the UK Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs.
Calcite crystals form on the surface of quiescent bodies of water, even when the bulk water is not supersaturated with respect to calcium carbonate. The crystals grow, attach to one other and appear to be floating rafts of a white, opaque material. The floating materials have been referred to as calcite rafts or "leopard spots".
Jane K Hart is a Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Southampton UK. She has a BSc in Physical Geography from the University of Reading and a PhD in Glaciology from the University of East Anglia. She was Lecturer in Physical Geography at the University of Manchester(1988–89). Currently Deputy Hean of School (Education), formally Head of Research Group
Lawrence Alexander Hardie was an American geologist, sedimentologist, and geochemist.
Isabel Patricia Montañez is a paleoclimatologist specializing in geochemical records of ancient climate change. She is a Distinguished Professor and a Chancellor's Leadership Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at University of California, Davis. As of 2021, Montañez is the Director of the UC Davis Institute of the Environment.
Nerilie Abram is an Australian professor at the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Her areas of expertise are in climate change and paleoclimatology, including the climate of Antarctica, the Indian Ocean Dipole, and impacts on the climate of Australia.
Jemma L Wadham is a British glacial biogeochemist.
Carlota Escutia Dotti is a Spanish geologist, best known for her work on the geologic evolution of Antarctica and the global role of the Antarctic ice cap. Escutia is based at the Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad de Granada and the High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC).
Amy Leventer is an American Antarctic researcher specialising in micropaleontology, with specific research interests in marine geology, marine biology, and climate change. Leventer has made over a dozen journeys to the Antarctic, which began at the age of 24 and led to the pursuit of her PhD.
Trista Vick-Majors is an American Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences at Michigan Tech. She is an Antarctic biogeochemist and microbial ecologist, best known for her work showing that microorganisms are present under the Antarctic ice sheet.
Aradhna Tripati is an American geoscientist, climate scientist, and advocate for diversity. She is a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where she is part of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, the Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, and the California Nanosystems Institute. She is also the director of the Center for Diverse Leadership in Science. Her research includes advancing new chemical tracers for the study of environmental processes and studying the history of climate change and Earth systems. She is recognized for her research on climate change and clumped isotope geochemistry. She studies the evolution of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and the impacts on temperature, the water cycle, glaciers and ice sheets, and ocean acidity.
Dawn Yvonne Sumner is an American geologist, planetary scientist, and astrobiologist. She is a professor at the University of California, Davis. Sumner's research includes evaluating microbial communities in Antarctic lakes, exploration of Mars via the Curiosity rover, and characterization of microbial communities in the lab and from ancient geologic samples. She is an investigator on the NASA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and was Chair of the UC Davis Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences from 2014-2016. She is Fellow of the Geological Society of America.
Andrea Dutton, a 2019 MacArthur Fellow, is a Professor of Geology in the Department of Geoscience at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where she studies paleoclimate, sedimentology, carbonate geochemistry, and paleoceonagraphy. Her primary research investigates sea level changes during interglacial periods to predict future sea level rise.
Amelia E. Shevenell is an American marine geologist who specializes in high-latitude paleoclimatology and paleoceanography. She is currently an Associate Professor in the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida. She has made notable contributions to understanding the history of the Antarctic ice sheets and published in high-impact journals and, as a result, was awarded full membership of Sigma Xi. She has a long record of participation in international ocean drilling programs and has served in leadership positions of these organizations. Shevenell is the elected Geological Oceanography Council Member for The Oceanography Society (2019-2021).
Kathleen R. Johnson is an American member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians who is a geologist and paleoclimatologist. Her research focuses on reconstructing past climate change with speleothems, on active cave monitoring to understand the interaction of climate with speleotherm geochemistry, and analyzes climate and paleoclimate data to investigate natural climate variability. She earned a PhD from the University of California Berkeley in 2004 and is an associate professor at the University of California Irvine.
Silvia Giordani is an Italian chemist who is Professor of Nanomaterials at Dublin City University. Her research considers carbon-based functional materials for biotechnology. She was awarded a L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science fellowship in 2012.
Anna Nele Meckler is a professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Bergen, and is also affiliated with the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research. She specialises in paleoceanography and paleoclimatology, and leads multiple grants to develop new techniques to reconstruct past temperatures, most importantly clumped isotope thermometry. By analysing speleothems Meckler's team can identify how past levels of CO2 in the atmosphere correlate with temperature changes, which gives essential knowledge for predicting future climate change.
