Aniket Dhar

I’m a first year PhD student at the University of Arizona studying geoscience, broadly interested in using geochemistry and mineralogy in carbonate archives like cave calcite formations (speleothems/ stalagmites) to reconstruct past and observed climatic trends. My research work with Dr. Kaustubh Thirumalai aims to understand past Indian Monsoon strength, seasonality, and variability across the Pleistocene (past ∼400 kyrs) using these stalagmite measurements and to address how tropical hydroclimate responds to external forcings (ex. GHGs) and internal climate variability (ex. ENSO). The Pleistocene archive will help us to clarify the relationship between seasonal and interannual Indian Monsoon variance and global climate change. Additionally, I am interested in understanding the kinetics of calcite precipitation and dissolution in karst systems and the chemical exchange during the growth of speleothems using the mineralogy and the trace element composition of stalagmites. I further use the stable isotope (δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C) coupled with the clumped isotopes (Δ₄₇ and Δ₄₈) techniques in the stalagmites and climate modelling simulations to understand the sub-decadal-scale dynamics across glacial and interglacial cycles. Such information can help us better anticipate the climatic response to future forcing.

Besides studying geology, I love to travel and collect cool rocks and minerals, and do photography and digital art!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/paleocaves