Project start!

Our new DFG-funded project „Denudation and Carbonate landscape evolution in the European Alps: a novel approach using electron spin resonance thermochronometry (DenudCarb)“ has officially started. Together with PhD student Yohann Chatelain, we will develop a new thermochronometer applicable to carbonate minerals using electron spin resonance (ESR).

Significant parts of the European Alps are composed of carbonate rocks, yet their landscapes and denudation processes remain largely underexplored, especially across Quaternary timescales. This is largely due to the difficulties in precisely constraining changes in mountain denudation over the recent past, particularly in carbonate landscapes. The DenudCarb project aims to address this temporal and spatial gap by utilising ESR signals in carbonate minerals as a novel thermochronometer, seeking to answer key questions about how and when the carbonate topography of the Alps formed in response to climate and tectonic forces.