Missions

The impact of glacial and interglacial cycles on the denudation of continents during the Quaternary remains a debated topic. One of the challenges is to develop methods to quantify paleo-erosion rates from the concentration of cosmogenic isotopes in marine sediments at river mouths. To identify the climate signal, it seems appropriate to study catchments located on cratons. However, the transport and recycling times of sediments in these catchments may distort the cosmogenic record of palaeo-erosion rates. It is therefore necessary to assess these effects through numerical modelling coupling landscape dynamics and monitoring the cosmogenic isotope detrital signal in river sands. This is one of the approaches of the ANR PANTERA project (PI J. Charreau at CRPG) which aims to reconstruct Plio-Quaternary paleo-erosion rates from the cosmogenic signal in the offshore sediments of several African rivers. This project is a consortium between the CRPG of Nancy, the CEREGE of Aix en Provence and the GET of Toulouse.

Activités

The post-doctoral project includes the acquisition of cosmogenic isotope data and the modelling of the detrital cosmogenic isotope signal, which is the main objective. This modelling will be carried out using the CIDRE landscape evolution model, which couples landscape evolution with the tracking of grains whose cosmogenic isotope concentrations vary during transport.

Compétences

The profile sought is that of a geomorphologist, with skills in cosmogenic isotopes and numerical modelling of landscape evolution.

Contexte de travail

The main site of the post-doc will be at GET in Toulouse within the geomorphology group under the main supervision of S. Carretier. The post-doc will benefit from strong interactions with members of the geomorphology group and the LOA team on related projects in Toulouse (https://www.get.omp.eu/loa/). The work will also be carried out in collaboration with the other members of the project, at the CRPG and at the CEREGE.