Using Portuguese stalagmites to constrain Holocene arid and humid intervals and drivers of regional hydroclimate

Abstract

I have been blessed to work with fun, intelligent, hard-working colleagues within our SIPERG research group including Jared Ballew, Hannah Carroll, and Juan Carlos Romero Gelvez. I have learned much about how to be a researcher and scientist from my two amazing officemates and even better friends -Maddie Mette and Nina Whitney. The research presented in this dissertation would not have been possible without the assistance of lots of co-authors, undergraduate assistants, and field assistants from ISU and around the world. I am thrilled to see what the future holds for this research. I would like to thank many friends and my family -my parents, Matt's parents, and my children, Andrew, Hannah, Mary, and Sarah. I hope that I have made you proud and shown you that anything is possible with hard work and dedication. My biggest thank you is reserved for my husband, Matt. His various roles over the past seven years include Excel expert, constant supporter, and patient listener to endless discussions about my current research tasks. Without his help, none of this would have happened. Thank

The sediment at the end of the tunnel: Geophysical research to locate the Pleistocene entrance of Gruta da Companheira (Algarve, Southern Portugal)

“…Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that at least these speleothems were completely formed before the chambers became filled with sediments and Middle Palaeolithic stone tools. The formation of some speleothems, however, might have lasted until the Holocene, similarly to the speleothem formation documented at the neighbouring caves of Companheira Grande, Companheira B, and Ibn Ammar (Thatcher, 2020). Vadose sediment accumulation (Late Pleistocene) Chambers 1 and 2 and probably part of the Subvertical Passage filled with sediments.…”