Dr Anton Vaks

NERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Email:	Anton.Vaks@earth.ox.ac.uk
TEL:	+44 (1865) 272011
FAX:	+44 (1865) 272072

Research Profile

The objective of my study is to find the relationship between the global temperatures and permafrost formation/thawing, as well as desertification processes. I use a record of Neogene/Quaternary carbonate cave deposits (speleothems) to access the paleoenvironmental conditions. Speleothems form in caves when rain/snow waters seep from the surface, dissolve carbonate rocks above the cave, which is then re-deposited as secondary CaCO₃ inside the cave. No speleothem deposition can occur without flowing water, i.e. when the mean annual temperature is below 0°C, or in arid climate. Therefore, speleothems which are found in presently permafrost or arid regions must be relicts from earlier warmer/wetter periods.

Speleothems can be accurately dated using U-Th and U-Pb methods. Speleothem deposition periods show when warm periods occurred in regions that are presently permafrost, and when the humid periods occurred in present-day desert.

Today I am studying the paleoclimate of Siberia and Mongolian Gobi Desert. My purpose is to find when mean annual temperatures in Siberia were above 0°C and when the Gobi Desert in Mongolia was humid. The study improves our understanding of the relationship between the climates of central Asia to the cold/warm cycles of the global climate and the results could assist in modeling the future climate change (i.e. desertification or permafrost degradation processes).

During my PhD I used dating of speleothems and their stable-isotope composition to reconstruct the patterns and history of past humid/dry conditions across the portion of the Saharan Arabian Desert found in southern Israel (Negev Desert).

Selected Publications (Full Publications)

Vaks, A., Bar-Matthews, M., Matthews, A., Ayalon, A., Frumkin, A., (2010) Middle-Late Quaternary paleoclimate of northern margins of the Saharan-Arabian Desert: reconstruction from speleothems of Negev Desert, Israel, Quaternary Science Reviews, 29, 19-20, 2647-2662.
Lisker, S., Vaks, A., Bar-Matthews, M., Porat, R., Frumkin, A., (2010) Late Pleistocene palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the Dead Sea area (Israel), based on speleothems and cave stromatolites, Quaternary Science Reviews, 29, 9-10, 1201-1211.
Lisker, S., Vaks, A., Bar-Matthews, M., Porat, R., Frumkin, A. (2009) Stromatolites in caves of the Dead Sea Fault Escarpment: Implications to latest Pleistocene lake levels and tectonic subsidence, Quaternary Science Reviews, 28, 1-2, 80-92
Vaks, A., Bar-Matthews, M., Ayalon, A., Matthews, A., Halicz, L., Frumkin, A. (2007) Desert speleothems reveal climatic window for African exodus of early modern humans, Geology, 35, 9, 831-834.
Vaks , A., Bar-Matthews, M., Ayalon, A., Matthews, A., Frumkin, A., Dayan, U., Halicz, L., Almogi-Labin, A. and Schilman, B., (2006) Paleoclimate and location of the border between Mediterraneanclimate region and the Saharo-Arabian Desert as revealed by speleothems from the northern Negev Desert, Israel., Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 249, 3-4, 384-399.
Vaks, A., Bar-Matthews, Ayalon., A., Schilman, B., M., Gilmour, M., Hawkesworth, C. J., Frumkin, A., Kaufman, A., Matthews, A. (2003), Paleoclimate reconstruction based on the timing of speleothemgrowth, oxygen and carbon isotope composition from a cave located in the �rain shadow�, Israel., Quaternary Research, 59, 2, pp 182-193.