Alexis Licht
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alexislicht.bsky.social
Alexis Licht
@alexislicht.bsky.social
Geologist, paleobiologist, @CNRS.fr research scientist, co-director of the Climate team at CEREGE @climatecerege.bsky.social, PI of ERC-funded
@dispersal-erc.bsky.social project
Yep !
February 1, 2026 at 4:19 PM
I don't know yet what the data will tell us about the dynamics of pedogenic carbonate growth. We've started a bunch of geochemical analyses on them, and on the water samples, which should tell us when they seasonally grow. Nothing on truffles, but I'm sure Pierre wouldn't have minded.
February 1, 2026 at 4:00 PM
Many things have changed since we started the experiment. Pierre died in 2022, it was tough for the whole village. The trees kept growing and the nursery was abandoned for quite some time. Lately, a beekeeper installed his hives just next to my station, making sampling a little bit more challenging
February 1, 2026 at 3:56 PM
I quickly left the truffles behind, because i realised that the ground was full of fresh pedogenic carbonates, so the nursery became my natural laboratory to study the growth of their growth.
February 1, 2026 at 3:49 PM
The experiment started as a semi-joke with Pierre Nitard, my father's neighbour in Collias. "Could you predict when I get truffles in my oak nursery with climate data?" So I dug up some holes, set up some temperature and humidity sensor in the ground and in the air, and a rainwater collector.
February 1, 2026 at 3:43 PM
Today, I celebrate the end of an experiment. It has been five years, during COVID times, that I set up this climate station in Collias, in southern France. Every first day of the month, I came here to get my rainwater sample. And today was the final sampling day. (1/n)
February 1, 2026 at 3:37 PM
Reposted by Alexis Licht
Happy 6th "Large boulder the size of a small boulder" anniversary to those who celebrate! #Geology ⚒️
January 27, 2026 at 12:49 PM
The first clumped isotope results from our platform at @cerege.bsky.social. Two long years of hardwork in the lab.
A new preprint from our research group is online!
In this paper, Paul Botté, PhD student in the project at @climatecerege.bsky.social, studied the evolution of continental environmental through the late Eocene and earliest Oligocene in central Anatolia.

egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/20...
January 26, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Reposted by Alexis Licht
A new preprint from our research group is online!
In this paper, Paul Botté, PhD student in the project at @climatecerege.bsky.social, studied the evolution of continental environmental through the late Eocene and earliest Oligocene in central Anatolia.

egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/20...
January 26, 2026 at 1:12 PM
A short video on our work about Eocene primate dispersal, part of the project @dispersal-erc.bsky.social.
And a great opportunity to hear one of the best Frenglish accents around.
How did mammals cross oceans millions of years ago?

Our first video introducing the ERC-funded DISPERSAL project is live on YouTube 🎉

👇 Check it out!
youtu.be/COdGQYkdraw

🎙️ First episode of a series of interviews with the scientists involved. Stay tuned — more interviews coming soon!
🐒🌊 Crossing oceans without boats: the mysterious overwater dispersals of ancient mammals
YouTube video by CEREGE
youtu.be
January 20, 2026 at 3:44 PM
Un grand botaniste et un grand penseur de notre rapport à la nature.
January 4, 2026 at 10:18 AM
Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵

Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...
December 21, 2025 at 11:41 AM
So, did primates and rodents raft on vegetation debris to reach South America? This crazy hypothesis remains so far the only mechanism to reach South America during the Eocene. But why only at 40 Ma, and how? Questions that we will try to answer in the next few years -- more on this topic soon (n/n)
December 16, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Leny showed that primates and rodents could have hopped along archipelagoes from Balkanatolia to North Africa. But there is no viable archipelago to reach South America from Africa via island hopping, even in the most extreme scenarii (3/n).
December 16, 2025 at 9:17 AM
In this paper, Leny Montheil, postdoc at @climatecerege.bsky.social within the ERC project @dispersal-erc.bsky.social, reconstructed at high resolution the paleogeography of the Atlantic and Neotethyan domain 40 Million years ago, using the most recent plate reconstructions. (2/n)
December 16, 2025 at 9:14 AM
🚨New paper alert🚨 40 million years ago, anthropoid primates and rodents dispersed from East Asia to Africa and South America, across two wide oceans (the Neotethys and the Southern Atlantic). So Which way did they pass? @dispersal-erc.bsky.social (1/n)
doi.org/10.1016/j.ea...
Redirecting
doi.org
December 16, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Reposted by Alexis Licht
#exoCeanadvent Day 9: Meet Maxime (again). At @exoceanlab.bsky.social and @climatecerege.bsky.social Maxime has been conducting several experiments focusing on the culture of marine organisms. One project involved culturing foraminifera in the presence of olivine (Mg,Fe)2SiO4, an igneous mineral.
December 9, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Alexis Licht
🌍🔬 Calling all aspiring palaeontologists!
Here are 10 open PhD opportunities from across the palaeo world 🦖📚
Explore the projects, find deadlines, and start your research journey!

👉 More info on our official website:
palass.org/phd-opportun...
#PhD #PalAss #Opportunity
December 5, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Clay suggests that this isolation was associated with a moderate uplift generated by an episode of lithospheric foundering, tens of millions of years before what is commonly proposed in the area. This scenario opens new interpretative ways for the rich geomorphological history of Anatolia! (n/n)
December 1, 2025 at 2:48 PM
In this paper, Clay reconstructed the drainage history of the Cankiri Basin in central Anatolia following the final closure of the seaways straddling across Balkanatolia. He showed that quickly after the final closure, the Cankiri basin got completely isolated (2/n)
December 1, 2025 at 2:46 PM
🚨New paper alert🚨 The last PhD paper of Clay Campbell, part of the tectonic investigations we did in Turkey to understand the paleogeographic history of #Balkanatolia -- with @megomueller.bsky.social and our paleontologists collaborators.
doi.org/10.1130/B384... (1/n)
The Late Paleogene Çankırı Basin of Türkiye: The geologic record of lithospheric foundering beneath the Central Anatolian Plateau | GSA Bulletin | GeoScienceWorld
doi.org
December 1, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Reposted by Alexis Licht
Join us as a postdoc at CEREGE !
November 18, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Reposted by Alexis Licht
How did the hydroclimate of central America responded to Glacial conditions? Find out in the first paper of Elise Luciani, PhD student of @guillaume-leduc.bsky.social in our team!
doi.org/10.1016/j.ep...
Redirecting
doi.org
November 13, 2025 at 10:32 AM
The amazing, brilliant, and adventurous professor Jay Quade of @uarizona.bsky.social and @nationalacademies.org passed away peacefully last Friday in Tucson, surrounded by loved ones. He was probably the brightest and most honest scientist and human being I had the opportunity to work with.
October 19, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Alexis Licht
🚨Aidez le GREC-SUD !🚨
Le GREC-Sud (porté par l’association AIR climat) a pour objectif de faciliter la décision et le passage à l’action face au changement climatique en région PACA. Pendant 10 ans, il a rédigé une vingtaine de cahiers thématiques tous disponibles gratuitement, www.grec-sud.fr (1/2)
GREC-SUD
www.grec-sud.fr
October 15, 2025 at 11:38 AM