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
@dispersal-erc.bsky.social project
Last days of fieldwork in Anatolia, with Serkan Akkiraz, Paul Botté and @benjaminraynaud.bsky.social! Exploring the Sivas Basin to date the onset of the modern steppe landscape with various stratigraphic and paleobotanical tools. Part of the @dispersal-erc.bsky.social project!
September 28, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Last days of fieldwork in Anatolia, with Serkan Akkiraz, Paul Botté and @benjaminraynaud.bsky.social! Exploring the Sivas Basin to date the onset of the modern steppe landscape with various stratigraphic and paleobotanical tools. Part of the @dispersal-erc.bsky.social project!
Looking for pollen, vertebrate fossils and pedogenic carbonates in Anatolia! With @benjaminraynaud.bsky.social, Paul Botté, @dispersal-erc.bsky.social
September 24, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Looking for pollen, vertebrate fossils and pedogenic carbonates in Anatolia! With @benjaminraynaud.bsky.social, Paul Botté, @dispersal-erc.bsky.social
Nice day of fieldwork in the Luberon Geopark, trying to date some of their iconic fossil sites. With Pauline Coster, @benjaminraynaud.bsky.social, and many others from @dispersal-erc.bsky.social
September 3, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Nice day of fieldwork in the Luberon Geopark, trying to date some of their iconic fossil sites. With Pauline Coster, @benjaminraynaud.bsky.social, and many others from @dispersal-erc.bsky.social
One of the delights of living in an antique Roman city: concerts at dawn in the ruins of the amphitheater.
July 19, 2025 at 7:35 PM
One of the delights of living in an antique Roman city: concerts at dawn in the ruins of the amphitheater.
Our two weeks of work in the Eocene of Kazakhstan are now over. A fantastic field season, with many discoveries -- new fossil mammals, geological sections, and promising paleoclimatic archives. Many things to write down now, we'll keep you posted of our future publications!
June 16, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Our two weeks of work in the Eocene of Kazakhstan are now over. A fantastic field season, with many discoveries -- new fossil mammals, geological sections, and promising paleoclimatic archives. Many things to write down now, we'll keep you posted of our future publications!
64 paleomag core in one day! Record beaten for this field season in Kazakhstan. With @mustafayk.bsky.social and Arman Seidali. Across the Eocene Oligocene Transition, hopefully.
June 11, 2025 at 2:09 PM
64 paleomag core in one day! Record beaten for this field season in Kazakhstan. With @mustafayk.bsky.social and Arman Seidali. Across the Eocene Oligocene Transition, hopefully.
After several days of intense logging and sampling in northeastern Kazakhstan, we just took a day off at Lake Markakol, a mountain lake close to the Chinese border (and its massive sand dunes). Amazing landscapes and a nice spot to pick microfossils from our screenwashing residue!
June 10, 2025 at 1:16 PM
After several days of intense logging and sampling in northeastern Kazakhstan, we just took a day off at Lake Markakol, a mountain lake close to the Chinese border (and its massive sand dunes). Amazing landscapes and a nice spot to pick microfossils from our screenwashing residue!
For #fossilFriday, a picture of our team in Kazakhstan screen-washing sediment for Eocene microfossils!
June 6, 2025 at 3:49 PM
For #fossilFriday, a picture of our team in Kazakhstan screen-washing sediment for Eocene microfossils!
First days of fieldwork in the Eocene of Kazakhstan, looking for vertebrate remains and paleoclimatic archives. With @mustafayk.bsky.social and many others
June 4, 2025 at 5:54 AM
First days of fieldwork in the Eocene of Kazakhstan, looking for vertebrate remains and paleoclimatic archives. With @mustafayk.bsky.social and many others
Amazing workshop last week in Arles, focused on how integrating geological and paleoclimatological constraints in phylogenetic and biogeographic reconstructions! 11 countries, 55 people, and 3 days of talks and brainstorming with a balanced group of biologists, geologists and climatologists.
March 31, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Amazing workshop last week in Arles, focused on how integrating geological and paleoclimatological constraints in phylogenetic and biogeographic reconstructions! 11 countries, 55 people, and 3 days of talks and brainstorming with a balanced group of biologists, geologists and climatologists.
Merry Christmas from the clumped isotope lab at @climatecerege.bsky.social! With @r0seturqu0ise.bsky.social
December 19, 2024 at 2:29 PM
Merry Christmas from the clumped isotope lab at @climatecerege.bsky.social! With @r0seturqu0ise.bsky.social
The Jurassic exhibit of the Jardin des Plantes is also touring in southern France, @cdelrio.bsky.social ?
November 21, 2024 at 8:53 AM
The Jurassic exhibit of the Jardin des Plantes is also touring in southern France, @cdelrio.bsky.social ?
PhD defense of @nicolasgentis.bsky.social yesterday at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. A great job in paleo-xylology (the study of fossil wood), with a lot of paleoclimatic and biogeographic implications!
November 5, 2024 at 7:08 AM
PhD defense of @nicolasgentis.bsky.social yesterday at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. A great job in paleo-xylology (the study of fossil wood), with a lot of paleoclimatic and biogeographic implications!
A great teamwork that is still going on, with many people from @climatecerege.bsky.social and the Luberon Geopark, and now part of my ERC research. (n/n)
November 1, 2024 at 11:25 AM
A great teamwork that is still going on, with many people from @climatecerege.bsky.social and the Luberon Geopark, and now part of my ERC research. (n/n)
The Luberon rivers and their exit lake completely dried out, and got quickly replaced by very shallow evaporative ponds covered by microbial mats. This transition likely indicate an intense episode of drying and cooling, that we are now trying to quantify in intensity and date very precisely. (4/n)
November 1, 2024 at 11:21 AM
The Luberon rivers and their exit lake completely dried out, and got quickly replaced by very shallow evaporative ponds covered by microbial mats. This transition likely indicate an intense episode of drying and cooling, that we are now trying to quantify in intensity and date very precisely. (4/n)
It ends up that we found an unexpected paleoclimatic record in the lake beds of the basin. Lacustrine sedimentation was irreversibly changed across the Eocene-Oligocene Transition (EOT), the climatic event associated with the spreading of Antarctica icesheet 34 million years ago. (3/n)
November 1, 2024 at 11:17 AM
It ends up that we found an unexpected paleoclimatic record in the lake beds of the basin. Lacustrine sedimentation was irreversibly changed across the Eocene-Oligocene Transition (EOT), the climatic event associated with the spreading of Antarctica icesheet 34 million years ago. (3/n)
The Luberon Geopark is famous for its numerous paleontological localities (vertebrates, plants, footprints; #FossilFriday), but many of them are poorly dated. So we decided to refine its stratigraphy, in order to correlate the fossil sites and understand their paleoenvironmental context. (2/n)
November 1, 2024 at 11:12 AM
The Luberon Geopark is famous for its numerous paleontological localities (vertebrates, plants, footprints; #FossilFriday), but many of them are poorly dated. So we decided to refine its stratigraphy, in order to correlate the fossil sites and understand their paleoenvironmental context. (2/n)
Today we finally celebrated our first, publishable clumped isotope measurements at @climatecerege.bsky.social, and the hiring of David Auyang as our new stable isotope lab engineer! picture of @r0seturqu0ise.bsky.social, with @clarab.bsky.social
October 18, 2024 at 12:49 PM
Today we finally celebrated our first, publishable clumped isotope measurements at @climatecerege.bsky.social, and the hiring of David Auyang as our new stable isotope lab engineer! picture of @r0seturqu0ise.bsky.social, with @clarab.bsky.social
For #fossilFriday, a fossil tooth of embrithopod, one of the big, endemic herbivorous mammals who once throve on the Balkanatolian archipelago. The picture was taken in 2023, at one of our new fossil localities. We are currently working on dating the site.
October 18, 2024 at 7:24 AM
For #fossilFriday, a fossil tooth of embrithopod, one of the big, endemic herbivorous mammals who once throve on the Balkanatolian archipelago. The picture was taken in 2023, at one of our new fossil localities. We are currently working on dating the site.
For #FossilFriday, a picture of @nicolasgentis.bsky.social surrounded by pictures of fossil wood material from his PhD thesis (a huge xylotheque on paper, from the fossil forests of Myanmar)
October 11, 2024 at 7:45 AM
For #FossilFriday, a picture of @nicolasgentis.bsky.social surrounded by pictures of fossil wood material from his PhD thesis (a huge xylotheque on paper, from the fossil forests of Myanmar)
Crushing sandstone samples in the lab today, the first step to extract zircons and other fun minerals geochronologists like to play with! with Daniel Robert from @climatecerege.bsky.social
October 3, 2024 at 1:37 PM
Crushing sandstone samples in the lab today, the first step to extract zircons and other fun minerals geochronologists like to play with! with Daniel Robert from @climatecerege.bsky.social
A great Saturday shoveling dirt in southern France, looking for pedogenic carbonates in modern soils!
September 30, 2024 at 4:10 PM
A great Saturday shoveling dirt in southern France, looking for pedogenic carbonates in modern soils!
Three weeks of great fieldwork in Turkey, building-up a detailed paleoclimatic record for Paleogene Balkanatolia. With many Turkish, American, and French colleagues to praise. A big part of the ERC DISPERSAL research project.
September 13, 2024 at 10:00 AM
Three weeks of great fieldwork in Turkey, building-up a detailed paleoclimatic record for Paleogene Balkanatolia. With many Turkish, American, and French colleagues to praise. A big part of the ERC DISPERSAL research project.
Back from an amazing 3-weeks fieldtrip in the wilderness of Kazakhstan, looking for Eocene-Oligocene paleontological sites and sedimentary sections! Numerous discoveries, and the beginning of a hopefully long-lasting collaboration with our colleagues at the Satpayev Institute of geological sciences.
June 19, 2024 at 10:04 AM
Back from an amazing 3-weeks fieldtrip in the wilderness of Kazakhstan, looking for Eocene-Oligocene paleontological sites and sedimentary sections! Numerous discoveries, and the beginning of a hopefully long-lasting collaboration with our colleagues at the Satpayev Institute of geological sciences.
A nice week of fieldwork in the Luberon Geopark, looking for Eocene and Oligocene paleoclimatic and paleontological records. with @climatecerege.bsky.social
April 15, 2024 at 11:49 AM
A nice week of fieldwork in the Luberon Geopark, looking for Eocene and Oligocene paleoclimatic and paleontological records. with @climatecerege.bsky.social