Projects in the Southeast Pacific
* denotes first-author projects/papers
*Reconstructing Past Hydroclimate Variability Over the Remote Southeast Pacific from MIS-3 to Present
Description: Using hydrogen isotopes in precipitation, inferred from hydrogen isotopes in sedimentary leaf-waxes preserved in Rano Aroi wetland, Rapa Nui, to reconstruct past changes in southeast Pacific atmospheric circulation from MIS-3 to present
Status: Manuscript in revision in Nature Communications
*Prolonged drought on Rapa Nui during the decline of megalithic monument construction.
Description: Using hydrogen isotopes in precipitation, inferred from hydrogen isotopes in sedimentary leaf-waxes preserved in Rano Kao and Rano Aroi wetlands, to investigate hydroclimate changes on Rapa Nui during the last millennium. We describe a possible connection between local drought and a major 16th-17th cultural transition documented in the archeolocal record.
Status: Published in Communications Earth and Environment
Citation: Stein, R., Curtin, L., Balascio, N.L. et al. Prolonged drought on Rapa Nui during the decline of megalithic monument construction. Commun Earth Environ 6, 865 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02801-4
*Southern Hemisphere Westerly Wind Dynamics Inferred from Leaf-Wax Hydrogen Isotopes in IODP 1234 from MIS-5 to present
Description: Using chain-length distributions, hydrogen isotopes, and carbon isotopes of sedimentary leaf-waxes in IODP 1234, off the coast of Concepción, Chile, to investigate changes in atmospheric circulation over the Southern Hemisphere midlatitudes from 150 kyr BP through the late Holocene.
Status: Preliminary results, working on analysis
*A High-Resolution Record of Mid-Holocene Hydroclimate Over the Southeast Pacific from Rano Raraku lake, Rapa Nui
Description: Using leaf-wax hydrogen isotopes to investigate past changes in atmospheric circulation over Rapa Nui from approximately 8-5 kyr BP. New sediment records from Rano Raraku lake offer significantly higher temporal resolution during this period relative to cores taken from from Rano Aroi wetland.
Status: Preliminary results, working on analysis
