Lapworth Lecture - Reconstructing Antarctic Climate Across the Eocene-Oligocene Transition

The Earth's history is marked by episodes of dramatic climate change, during which ancient ecosystems were reshaped by shifting temperatures. Around 34 million years ago, Antarctica underwent one of the most profound transformations in our planet's history - a global cooling event triggered the onset of glaciation, and a continent that had once harboured two-metre-tall giant penguins and early terrestrial mammals was transformed into the frozen wilderness we recognise today.

Dr. Saurav Dutta, a palaeobiologist and postdoctoral researcher at the British Antarctic Survey and Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, investigates how ancient marine ecosystems recorded this climate upheaval. By analysing stable isotope and trace element geochemistry of fossil bivalve shells from Seymour Island and King George Island, Antarctica, his research reconstructs ocean temperatures and seawater conditions from worlds that disappeared millions of years ago. These shells preserve chemical fingerprints that reveal how temperatures and salinity changed during the advent of Antarctic glaciation, a transition that may have played a crucial role in shaping the unique cold-water seabed ecosystems we find in Antarctic waters today.

Fieldwork is central to this research. As part of a Future Leaders Fellowship project led by Dr. Rowan Whittle, Saurav has conducted extensive field campaigns in Antarctica, with 35 days on Seymour Island in 2024 and 38 days on King George Island in 2024–2025, collecting Eocene and Late Oligocene fossils. These expeditions are yielding crucial new data to understand how Antarctic marine environments evolved across one of the most dramatic climate transitions in Earth's history.

In this lecture, the speaker will take you on a journey to ancient Antarctica to present the latest findings and explore how geochemical records from fossil shells are revealing the pace and magnitude of climate change during this critical transition.

The lecture is free to attend and open to everyone, and is available to watch in-person on campus or on Zoom.

About Saurav

Saurav Dutta is a palaeobiologist at the British Antarctic Survey and an associate postdoctoral member of Clare Hall, University of Cambridge. He earned his PhD from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata, India. His research focuses on reconstructing ancient environmental conditions using stable isotope and trace element geochemistry of fossil bivalve shells, in combination with fieldwork in the remote and extreme environments of Antarctica. His current work aims to understand how Antarctic marine environments evolved during the onset of glaciation around 34 million years ago.