HAPPY NEW YEAR 2023
May I take this opportunity to thank all our faithfull patners and user in Botswana and abroad for collaborating with us and for using the VTR research center. It is a pleasure to work with all of you.
I am also proud to inform you that after six years of research on Fungus-growing termites in the Chobe Enclave, I have completed my PhD on “ Biophysical and biogeochemical dynamics of Macrotermes michaelseni termite mounds in a savanna ecosystem of Botswana” and obtain the title of Doctor in Earth Sciences from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.
We are honored to let you know that Prof. Eric Verrecchia, has been appointed scientific consultant for the VTR research center as of January 2023. Eric P. Verrecchia is an emeritus professor of Biogeosciences at the Faculty of Geosciences and the Environment, University of Lausanne (Switzerland). He is specialized in geopedology and biogeochemistry of the terrestrial carbon and calcium cycles. He recently co-authored a Visual Atlas for Soil Micromorphologists (in Open Access at Springer Nature) and applied this technique, coupled with biogeochemical analytical methods, to soils and surficial formations from the tropics to the temperate zone. His present-day interests focus on vadose carbonates, including soils, calcretes, biominerals and biomediated precipitates, and their relationships with the carbon cycle in terrestrial environments, particularly in arid and semiarid landscapes. For more details please see: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Eric-Verrecchia
Two research groups will be coming to the center these following weeks, one working on isotopic dendrochronology and the other on malaria transmission.
Our partners from the Botswana International University for Science and Technology (BIUST) are using more and more our facility in order to conduct field missions in a variety of domains.
Finally, two new articles have recently been published by our colleagues. See below.
Mokatse, T., Vainer, S., Irving, J., Schmidt, C., Kgosidintsi, B., Shemang, E., Verrecchia, E.P., 2022. Geometry of sedimentary deposits and evolution of the landforms in the Chobe Enclave, Northern Botswana. Geomorphology, vol 415, 108406. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169555X22002999
Vainer, S., Matmon, A., Ben Dor, Y., Verrecchia, E.P., Eckardt, F & Aster Team., 2022. Eolian chronology reveals causal links between tectonics, climate, and erg generation. Nature communications 13, 5714. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33316-7