People at Fort Hoofddijk

Silja Hüsing
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NWO VENI laureate
 Dr. S.K. Hüsing
Paleomagnetic Laboratory
Fort Hoofddijk
Utrecht University
Department of Earth Sciences, 
Utrecht University 
Budapestlaan 17, 3584 CD Utrecht 
The Netherlands 

Phone +31 30 253 5418
E-mail huesing@geo.uu.nl

Research
Publications

My PhD thesis


Research of Silja Hüsing

Middle Miocene global cooling: 
climate change through gateway closure ? 
The closure of the Mediterranean-Indian Ocean gateway in the course of the Miocene must have had a pronounced effect on both Mediterranean and global climate. It has been held responsible for the Middle Miocene Climate Transition between 15 and 14 Ma, following the Climatic Optimum between 17 and 15 Ma. 

Unfortunately, dating of the closure - being based on land-mammal evidence - is still poorly constrained. As a consequence, a causal connection between Middle Miocene cooling and the closure of the Mediterranean - Indian Ocean gateway has not been proven to date. Because direct sedimentary evidences in the gateway regions have been effectively eliminated by subduction, uplift and erosion, I propose to identify and date the history of the gateway closure in the marine sedimentary archive of the Mediterranean. I will use Nd isotopes in fish teeth as a tracer for the relative contribution of Indian Ocean water to the Mediterranean and, hence, as a proxy for connectivity.

 I will construct a high-resolution astronomical age model for the interval between ~13 and ~20 Ma to accurately date the Nd isotope record, and use multiple proxies (geochemical and stable isotope analysis) and detailed correlations to open ocean records to identify concurrent and probably related changes in regional Mediterranean and global climate. Surplus value of the proposed research will come from a detailed comparison of the results with the outcome of climate modelling experiments on the effect of the closure on both regional and global climate. I will further explore the link to the Paratethys and the potentially disturbing effects of regional tectonics through international collaborations. I anticipate that the outcome will contribute to a better understanding of natural climate variability both on a global as well as on a regional scale, and in particular on the effects of gateway closure on that variability.
Unfortunately, dating  of the closure - being based on land-mammal evidence - is still poorly constrained. As a  consequence,  a  causal  connection  between  Middle  Miocene cooling and the  closure of  the Mediterranean - Indian Ocean gateway has not been (dis)proven to date. 


Silja canooing in the river section near Utrecht, The Netherlands

publications Publications of Silja Hüsing

2011
  • Hüsing, S.K., Deenen, M.H.L., Koopmans, J.G. and Krijgsman, W. (2011). Magnetostratigraphic dating of the proposed Rhaetian GSSP at Steinbergkogel (Upper Triassic, Austria): Implications for the Late Triassic time scale, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 302, 201-216. 
2010
  • Di Stefano, A., Verducci, M., Lirer, ., Ferraro, L., Iaccarino, S.M., Hüsing, S.K. and Hilgen, F.J. (2010). Paleoenvironmental conditions preceding the Messinian Salinity Crisis in the Central Mediterranean: Integrated data from the Upper Miocene Trave section (Italy), Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimat., Palaeoecol., 297, 37-53. 
  • Hüsing, S.K., Cascella, A., Hilgen, F.J., Krijgsman, W., Kuiper, K.F., Turco, E. and Wilson, D. (2010), Astrochronology of the Mediterranean Langhian between 15.29 and 14.17 Ma, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 290, 254-269 
  • Hüsing, S.K., Oms,O., Agustí, J., Garcés, M., Kouwenhoven, T.J., Krijgsman, W. and Zachariasse, W.J. (2010).  On the late Miocene closure of the Mediterranean - Atlantic gateway through  the Guadix basin (southern Spain), Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 291, 167-179. 
  • Mourik, A.A., Bijkerk, J.F., Cascella, A., Hüsing, S.K., Hilgen, F.J., Lourens, L.J. and Turco, E. (2010). Astronomical tuning of the LaVedova High Cliff section (Ancona, Italy) — Implications of the Middle Miocene Climate Transition for Mediterranean sapropel formation, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 297, 249-261. 
2009
  • Dupont-Nivet, G., Sier, M., Campisano, C.J., Arrowsmith, J.R., DiMaggio, E.N., Reed, K., Lockwood, C.A., Franke, C. and Hüsing, S. (2009), Magnetostratigraphy of the eastern Hadar Basin (Ledi-Geraru research area, Ethiopia), implications for hominin paleoenvironments, In: Quade, J., and Wynn, J.G. (eds.), The Geology of Early Humans in the Horn of Africa, GSA Special Paper 446, 67-85. 
  • Hüsing, S.K., Zachariasse, W.J., Van Hinsbergen, D.J.J., Krijgsman, W., Inceöz, M., Harzhauser, M., Mandic, O. and Kroh, A. (2009).  Oligo-Miocene foreland basin evolution in SE Anatolia: implications for the closure of the eastern Tethys gateway, In: Van Hinsbergen, D.J.J., Edwards, M.A. and Govers, R. (eds.), Geodynamics of Collision and Collapse at the Africa-Arabia-Eurasia subduction zone, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 311, 107-132. 
  • Hüsing, S.K., Kuiper, K.F., Link, W., Hilgen, F.J. and Krijgsman, W. (2009).  The upper Tortonian - lower Messinian at Monte dei Corvi (Northern Apennines, Italy): Completing a Mediterranean reference section for the Tortonian Stage, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 282, 140-57.  
  • Hüsing, S.K., Dekkers, M.J., Franke, C., Krijgsman, W. (2009). The Tortonian reference section at Monte dei Corvi (Italy): evidence for early remanence acquisition in greigite-bearing sediments, Geophys. J. Int., 179, 125-143. 
2008
  • Hüsing, S. (2008). Astrochronology of the Mediterranean Miocene: Linking palaeoenvironmental changes to gateway dynamics (PhD Thesis Utrecht University), Geologica Ultraiectina, 295, 171 pp. 
2007
  • Hüsing, S.K., Hilgen, F.J., Abdul Aziz, H. and Krijgsman, W. (2007). Completing the Neogene geological time scale between 8.5 and 12.5 Ma, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 253, 340-358