Research Statement
Silicate weathering acts as a long-term regulator of the global carbon cycle, but its response to rapid climate perturbations remains poorly constrained. In the context of climatic perturbations, such as the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a central challenge is to quantify both the timing and magnitude of carbon cycle feedbacks. In particular, the response timescales of continental weathering and the formation of secondary clay minerals remain poorly constrained.
During my current postdoctoral research at the University of Lausanne, I work with Prof. Georgina King to apply Electron Spin Resonance dating to kaolinite-rich clays from the Zumaia section (northern Spain). This approach aims to determine whether clays exported to the ocean during the PETM formed contemporaneously with the warming event or represent pre-existing weathering products.
By placing robust chronological constraints on clay formation, this work seeks to quantify the response timescales of chemical weathering and to better resolve its role as a feedback within the global carbon cycle during periods of extreme warming.
Biography
I completed my B.Sc. at the University of Los Andes (Colombia), majoring in Geosciences with a minor in Journalism. During this time, I spent one semester at the University of Oklahoma (USA) and another at the University of Helsinki (Finland), where I developed an inclination for sedimentology. I was first introduced to trapped charge dating during a summer fellowship at the University of Bayreuth (Germany).
I then pursued a M.Sc. at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Germany), where I wrote my master’s thesis on the mineralogical and chemical characterization of ceramic clays from the Westerwald region and their associated sulfides.
In November 2020, I joined the Earth Surface Dynamics group at the University of Geneva (Switzerland), where I completed my Ph.D. on the chemical weathering response to the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) in the Southern Pyrenees and the Gulf of Mexico. My work focused on the interface between sedimentology, isotope geochemistry, clay mineralogy, and paleoclimatology. I defended my Ph.D. in August 2025 and continued as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Geneva until June 2026.
Publications: here
Contact
Rocio Jaimes Gutierrez
University of Lausanne
Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics
Géopolis, Bureau 3151
1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
rocio.jaimesgutierrez@unil.ch