Christos Katrantsiotis

I am post-doctoral researcher in the field of paleoclimatology, in the Environmental Archaeology Lab, Umeå University. I have PhD and master degrees in Climate Science and Quaternary Geology, from Stockholm University.

My background and scientific interests include the study of past climate and landscape changes using biomarker isotopes and siliceous microfossils (mainly diatoms) in sediments.

My main speciality and interest isinclude the application and development of combined biomarkers and isotope approach to investigate past hydroclimate changes in various environmental settings and their connection to paleoclimate dynamics.

Another speciality and interest also include the application of diatoms for reconstruction of past hydrological changes but also for studying current water quality and ecological changes in marine and freshwater environments.

I am currently working on three projects aiming to reconstruct climate and landscape changes from Southern Greece and Scandinavia over the Holocene (ca last 11.500 years).

The information on past climate and environmental variability retrieved from the projects will be integrated with socio-cultural information from archaeological studies carried out in parallel at the same localities.

1. The first project focuses on the Peloponnese peninsula, Southern Greece, where three paleorecords highlight (i) the complex interaction between climate, tectonics and human activities in the landscape development and (ii) the large spatial heterogeneity of climate variability in this area over the Holocene.

2. The second project focuses on Northern Finland where a high resolution diatom record from a small boreal lake provides evidence for wet and warm conditions during the early-middle Holocene followed by drier and cooler conditions after 4500 years before present. 

3. The third project concerns the reconstruction of shore displacement history in the Västervik area, SE Sweden. The study is based on sediment cores rertieved from eight lakes/paleolakes in the Västervik area. The shore displacement reconstruction will enable a survey of the human settlements in the area; how the settlements, nearshore activities (e.g. fish-traps, bridges, defense constructions) and maritime routes were placed in the landscape. The knowledge of how humans have adopted to changing coastlines through time is also an indication on how society can and needs to adopt to a possible rising sea level in the future.