Dr Georgy Falster

Contacts
My PhD research focussed on reconstructing Australian Quaternary palaeo-environments, using palaeolimnology, and the stable & clumped isotopic composition of various carbonate phases.
After finishing my doctorate, I held a Postdoctoral Research Associate position at Washington University in St. Louis, where I used proxy records for the stable isotopic composition of environmental waters through the Common Era to investigate changes in global hydroclimate. I also used water isotope observations alongside palaeoclimate proxy data to investigate variability in tropical Pacific atmospheric circulation through the last millennium.
I have also worked as a Marine Scientist for Geoscience Australia, where I mapped and analysed seabed morphology.
Outside academia, my interests are many & varied: some edited highlights include cross country & alpine skiing, open water swimming, hiking, reading fantasy novels, and playing assorted musical instruments.
Research interests
My research explores long-term (decadal & upward) hydroclimate variability, from regional to global scales. I use stable water isotope geochemistry and information from earth system models, as well as various types of palaeoclimate proxy data from multiple archives including
- lake & marine sediments
- glacier ice
- corals & other marine carbonates
- terrestrial & marine molluscs
- tree rings
- speleothems (cave carbonate)
I am particularly interested in climate variability through the Common Era (from the year 0 CE to present). I use modern observational data to inform our understanding of pre-industrial climate variability, but also use Common Era palaeoclimate data to better understand low-frequency climate variability, which can inform model simulations of earth's current and future climates.
Groups
- Falster, G, Konecky, B, Madhavan, M et al. 2021, 'Imprint of the Pacific Walker Circulation in Global Precipitation δ18O
', Journal of Climate, vol. 34, no. 21, pp. 8579-8597.
- Konecky, B, McKay, N, Churakova, O et al. 2020, 'The Iso2k database: a global compilation of paleo-δ18O and δ2H records to aid understanding of Common Era climate', Earth System Science Data, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 2261-2288.
- Khider, D, Emile‐Geay, J, McKay, N et al. 2019, 'PaCTS 1.0: A Crowdsourced Reporting Standard for Paleoclimate Data', Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, vol. 34, no. 10, pp. 1570-1596.
- Falster, G, Delean, S & Tyler, J 2018, 'Hydrogen Peroxide Treatment of Natural Lake Sediment Prior to Carbon and Oxygen Stable Isotope Analysis of Calcium Carbonate', Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, vol. 19, no. 9, pp. 3583-3595.
- Falster, G, Tyler, J, Grant, K et al. 2018, 'Millennial-scale variability in south-east Australian hydroclimate between 30,000 and 10,000 years ago', Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 192, pp. 106-122.
- Collins, A, Patranabis-Deb, S, Alexander, E et al. 2015, 'Detrital mineral age, radiogenic isotopic stratigraphy and tectonic significance of the Cuddapah Basin, India', Gondwana Research, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 1294-1309.