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“Advancement in Speleothems Petrography and Microstratig- Raphy As Proxies of Climate and Environmental Changes”

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“Advancement in Speleothems Petrography and Microstratig- Raphy As Proxies of Climate and Environmental Changes” “Advancement in speleothems petrography and microstratig- raphy as proxies of climate and environmental changes” VALENTINA VANGHI (ORCID: 0000-0002-9412-6602) BSc. Natural Science (Hons.) (University of Florence, Italy) MSc. Quaternary Geology (University of the Basque Country, Spain) MSc. Human Evolution (University of Burgos, Spain) A Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY March 2018 School of Environmental and Life Science Faculty of Science and Information Technology University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia Statement of Originality I declare this Thesis contains no material which has been accepted, or is being examined, for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. I give consent to the final version of my thesis being made available worldwide when deposited in the University’s Digital Repository, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968 and any approved embargo. Acknowledgement of Collaboration I hereby certify that the work embodied in this Thesis has been done in collaboration with other researchers, or carried out in other institution. Below I have outlined the extent of collaboration, with whom and under what auspices. John Hellstrom (co-supervisor of this PhD thesis) and Petra Bajo from the University of Melbourne are acknowledged for training me and helping in the U-Th dating procedures presented in chapters 3 and 5. Russell Drysdale, also from the University of Melbourne, is acknowledged for training me in the art of IR-MS stable isotopes analyses presented in chapter 5. Daryl Howard from the Australian Synchrotron (Melbourne) contributed to the data acquisition of SR-µXRF analyses presented in chapter 3. Gerda Gloy from the Bruker Nano Analytics (Brisbane) helped with the µXRF analyses presented in chapter 3. Floriana Salvemini from Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation – ANSTO, assisted at the neutron tomography experiment presented in chapter 4. Vladimir Luzin from ANSTO contributed to the acquisition and processing of neutron diffraction data presented in chapter 4. Jitendra Mata from ANSTO assisted with the small angle neutron scattering analysis and data processing presented in chapter 4. Sandro Montanari from the Osservatorio Geologico di Coldigioco assisted during the fieldwork at Frasassi cave and helped with the interpretation of the data. Acknowledgement of Authorship I hereby certify that the work embodied in this Thesis is my own work, conducted under normal supervision. I, Valentina Vanghi, was the primary investigator and lead author of all manuscripts presented in this Thesis. ------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- (Silvia Frisia) (Valentina Vanghi) 3 Dedicated to M Acknowledgements This research project has been fully funded by the Australian Government within the Endeavour Award Postgraduate Scholarship program. I am therefore infinitely grateful to the Australian Government for giving me the opportunity to do a PhD and spend 4 wonderful years in this beau- tiful country that I now call home. I also acknowledge the financial support, during the last two years of my PhD, through a Post- graduate Research Award from the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE). My deepest and sincere gratitude goes to Silvia Frisia and Andrea Borsato my principal super- visors at the University of Newcastle, because during these four years I received a great super- efficient supervision and help every time I needed it. I felt always supported, encouraged and motivated and I have been working in a positive environment, which helped me a lot to get through all the typical ups and downs of a PhD. Thanks for having trusted me for this postgraduate project. A personal thanks for Silvia that, apart of being very competent in her job as professor and students supervisor, for me has been a friend and a point of reference. I should probably say an downunder-mum. Thanks for all the happy moments, the dinners at your place, our conversa- tion about life and Italy (I will never, never forgot your sincere and wise advices) and all the lunch-boxes you prepared many times for me. Andrea, un grazie personale also for all the laughs and funny moments shared together and especially, for all the speleo-adventures! I had so much fun mamma mia! I am also very thankful to Russell Drysdale for all the (tons) of isotopes analyses I could do at his lab at the University of Melbourne, during these four years. Thanks Russ for being always so welcoming, friendly and helpful; I have always felt like one of your PhD student. Thanks also to John Hellstrom (my co-supervisor) and Petra Bajo from the University of Mel- bourne for their help during the U-Th dating and for running the age-models. I am also grateful for the support and supervision received at ANSTO from Floriana Salvemini, Jitendra Mata and Vladimir Luzin. Thanks to Hugh Dunstan (University of Newcastle) who facilitated access to the fluorescence microscope. Thanks also to Sandro Montanari from the Osservatorio Geologico di Coldigioco, Sandro Mar- iani, Nereo Preto for their support during the fieldtrips at Frasassi cave and for all the good moments spent together during the speleological campaigns. Thanks to the Direnzione Regionale, the Soprintendenza Archeologica della Puglia and the municipality of Altamura for giving access and allowing sampling at Lamalunga cave. Thanks to the guys of the Centro Altamurano Ricerche Speleologiche (CARS) for assisting during the field work. Especially thanks to Giovanni Ragone for being very nice and welcoming with us. I have to sincerely thanks all my uni colleagues. First of all Emma and Andrew, because they have been the first ones I met at Uni and they hold a special place inside my heart. I could not ask for better uni friends. Thanks for being so amazing with me and to have shared all the laughs and cries (many). I love you! ° Thanks to Caio for joking with me all the times, making me laugh and being my friend (and thanks for being so patient everytime I asked you questions about computer stuff) ° thanks to the beautiful, genuine and sweetest persons I know, Azadeh and Tina ° Thanks to Ebony for being a friend, for all the nice moments and talks we had and all the adventures we shared together ° Thanks to Loy for its politeness and kindness and for being a friend ° Thanks to my beautiful sweet friend Laura, it is always so nice to have you around uni ° Thanks to Hannah for all the wise advises and for being so nice to me all the time (you cooked lasagna for me once, I will never forget) ° Thanks to Judy and Danielle but also Hannah and Silvia again, for being such inspiring women in academia ° Thanks to Olivier pour être toujour tres gentil et simpa et pour parler en français avec moi parce que c’est tres important por moi. Then I want to thanks my Newcastle multicultural family of friends, my best friends here. Thanks for your support and craziness and sorry if I behaved a bit like a weirdo in the past 3 or 4 months. Specifically, grazie al mio Sergione a cui voglio bene come ad un fratello e per il cibo provided in momenti di bisogno e no e per l’aiuto informatico ° gracias a Alicia y Alberto por llevar un poquito de España en Newcastle y gracias por animarme durante mis bajones ° Merci a ma amie française la plus belle du monde Clo, parce que je t’adore et tu sais ca ° Thanks to Elaine and Franci my fantastic austro-italian friends for all the good moments shared together, I am so glad I have met you, I feel a Pisano too ° Thanks to Tamara my running buddy and wonderful wise friend, thanks for being such a beautiful friend for me, you are my sunray ° Thanks to Melissa and Emily for all the quality moments shared and all the laughs ° Thanks to Heather and Svana for all the adventures we went together I miss you too so much ° Thanks to Angy e Andre for all the good moments and for being always so positive and cheerful and radiant like the sun ° Than thanks to Kim, Larissa, Lyle, Amy, Tim, Pinky and many others that I have met here in Oz. Thanks to all my beautiful flatmates (Elise, Craig, Vic, Naomi, Andy, Nick) thanks for being patient with me during the writing phase of my PhD. Thanks for sharing your life with me and making our house “home-sweet-home”. Thanks to all my Uni Melbourne friends for considering me one of them and for hosting me at their places all the times I had to come to Melbourne. First of all, grazie to Michela (v.), because, now, you are like a sister for me and because you make me laugh like a crazy all the time we are together ° Thanks to ‘ompa Andre for all the cazzate che abbiamo combinato insieme and some of the most absurd situations we ended up in! Japan docet, ho detto tutto ° Thanks to Coralie because you are unique. Coralie is Coralie and I love you as you are ° Gracias a Arturo y Brenda para acogerme estupendamente en vuestra casa ° Thanks to Petra for being always so nice and patient with me, for all the things you thought me and your precious help Now it is time to thank to all my Italian friends that even if so far away they always make me feel as if I am still living close to them and they still share their day-to-day life with me.
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