Rachel So

U of Southern California Ph.D. Candidate || organic geochem, leaf waxes, GDGTs, paleoclimate || currently working on Bear Lake glacial-interglacial climate

[Rachel So @Rachel_Solomite]

I had a lot of fun hanging out with all the organic geochem folks at #OrganicGeochemistryGRC this past week! And of course it was great being able to present my cool research and taking in everyone else’s cool research 😎.

[Rachel So @Rachel_Solomite]

Very excited that I got to share my work through USC’s Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability!

[Wrigley Institute for Environment & Sustainability @USCWrigley]

Rachel So is a paleoclimatologist who analyzes lipid biomarkers preserved in lake sediments to infer past climate conditions.⁠ Learn about her reseach as a 2024 Wrigley Institute Graduate Fellow:
https://t.co/0CeW2mLsG3

[Rachel So @Rachel_Solomite]

I'm very honored and excited that I got to give a talk at the 2nd International GDGT Workshop in Zurich this past week. I had a wonderful time chatting with old and new colleagues alike. Already can't wait to see what the next GDGT Workshop will bring us!!

[Rachel So @Rachel_Solomite]

Also, the view at Bear Lake is simply breath-taking.

[Rachel So @Rachel_Solomite]

Spent the last couple days sampling sediment and plants in the Bear Lake region. Thank you to @Dan_E_Ibarra for inviting me to join him and his students on their sampling trip. It was a wonderful opportunity to see this lake site with my own eyes.

[Rachel So @Rachel_Solomite]

Grabbed some mud in the nearby creeks/rivers, too.

[Rachel So @Rachel_Solomite]

And some amazing new friends to share this memory with

[Rachel So @Rachel_Solomite]

Had a nice adventure in Brazil this past month helping with the Trans-Amazon Drilling Project. Despite technical difficulties pausing drilling, I still got to see the drill site and cores, as well as meet some wonderful Brazilian colleagues.

[Rachel So @Rachel_Solomite]

Trekking through the rainforest

[Rachel So @Rachel_Solomite]

I'm so grateful to everyone who made this fantastic experience possible. Thanks again and hope to see some of y'all at AGU later this year!!!

[Rachel So @Rachel_Solomite]

It's been an amazing 2 weeks of #PaleoCamp!! I met so many wonderful people. We learned a lot, hiked a lot, and got attacked by bugs a lot😆 Thank you so much to the instructors for their hard work organizing this and to all my PaleoCAMP homies for making this experience awesome!

[Rachel So @Rachel_Solomite]

And enjoy some very beautiful scenery!

[Rachel So @Rachel_Solomite]

Seeing how Great Salt Lake changed 5.5 ky ago is interesting in light of today's historic low lake levels which are increasingly being featured in the news. Below you see the exposed ooid-covered lakebed during extreme low lake levels back in May 2022.

[Rachel So @Rachel_Solomite]

My first PhD paper has been published 🎉🎉🎉!! It is a Holocene GDGT climate record of Great Salt Lake. Many thanks to @SFeakins, Elliot Jagniecki, Tim Lowenstein, and @leafwax for making this paper possible! The paper is also open access!
https://t.co/zfI58BIi5n

[Rachel So @Rachel_Solomite]

High salinities and different lake conditions prior to the step shift compromised temperature interpretations for the mid-Holocene.