The research carried out at ISEM comprises sediments records from the Colônia crater, state of São Paulo, Brazil. In order to understand the climatic variations in the region during the glacial / interglacial cycles of the last 800 thousand years, palynology and analysis of carbonized particles techniques are being applied in this research. Palynology allows the identification of vegetation groups and thus to infer local and regional climatic conditions over time. The carbonized particles give information of under which climatic conditions the natural fires were more frequent. With these results, it will be possible to investigate if the natural fires and climatic variations observed in Colônia crater were influenced by global climate events.
This research is of great value because in addition to bringing a better understanding of the influence of climate change in this region, it will generate high quality data that will collaborate in studies of climate projections for the future.