Carmen Argenio

Carmen Argenio is a Contract Lecturer in the Department of Science and Technology at the University of Sannio, specializing in Paleontology and Paleoecology (GEO/01). Her research focuses on paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic reconstructions using marine microfossils, particularly coccolithophores, with extensive work on the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea regions.

Dr. Argenio's research interests center on reconstructing past climate and ocean conditions through the analysis of calcareous nannofossils. Her work examines environmental changes during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, with particular attention to coccolithophore productivity, calcification processes, and their relationship to climate variability. She employs multi-proxy approaches to understand paleoenvironmental evolution in key locations including the Western Iberian Margin and Southern Italy lake systems. Her methodology frequently involves analyzing sediment cores from Integrated Ocean Drilling Program sites to track ocean dynamics across glacial-interglacial cycles.

Her recent publications (2021-2025) demonstrate consistent research activity focused on paleoceanographic reconstructions using IODP sites and Italian lake sediments. The research shows particular expertise in analyzing coccolithophore assemblages to understand past ocean dynamics, with applications for contemporary climate change understanding. Her work reveals how increasing CO₂ concentrations during the last 25,000 years have negatively impacted calcification processes in marine microorganisms.