Isotope hydrology of precipitation and cave waters in Tuscany (western Mediterranean) in relation to moisture origin and climatic variables

The main goal of this PhD research project was to investigate the main factors (temperature, precipitation amount and moisture origin) that control the O-H isotopic signature of event-based and monthly precipitation in Tuscany, a key region for understanding the processes acting on the rainfall isotopic composition in the western Mediterranean basin. This project also aims to define how the isotopic signature of precipitation is transferred to cave drip waters, trying to understand which precipitation and with which origin play a predominant role in recharge processes. This approach has provided new insights on the isotopic geochemistry of precipitation in the western Mediterranean, in addition to improving the knowledge of transference mechanisms of the isotopic signature from precipitation to infiltration waters, that is crucial to better quantify the proxy data derived from paleoclimatic archives in terms of past climatic variability.