Dennis O. Terry Jr., associate professor of earth and environmental science at Temple, is a co-author of the paper “Asian Monsoons in a Late Eocene Greenhouse World,” which was published in the Sept. 25 issue of the journal Nature. The researchers uncovered evidence of monsoons between the late Eocene and early Oligocene periods—around 34 million years ago—when the Earth was moving from a hothouse to an icehouse climate. The findings push back the climate dynamics of monsoons, which were previously believed to have not occurred prior to about 25 million years ago. For his part of the study, Terry traveled to China to assist in collecting samples, taking measurements and analyzing ancient rocks deposited in terrestrial environments around the Tibetan Plateau.