Geology student explores global temperature history on French chalk cliffs

You could not paint a more picturesque day on the beaches of Étretat.

You could feel the warmth of the sun, hear the waves crashing and tickling the rocks as the water retreated into the channel. It was a beautiful day in Normandy, on France's northwestern coast. In the background was a breathtaking view of the chalk cliffs, highlighted by one of the famous natural arches that curve from the top of the cliffs down into the water.

It was quiet. Peaceful.

But then.

"I'm so sorry," warned Claire Daniel, speaking in French to a local woman. "But I'm about to take my hammer and be really loud right next to you."

And so, the Radford University student researcher proceeded to pound away with her silver rock hammer at golf-ball-sized chalk chunks that had fallen from the cliffs.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

Daniel, a junior geology major, was breaking the chalk into smaller samples for research that could help scientists better understand how marine life responds to global warming.

Her project uses "the birefringence light-microscopy method," she explained, to examine 90-million-year-old samples from the Normandy cliffs. By measuring the thickness of microscopic shells preserved in the chalk, the young scientist hopes to reconstruct clues about the chemistry of an ancient ocean.

It is a complicated scientific question. But for Daniel, it is also a detective story.

"It's almost like forensic geology," she said.

The mysteries and the clues geology can provide are part of what Daniel finds appealing about the science. She relishes discovering pieces of evidence hidden in rocks and using them to imagine what the Earth looked like millions of years ago.

Daniel's research focuses on coccolithophores, microscopic marine organisms whose calcium carbonate shells accumulated over millions of years to form chalk. By examining the thickness of those shells, she hopes to learn how the organisms interacted with carbon in the ocean during a period when Earth was considerably warmer.

The question has a clear modern connection.

"If we can find out how the ocean adjusted and how the organisms adjusted to this," Daniel said, "then we can apply it to today with modern climate change and how those changes may affect our planet in the future."

Daniel's journey to Normandy began with a love of the place itself.

The New Kent, Virginia, native was already preparing to do a study abroad program at the Université de Caen Normandie in France when she thought of a way to maximize her productivity there, splitting her time between immersing herself in the French language and studying the chalk cliffs. She needed a mentor, so she asked Associate Professor of Geology Ryan Sincavage, who has explored and examined geological structures around the world.

"I literally burst into his office," Daniel recalled with a bright smile. "I asked him, 'Do you want to do research in France with me this summer?'"

Sincavage, of course, said yes.

To help fund the research excursion, Daniel applied for Radford's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, or SURF, and soon found herself turning an idea into an international research project.

The logistics of the summer research were not always quite as picturesque as the chalk cliffs.

Daniel stayed with a host family in Caen while participating in a French-speaking program. She was tasked, too, with finding time in her busy schedule to travel to Étretat to collect samples.

There, she searched for fallen fragments because she could not simply hammer pieces from the protected cliffs.

She also had to figure out how to transport her samples home. That wasn't such an easy endeavor. The chalk looked harmless enough, but when Daniel broke it down into a white powder, it attracted the attention of airport security.

"TSA almost killed me," Daniel joked.

Those moments, however, were minor inconveniences compared with what the experience meant to her.

Standing alone on that Normandy beach, surrounded by the evidence of an ancient ocean, Daniel realized she was living out a dream. She sketched the scene - that's where her artistic side bled into her scientific side - and made a short video for her mother back home.

"I can't believe that I'm here right now," she said in the video.

Daniel "felt so lucky" to be there, she said, thankful for the opportunity Radford had presented to her. "This is a lifelong dream, and doing it right now, in my undergraduate years, is amazing."

Now back at Radford, in the fall 2026 semester, the next phase of the research awaits.

Daniel's samples are being prepared into thin sections about 30 microns thick - thinner than a human hair, she noted - so she can examine those under a specialized geological microscope in a Radford geology lab. She will use the measurements to make inferences about coccolith calcification and the environmental conditions in which the organisms lived.

The Normandy project is the latest in a series of research experiences that have taken Daniel far beyond the classroom. She previously worked on a project involving expansive clays with Professor of Geology Parv Sethi, and in the spring of 2026, she participated with a group of Radford students and faculty in a unique weeklong academic journey to explore national parks out west.

"I'm traveling everywhere," she said. "It's amazing."

For Daniel, those opportunities have done more than add lines to her growing résumé. They have changed the way she sees herself.

When she learned she had received the SURF award, she did "a big dance" in her room, she said, and immediately texted her family.

The award did much more than fund Daniel's research travels; it gave her confidence.

"I felt smart," she said. "I felt really smart."

Much of the Normandy project was her own idea and her own work, Daniel said, with Sincavage providing guidance along the way. "He's so passionate about it," she said of her mentor, "and that makes me feel passionate about it."

At Radford, Daniel has found another advantage in the university's small geology program. With roughly 30 students in the major, she knows her professors well, and they know her.

"There's so much opportunity to learn and grow from the professors and the classes," she said. "It's such a great place to grow as a scientist.

But science, Daniel readily admits, is not the only thing that defines her.

While continuing to blossom as a scientist, Daniel is also an artist. She is a singer-songwriter who grew up singing bluegrass tunes with her dad. The musical duo regularly performs at festivals and other venues in between trips to record music in Nashville, Tennessee. "You can find me on Spotify," she noted.

Singing, Daniel explained, is her "natural habitat."

At Radford, she is finding her place through meshing her love of art and science.

On that sunny Normandy beach, she was not only breaking apart pieces of chalk; she was collecting evidence.

Inside those fragments she collected are microscopic shells shaped by organisms that lived 90 million years ago. This semester, under a microscope, those shells will become measurements that will turn to data. And the data, Daniel believes, will help her tell a story about an ancient ocean and what its response to a warmer world might teach us about our own.