Provenance And tranSport PathwayS of mArine proxy-bearinG particlEs

Introduction

Understanding the nature and pace of climate change in the future requires robust and accurate information on past Earth's climate changes. Much of what we know about past short-term climate variability stems from marine sediment sequences, whose sedimentary components provide an ever-expanding array of paleoclimatic proxies.

Fundamental Assumptions

The fundamental assumption underlying most paleoceanographic investigations is that the environmental signal encapsulated in marine sedimentary components reflects that of the overlying water column at the time of formation. However, evidence indicates asynchronous synthesis and transport from distal locations for co-deposited sediment constituents.

Research Questions

Consequently, fundamental questions arise regarding the fidelity of paleoclimate records. Moreover, the magnitude of such temporal and spatial offsets likely varies in concert with hydrographic and associated hydrodynamic changes.

Research Program Outline

Here, I outline a research program to directly assess the impact of hydrodynamic processes on marine particles and explore implications for paleoceanographic studies. Specifically, this research will:

1. Estimate the contribution of allochthonous/asynchronous material.
2. Constrain the extent and nature of the specific modes of particle transport.
3. Quantify their potential to bias derived climate signals.
4. Correct for aliased proxy records and reconstruct past hydrodynamic changes.

Expected Outcomes

This work would provide a crucial advance in our ability to reliably interpret sub-millennial scale climatic signals. We will develop cutting-edge methodologies for particle isolation and will apply state-of-the-art analytical techniques for compound-specific radiocarbon (14C) determination.

Timeliness and Expertise

The timeliness of this project is fostered by the recent advances in 14C detection for measurement of ultra-small samples. Equipped with the required theoretical grounds and analytical expertise, I am ideally positioned to effectively execute this challenging project.