AMS Radiocarbon Measurements Aimed at Improving Our Understanding of the Events Associated With the Last Glacial Termination

了解气候变化、海洋环流和碳循环之间的关系是古气候学家面临的最大挑战之一。 这些系统之间的强烈反馈导致复杂的相互作用，使得预测气候变化的未来进程变得困难。 古气候学和古海洋学研究对这项研究有很大贡献，因为在最近的地质历史中，这些系统中的每一个都发生了巨大的变化。 14C的分布为过去的碳循环提供了一种非常重要的示踪剂，因为它的分布和浓度受到碳循环过程和放射性衰变的控制。 因此，可以通过明智地测量过去 14C 分布来限制变化率。 这项研究的目标是继续对各种具有古气候影响的项目进行海洋沉积物的 14C 年龄分析。 这些项目包括：1）研究深海碳酸钙溶解情况，以确定海洋对末次冰消期期间大气二氧化碳快速变化的反应； 2）研究表层水和深水14℃的差异，以提高我们对深海对末次冰消期的环流响应的认识； 3）改善与新仙女木期相关的陆地和海洋事件的冰消年表，这是与上次冰消期相关的气候变化的快速、短暂的逆转。 这项研究很重要，因为它有可能增强对全球碳循环的了解。

Understanding the relationship between climate change, ocean circulation and the carbon cycle is one of the greatest challenges for paleoclimatologists. The strong feedbacks between these systems result in complex interactions which make it difficult to predict the future course of climate change. Paleoclimatologic and paleoceanographic research has much to contribute to this research because, in recent geological history, large changes in each of these systems have occurred. The distribution of 14C provides one very important tracer of the past carbon cycle because its distribution and concentration is controlled by carbon cycles processes and radioactive decay. Thus it is possible to constrain the rates of change through the judicious measurement of past 14C distribution. The goal of this research is to continue the 14C age analysis of marine sediments on a variety of projects with paleoclimatic implications. The projects include: 1) studies of deep sea dissolution of calcium carbonate to determine the response of the ocean to the rapid change in atmospheric CO2 during the last deglaciation; 2) studies of the difference in 14C between surface and deep water to improve our understanding of the circulation response of the deep ocean to the last deglaciation; and 3) improvement of the deglacial chronology of both terrestrial and marine events associated with the Younger Dryas, a rapid, short-lived reversal of climatic change associated with the last deglaciation. This research is important because of its potential for enhanced understanding of the global carbon cycle.