Hydrographic Variations in the Mediterranean during the Late Quaternary: The Link between Surface Water Change and Sapropel Formation

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This project will analyze oxygen isotopes and alkenone saturation in late Pleistocene sediments from ODP cores in the Mediterranean Sea. The goal is to use the temperature relationship of alkenones to define SST values for each sample, and then subtract the equivalent value from the isotope data, assuming that the residual reflects SSS (Standardized for Ice Valume). In this way the PI hopes to construct surface density maps for times of sapropel formation and compare them with non-sapropel-forming intervals, to test the hypothesis that sapropels result from a shut-down of vertical circulation caused by an influx of fresh water.