Collaborative Research: Reconstructing Late-Quaternary Paleotemperatures Across the European Loess Belt

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This award is for a systematic reconstruction of a high quality record of paleotemperatures and paleotemperature gradients over the last approximately 70,000 years across Europe. The specific objectives of this research, a collaboration between McCoy at the University of Massachusetts and Oches at the University of South Florida, are 1) to measure the extent of amino acid racemization in fossil gastropod shells collected from loess localities ranging from northern France, across western and central Europe, and into the highly continental region of the eastern European loess plains; 2) to determine independent ages of the fossil shells or enclosing loess sediment using radiocarbon and luminescence dating methods; 3) to quantitatively estimate paleotemperatures and paleotemperature gradients for selected intervals of time through the last glacial cycle across the region based on the chronological data and amino acid racemization measurements in fossil gastropod shells; and 4) to quantify the relationship between effective ground temperatures, which drive the racemization reaction, and surface air temperatures, which are critical data in the reconstruction of past changes in terrestrial climate.