Pilot Study: Carbon Isotope Composition of Aptian Plant Fossils from the Arundel Formation, Western Maryland

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AbstractPilot Study: Carbon Isotope Composition of Aptian Plant Fossils from the Arundel Formation, Western Maryland A. Hope Jahren, Johns Hopkins UniversityCurrent literature reflects interest in a new potential player in the carbon cycle: methane hydrates are solids composed of methane and water that result from bacterial activity in marine sediments. In order to assess the importance of methane hydrates in long-term global climate, we propose to study the biogeochemical consequences of a methane release event during the early Aptian (~117 million years ago). Toward this, we will obtain a carbon-isotope record of plant fossils from sequences located within the Arundel Formation (within the Potomac Group) of Western Maryland. This record will be compared with a record recently obtained from terrestrial sediments from Colombia, South America, which shows a dramatic change in carbon isotope value during the early Aptian (~117 Ma).