Japan-JSPS Fellowship: Milankovitch and Climate Change in the Cretaceous and Paleogene Period

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INT-0220936CramerThis award supports a twenty-four month Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Fellowship for Benjamin Cramer. He will be collaborating with Professor Kunio Kaiho at Tohoku University in Japan. They will be undertaking research on Milankovitch and climate change in the Cretaceous and Paleogene period. This topic is a major focus of current research in paleoceanography. Most characterizations of long-term climate change in this time period rely on low-resolution records that are most likely compromised by aliasing of the underlying orbital cyclicity. In addition, high-resolution studies of climatic and biotic perturbations lack a context for evaluating how the climate response to insolation forcing may have changed during different events or how insolation forcing may have affected the structure of these events. The major objectives of the research are 1) to produce a Milankovitch stratigraphy for the Cenomanian-Turonian, Cretaceous-Tertiary, and Paleocene-Eocene transitions and 2) using this stratigraphy as a guide, to investigate climate changes on Milankovitch timescales in discreet intervals during these transitions. The researchers hope to produce a reliable Milankovitch-based stratigraphy that will greatly enhance studies of all three boundaries. Understanding the relationship between climate proxy records and orbital forcing is a crucial step in understanding Cretaceous and Paleogene greenhouse climates and will be useful in understanding isolated perturbations that affected those climates. This project will offer a good opportunity to join efforts between the two countries. Through the exchange of ideas and technology, this project will broaden our base of basic knowledge and promote international understanding and cooperation. The researchers plan to publish results of the research on the web and report on the findings at scientific meetings.