Collaborative Research: Iodine in Foraminifera as a proxy for ocean deoxygenation during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

随着全球变暖的发展，海洋中的含氧量预计会下降，这可能会对海洋生物产生严重影响。为了预测未来海洋氧含量的变化，需要更好地了解与过去变暖事件相关的脱氧。这个项目是锡拉丘兹大学和耶鲁大学研究人员之间的合作，将在底栖有孔虫测试中使用碘作为过去氧合条件的新代理。研究的动机是氧化还原条件和海水中的碘酸盐（IO 3-）浓度之间的密切关系，这影响有孔虫测试中的I/Ca值。该项目将扩大初步工作，以更好地校准碘替代物，然后将其应用于古新世-始新世热最大值（PETM）的研究，这是一个发生在约5500万年前的变暖事件。研究人员将重建PETM期间海洋氧合的时间，水深和地理变化，使用海洋钻探计划从大西洋，太平洋和印度洋盆地收集的核心中的底栖有孔虫，以及来自地中海，美国东部，和新西兰此外，他们还将研究脱氧和底栖生物排泄之间的联系，并考虑缺氧/缺氧的模式，以评估哪些因素（例如，研究人员将与德国（GEOMAR）和英国（牛津）的机构合作进行国际代理细化，并将通过耶鲁大学气候与能源研究所等场所与政策制定者接触。资金将支持一名早期职业调查员;此外，该项目将培养一名博士，一名硕士和两名本科生。该项目将通过EVOLUTIONS参与代表性不足的高中生，EVOLUTIONS是Peabody博物馆（耶鲁大学）的一个NSF资助的课后项目。 研究结果将纳入大学课程和针对本科生的展览。

Oxygen levels in the ocean are expected to decrease as global warming progresses, with potentially serious implications for marine life. To forecast future changes in ocean oxygen levels, a better understanding is needed of deoxygenation associated with past warming events.This project, a collaboration between researchers at Syracuse and Yale Universities, will use iodine in benthic foraminiferal tests as a novel proxy for past oxygenation conditions. The research is motivated by the a close relationship between redox conditions and iodate (IO3-) concentrations in seawater, which affect I/Ca values in foraminiferal tests. The project will expand upon preliminary work in order to better calibrate the iodine proxy, then apply it to a study of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a warming event that occurred ~55 million years ago. The researchers will reconstruct temporal, bathymetric, and geographic variations in ocean oxygenation during the PETM, using benthic foraminifera in cores collected by the Ocean Drilling Program from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Ocean basins, as well as land sections from the Mediterranean, eastern U.S., and New Zealand. In addition, they will examine the link between deoxygenation and benthic extinctions, and consider patterns of hypoxia/anoxia to assess which factors (e.g., temperature, productivity, circulation, local methane oxidation) most influenced the development of low oxygen conditions.The researchers will collaborate internationally on proxy refinement with institutions in Germany (GEOMAR) and the UK (Oxford), and will engage policy makers through venues like the Yale Climate and Energy Institute. Funding will support an early-career investigator; additionally, the project will train one PhD, one MS, and two undergraduate students. The project will involve underrepresented high school students through EVOLUTIONS, an NSF-funded after-school program at the Peabody Museum (Yale). Results will be incorporated into university coursework and exhibits targeted at undergraduates.