RUI: A sedimentological and sequence stratigraphic framework for carbon isotopic sampling and interpretation

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。在古生代（5.41 - 2.519亿年前），大陆反复被浅海淹没。这些浅海中形成的岩石的化学成分记录了碳如何在海洋、大气、生物圈和沉积物之间移动的细节（碳循环）。该项目将重点了解海平面变化如何影响碳循环记录，这将提高我们对地球气候历史的理解。10名本科生将参与该项目，并获得宝贵的现场和实验室经验。生成的数据将用于构建教学模块，以帮助公众了解地质学家如何研究地球气候历史。本项目将探讨古陆表碳酸盐岩环境中海平面与碳同位素记录之间的关系，解决以下问题：1)陆表碳酸盐岩环境中海平面变化是否导致了整体碳酸盐岩同位素值的一致和可分辨模式；2)如果这些模式确实存在，它们是否可以在海平面变化的多个尺度上解决？3)模式是否因哪个过程（碳循环、大气影响或碳酸盐沉积）起主要控制作用而不同？我们将沿着密西西比早期麦迪逊陆架和晚二叠纪二叠纪盆地的海岸到盆地样带的沉积学和层序地层格架生成高分辨率的碳同位素记录，在那里海平面很有可能影响碳同位素模式。该项目的研究结果将对表生海碳同位素记录的方法方法和应用产生影响，所生成的碳同位素数据将为晚古生代冰河期的碳循环和海水化学提供重要的地球化学约束。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).During the Paleozoic Era (541-251.9 million years ago) the continents we repeatedly submerged by shallow seas. The chemistry of the rocks formed in these shallow seas record details about how carbon moved between the oceans, atmosphere, biosphere, and sediments (carbon cycling). This project will focus on understanding how sea level change influenced the record of carbon cycling, which will improve our understanding of Earth’s climate history. Ten undergraduate students will participate in this project and gain valuable field and laboratory experience. The data generated will be used to build teaching modules to help the public understand how geologists study Earth’s climate history.This project will explore the relationship between sea level and carbon isotopic records in ancient epicontinental carbonate settings by addressing the following questions: 1) does sea level change in epicontinental carbonate settings result in consistent and resolvable patterns in bulk carbonate isotopic values; 2) if these patterns do exist, are they resolvable at multiple scales of sea level change; and 3) are the patterns different depending on which process (carbon cycling, meteoric influence, or carbonate sedimentation) is exerting primary control? We will generate high resolution carbon isotopic records within a sedimentological and sequence stratigraphic framework along a shore to basin transect of the Early Mississippian Madison shelf and the Late Permian Permian Basin, where there is a high probability that sea level influenced the carbon isotopic patterns. Results from this project will have implications for the methodological approach and application of carbon isotopic records from epicontiential seas and the generated carbon isotopic data will provide important geochemical constraints for carbon cycling and sea water chemistry during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.