SCATTER - Investigating a potential systematic link between the flux of cosmic material and Earth’s orbital eccentricity throughout the Phanerozoic.

几十年来，旋回地层学一直是建立精确的年龄深度模型和理解古气候动力学的一个非常有价值的工具。最近，旋回地层学研究越来越多地用于这些传统用途之外的一系列应用。在这里，我们评估了显生宙中米兰科维奇旋回与宇宙尘埃之间的潜在联系。地球轨道运动的数值模拟表明，在10万年的时间尺度上，地球对宇宙尘埃的捕获率以2到3的倍数变化，并且与地球的轨道偏心率反相关。迄今为止，由于目前使用的每种化学和物理示踪剂都有其自身的局限性，重建显生宙期间地球上的外星通量受到阻碍。通过比较研究充分的显生界和新生代剖面，并添加一种新的代用物（化石微陨石），该项目旨在阐明宇宙尘埃与地球轨道偏心率变化之间的关系，无论是在最近还是在地质历史的深处。微陨石化石丰富，可以通过溶解大量沉积物或沉积岩（~ 4kg /样品）从地质记录中恢复。如果可以系统地确定增强期，则可以根据氧同位素系统来确定特定的尘源区域，之后将从获得的数据集中过滤出短期的随机效应，并测试地外通量与偏心率之间的潜在关系。

Cyclostratigraphy has been a highly valuable tool for creating precise age-depth models and understanding paleoclimate dynamics for several decades now. More recently, cyclostratigraphic research has been increasingly used for a range of applications beyond these traditional uses. Here, we evaluate a potential link between Milankovitch cycles and cosmic dust throughout the Phanerozoic. Numerical modelling of Earth’s orbital motion suggests that, on 100,000-year timescales, Earth’s capture rate of cosmic dust varies by a factor of 2 to 3 and anti-correlates with Earth’s orbital eccentricity. To date, reconstructions of the extraterrestrial flux to Earth during the Phanerozoic are hindered as each of the chemical and physical tracers currently used, is riddled by its own set of limitations. By comparing well-studied Phanerozoic and Cenozoic sections and adding a novel proxy (fossil micrometeorites), this project aims to clarify the relation between cosmic dust and changes in the orbital eccentricity of the Earth, both in the recent and deep geological past. Fossil micrometeorites are abundant and can be recovered from the geological record by dissolving large volumes of sediments or sedimentary rock (~4 kg/sample) following recently established protocols. If periods of enhancement can systematically be identified, specific dust source regions may be defined based on oxygen isotope systematics, after which shorter-term, stochastic effects will be filtered out of the obtained data sets, and the potential relationship between extraterrestrial flux and eccentricity tested.