P2C2: High-Resolution Records of Rapid Climate Change in Speleothem Records from the Bahamas

该奖项支持一组研究人员调查这一假设，即与海因里希事件有关的北非干旱和北大西洋变冷，记录在低海平面时期来自巴哈马的石笋的化学成分中。该团队的科学战略是将洞穴的地球化学分析与区域模拟相结合，以更好地了解热带/亚热带大西洋快速气候变化的特征和物理机制。巴哈马石笋出现在现在被海水淹没的洞穴中。研究人员从低于目前海平面35米的深处收集了水下样本。这些石笋形成于海平面低于现在的时期，并在海平面淹没洞穴或气候条件变得干旱时停止生长，不再有足够的水来支持洞穴的形成。这些洞穴化石已经初步确定了年代，并分为14,000-80,000岁，200,000-250,000岁和300,000-350,000岁三个年龄段。更广泛的影响包括在巴哈马群岛的推广活动，在那里，研究人员将与当地环境组织合作，提高人们对海平面上升影响的认识。该项目还包括为两名研究生提供支持，并为本科生和高中实习生提供获得实验室和研究经验的机会。

This award supports team of researchers to investigate the hypothesis that aridification in Northern Africa and cooling in the North Atlantic Ocean, associated with Heinrich events, are recorded in the chemical composition of stalagmites from the Bahamas during periods of low sea level.The team's science strategy is to combine geochemical analysis of speleothems with regional modeling in order to gain a better understanding of the signatures and physical mechanisms of rapid climate change in the tropical/sub-tropical Atlantic. The Bahamian stalagmites occur in caves which are now flooded by seawater. The researchers have collected submerged samples from depths up to 35 meters below the present sea level. These stalagmites formed during periods when sea-level was lower than the present time and ceased growing either when sea-level flooded the caves or when climate conditions became arid and there ceased to be sufficient water to support speleothem formation. The speleothems have been preliminarily dated and separated into three age groups of 14,000-80,000 yrs, 200,000-250,000 yrs, and 300,000-350,000 yrs.The broader impacts include outreach activities in the Bahamas, where the researchers will work with local environmental organizations to raise awareness of the effects of sea-level rise. The project also includes support for two graduate students and opportunities for undergraduate students and high school interns to obtain laboratory and research experience.