Terrestrial and marine cenozoic palynology: high latitude biostratigraphy, ecostratigraphy and stable isotope stratigraphy

孢子和花粉在沉积物中以微小化石的形式大量出现，可以被孢粉学家识别出来，与现代植被中的类似物种进行比较。它们可以用来重建随着新生代(过去6500万年)气候变暖和变冷而发生的古代植被的变化。加拿大北部特别容易受到与气候波动有关的植被变化的影响，因为在过去的几千万年里，它位于靠近北极的高纬度位置，微小的变化可以产生巨大的影响。这项研究计划侧重于在麦肯齐三角洲和北极圈之下发展的北极沉积盆地毗邻的波弗特海对石油生产很重要，也因为它包含了深层气候变化的记录。这项研究的结果将澄清加拿大气候在很长一段时间内是如何变化的，尤其是将揭示一方面发生在5000-6000万年前的极端温暖气候，以及非常冷条件的开始和最终的冰冻导致加拿大大部分地区在地质上最近的过去，大约从1500万年前开始冰川。微小的单细胞藻类(甲藻)也出现在海底沉积的沉积物中，它们的快速演变可以用来准确地校准气候变化的时间，还可以确定早期北冰洋形成时的性质。这项研究具有实际应用，可以立即用于石油和天然气行业，因为它为勘探地质学家提供了关于深层油气井岩石何时以及如何沉积的信息。

Spores and pollen occur abundantly as tiny fossils in sediments and can be identified by palynologists to make comparisons with similar species in the modern vegetation.  They can be used to reconstruct changes in ancient vegetation that occurred as the climate warmed and cooled through the Cenozoic (the last 65 million years).  Northern Canada is particularly susceptible to vegetational changes linked to climatic fluctuations because for the last several tens of millions of years it has occupied a high latitude position close to the North Pole where small changes can lead to large effects.  This research program focuses on an Arctic sedimentary basin developed under the Mackenzie Delta and adjacent Beaufort Sea which is important for petroleum production and also because it contains a record of climate change in deep time.  The results of this research will clarify how climates have changed in Canada over long periods of time, and particularly will shed light on extreme warm climates which occurred 50-60 million years ago on the one hand, and the onset of very cool conditions and the eventual freeze-up leading to the glaciation of much of Canada in the geologically recent past, starting perhaps 15 million years ago.  Tiny single celled algae (dinoflagellates) also occur in sediments deposited on the sea floor, and their rapid evolution can be used to accurately calibrate times of climate change and also determine the nature of the early Arctic Ocean, when it was formed, and its changing salinity.  This research has practical applications which can be immediately used in the oil and gas industry because it provides information for the exploration geologist on when and how rocks from deep oil and gas wells were deposited.