Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
Brock University
$20,000.00
Late Cenozoic dinoflagellate cysts and paleoceanography of the North Atlantic region
EF 2010-11
Résumé
The North Atlantic Current is an important conveyor of heat and moisture to the high northern latitudes. It has been implicated both in the delay of high-latitude glaciation through meridional heat delivery, and as an agent of cause through the supply of snow to accumulating ice sheets. Its role is unquestionably crucial to the past and future development of Northern Hemisphere climate.
) The proposed research aims to reconstruct sea-surface conditions numerically across the North Atlantic and into the Norwegian Sea for the past 4.9 million years as means to assess the fluctuating influence of the North Atlantic Current. Such reconstructions are critical for understanding the ocean-climate system and validating computer climate simulations. A newly developed method will be employed that combines foraminiferal geochemistry with assemblage data from the organic-walled cysts of dinoflagellates, know as ""dinocysts"", to reconstruct paleoceanographic conditions through individual climate cycles.
) Six time slabs of critical paleoclimatic interest for the Pliocene through Holocene have been selected, each between 30 and 100 thousand years in duration. Material will be examined from across the North Atlantic region, based on existing deep-sea core material, and tuned precisely to an orbital timescale. For each sample, numerical values for sea-surface temperatures and salinities will be obtained from foraminiferal geochemistry, and water mass changes will be reconstructed from dinocysts, allowing a picture of changing ocean circulation to develop for each time slab.
) Studies of dinocysts will also be extended northwards into the Norwegian Sea and onto the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain, allowing the more distal impacts of changing paleoceanographic conditions to be assessed. These varied approaches aim to provide new insights into the timing and causes of Northern Hemisphere glaciations, with the added benefits of developing the dinocyst record as an important tool for stratigraphic correlation.
Programme
Discovery Grants Program - Individual
Bénéficiaire
Emplacement
Ontario, Canada
Type de bénéficiaire
Academia
Type
Grant
Source
NSERC's Awards Data
Tel que publié
Application id
327150-2010
Name nom
Head, Martin
Department département
Earth Sciences
Organization id
22
Institution établissement
Brock University
Province en
Ontario
Province fr
Ontario
Country en
CANADA
Country fr
CANADA
Fiscal year exercice financier
2010
Competition year année de concours
2010
Award amount
20000
Program id
RGPIN
Program name en
Discovery Grants Program - Individual
Program name fr
Programme de subventions à la découverte - individuelles
Group en
Discovery grants programs
Group fr
Programmes de subventions à la découverte
Committee code
1506
Committee name en
Geosciences
Committee name fr
Géosciences
Area of application code
1203
Area of application group en
Advancement of knowledge
Area of application group fr
Avancement des connaissances
Area of application en
Earth sciences
Area of application fr
Sciences de la terre
Research subject code
4010
Research subject group en
Earth science
Research subject group fr
Sciences de la terre
Research subject en
Paleontology, paleobiology
Research subject fr
Paléontologie, paléobiologie
Partie
1
Nb partie
1
Application title
Late Cenozoic dinoflagellate cysts and paleoceanography of the North Atlantic region
Keyword
NSERC
Application summary
The North Atlantic Current is an important conveyor of heat and moisture to the high northern latitudes. It has been implicated both in the delay of high-latitude glaciation through meridional heat delivery, and as an agent of cause through the supply of snow to accumulating ice sheets. Its role is unquestionably crucial to the past and future development of Northern Hemisphere climate.
) The proposed research aims to reconstruct sea-surface conditions numerically across the North Atlantic and into the Norwegian Sea for the past 4.9 million years as means to assess the fluctuating influence of the North Atlantic Current. Such reconstructions are critical for understanding the ocean-climate system and validating computer climate simulations. A newly developed method will be employed that combines foraminiferal geochemistry with assemblage data from the organic-walled cysts of dinoflagellates, know as ""dinocysts"", to reconstruct paleoceanographic conditions through individual climate cycles.
) Six time slabs of critical paleoclimatic interest for the Pliocene through Holocene have been selected, each between 30 and 100 thousand years in duration. Material will be examined from across the North Atlantic region, based on existing deep-sea core material, and tuned precisely to an orbital timescale. For each sample, numerical values for sea-surface temperatures and salinities will be obtained from foraminiferal geochemistry, and water mass changes will be reconstructed from dinocysts, allowing a picture of changing ocean circulation to develop for each time slab.
) Studies of dinocysts will also be extended northwards into the Norwegian Sea and onto the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain, allowing the more distal impacts of changing paleoceanographic conditions to be assessed. These varied approaches aim to provide new insights into the timing and causes of Northern Hemisphere glaciations, with the added benefits of developing the dinocyst record as an important tool for stratigraphic correlation.
