The Paleoceanography Frontier: 21st Century Technologies and Novel Questions
Event details
| Date | 03.03.2015 |
| Hour | 16:15 › 17:15 |
| Speaker | Dr Howard Spero, Director, Stable Isotope Laboratory, Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, University of California Davis (USA) |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Abstract:
In the mid 1950’s, Cesare Emiliani published landmark papers on the use of oxygen isotopes to reconstruct past climate variations from fossil foraminifera shells. Nearly 60 years later, the oxygen isotope technique is still one of the most important tools in the paleoceanographers’ arsenal. In recent years, new geochemical proxies and emerging technologies have been combined to explore novel paleoclimatic questions that were only dreamed of during Emiliani’s graduate years at the University of Chicago. In this presentation I will discuss how the application of new technologies such as laser ablation ICP-MS, SIMS and nanoSIMS can be used to address old and new paleoceanographic problems. I will present data from laboratory experiments with living planktonic foraminifera that have allowed us to calibrate these proxies and reduce the spatial resolution of geochemical analyses to the micron and sub-micron level. These data confirm many of the fundamental geochemical relationships used by researchers to reconstruct ocean temperatures and water geochemistry from the fossil record. When individual foraminifera from a fossil assemblage are analyzed using LA-ICP-MS and coupled to oxygen isotope measurements from standard isotope ratios mass spectrometry, we are able to extract novel information from the fossil record that was not previously possible.
Short biography:
After obtaining his PhD in Biology at the University of California Santa Barbara in 1986, Dr. Howard Spero joined the faculty of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at University of California Davis in 1990. Dr. Spero has served as a Program Director at the National Science Foundation (2006-08), Department Chair (2010-12) and is a Humboldt Research Award Recipient and Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, Geological Society of America and American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Spero’s research focuses on the development, calibration and application of novel geochemical proxies for recontructing climate change throughout earth history. His research combines experiments with living and fossil planktonic foraminifera over the past 250,000 years.
In the mid 1950’s, Cesare Emiliani published landmark papers on the use of oxygen isotopes to reconstruct past climate variations from fossil foraminifera shells. Nearly 60 years later, the oxygen isotope technique is still one of the most important tools in the paleoceanographers’ arsenal. In recent years, new geochemical proxies and emerging technologies have been combined to explore novel paleoclimatic questions that were only dreamed of during Emiliani’s graduate years at the University of Chicago. In this presentation I will discuss how the application of new technologies such as laser ablation ICP-MS, SIMS and nanoSIMS can be used to address old and new paleoceanographic problems. I will present data from laboratory experiments with living planktonic foraminifera that have allowed us to calibrate these proxies and reduce the spatial resolution of geochemical analyses to the micron and sub-micron level. These data confirm many of the fundamental geochemical relationships used by researchers to reconstruct ocean temperatures and water geochemistry from the fossil record. When individual foraminifera from a fossil assemblage are analyzed using LA-ICP-MS and coupled to oxygen isotope measurements from standard isotope ratios mass spectrometry, we are able to extract novel information from the fossil record that was not previously possible.
Short biography:
After obtaining his PhD in Biology at the University of California Santa Barbara in 1986, Dr. Howard Spero joined the faculty of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at University of California Davis in 1990. Dr. Spero has served as a Program Director at the National Science Foundation (2006-08), Department Chair (2010-12) and is a Humboldt Research Award Recipient and Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, Geological Society of America and American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Spero’s research focuses on the development, calibration and application of novel geochemical proxies for recontructing climate change throughout earth history. His research combines experiments with living and fossil planktonic foraminifera over the past 250,000 years.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
- This event is internal
Organizer
- EESS - IIE
Contact
- Prof. Anders Meibom, LGB