Synchronizing Ice and Sediment Records with Leaf Wax Abundances: A Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER)

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

Summary: This research will test the concept that leaf wax abundance in deep sea sediments and ice from Greenland represents a proxy for atmospheric dust and can be used to precisely synchronize climate records from ice cores and deep sea sediments. This project will measure leaf wax abundance in sediments from the Bermuda Rise and Bahama Outer Ridge and in two ice cores from Greenland over the interval of ~ 39,000 to 36,000 years ago. The objective will be determine if abrupt climate events believed to occur during this interval can be identified and correlated between the ice core and sediment records by changes in leaf wax abundance and isotopic proxies.