Reconstruction of Glacial-Interglacial Changes in the Ocean's Carbonate Ion Content

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

This study will refine and use a new index of calcite dissolution to reconstruct vertical carbonate dissolution gradients through the mid-depth regions of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans over the last glacial - interglacial cycle. The new index is sensitive to dissolution above and across the foraminifer lysocline. The improved information on carbonate ion content and gradients will provide constraints on model results of past oceanic carbon budgets and thus test model inferences about past atmospheric pCO2 changes during glacial-interglacial cycles.