Reconstructing Late Pleistocene Water Balance in Northern South America from a Marine Record, Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 999, of the Colombia Basin, Caribbean Sea

Iowa State University, Ames IA

Investigators

Abstract

This award is to support research that will develop a 400,000 year record of wet-dry conditions from the northern Andes using a multiproxy analysis of sediments accumulated in the Caribbean Sea. Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 999 is located over the delta of the Magdalena River and receives terrestrial sediment from the northern Andes. Analysis of foraminifers, dynoflagellates, charcoal, and stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen will allow reconstruction of moisture balance. The broader impacts of this proposed research are that it will lead to a better understanding of tropical climate conditions during glacials and provide baseline information on the movement of the inter-tropical convergence zone during the Quaternary. Ultimately, data generated by this research will be used to improve model predictions of changes in the terrestrial carbon reservoir.