The Bighorn Basin Coring Project (BBCP) Phase I: Workshop; Northwest College, Powell, WY; Summer 2007

University Of New Hampshire, Durham NH

Investigators

Abstract

This proposal would fund a 4-day workshop in Powell, Wyoming during the summer of 2007 to discuss the scientific, logistical, and administrative framework for coring the early Paleogene (Paleocene to early Eocene) deposits of the Bighorn Basin. Approximately 35 scientists, students, and industry representatives would take part. The workshop will also discuss the important questions driving the post-drilling research, funding for which would be sought through separate proposals. Intellectual Merit: The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), (as well as the more newly discovered small amplitude carbon isotope excursions that mimic the PETM observed in deep-sea cores), is extremely well preserved in the Bighorn Basin as the most complete early Paleogene continental sequence in the world. The basin sediments include a ~50 meter thick PETM interval. Cores of this early Paleogene stratigraphic record would make it possible to develop high resolution (1,000-10,000 year sampling interval) proxy records for temperature (oxygen isotopes), carbon cycling (carbon isotopes), and biotic change (e.g. pollen) from unweathered material to investigate, in an unprecedented way, the high-frequency climatic and biotic variability of a continental depositional system during greenhouse conditions. This would be the only scientific core recovered from this interval in a continental setting. Broader Impacts: The proposed attendee list includes students and representatives from academia, industry, and foreign scientists. The event will stimulate interaction between different communities, and will bring together geochemists, geochronoogists, stratigraphers and paleontologists. The proposers are well aware of efforts like Earthtime and Geosystems, and will devote some agenda time to discussing outreach strategies for public engagement.