Collaborative Research: An Abyssal Circulation Type Section for the North Atlantic

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

Funds are provided to analyze seven long cores recovered from the Bermuda Rise in the North Atlantic Ocean, a key location where the physical and geochemical properties of exported North Atlantic Deep Waters are set by mixing between the northern and southern abyssal water masses. The research aims to create an abyssal type section of deepwater circulation for the last glacial-interglacial cycle. The research plan includes detailed stratigraphic investigations of piston cores and the initial measurement of several first order proxies of deep water circulation and surface water conditions for the last 160,000 years. The collaborative work plan includes a suite of analyses that include scanning x-ray analyses, radiocarbon and stable isotopic analysis, trace and minor element analysis, Uranium series analyses, and compiling Neodymium records from sediments. The broader impacts involve the education and training of graduate and undergraduate students, and a high school student. Results from this research will be adapted for coursework and lectures. The data will be archived and available for future paleoceanographic and paleoclimate studies.