NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) for FY 2013 in Australia

Quinton Page C, Columbia MO

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds Page Quinton of The University of Missouri to conduct a research project in Geoscience during the summer of 2013 at the Geological Survey of New South Wales in Sydney. The project title is "Constraining Global Sea Surface Temperatures Trends during the Late Ordovician Period in New South Wales Australia." The host scientist is Dr. Ian Percival. This project establishes the first high-resolution sea surface temperature record of the Australian continent during the Late Ordovician (a time period from 454 to 443 million years ago) using conodont elements (the teeth-like structures located in the gills of a small marine animal, referred to as conodonts) collected from New South Wales, Australia. Previous work along these lines has largely been conducted on rocks from North America making it difficult to determine if observed patterns were global or regional. These results have implications for the role atmospheric carbon dioxide on climate evolution, the timing of Ordovician glaciation, and the relationship between glaciation and the mass extinction event at the end of the Ordovician Period. Furthermore, knowledge of the global climate has societal relevance. Mechanism which governed past changes in global climate, continue to do so today. A better understanding of them will contribute to better predictions of possible changes going forward especially on a long time scale. Broader impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce. In addition, the knowledge and experience gained by the Fellow will inform and enrich educational experience of the students in the courses she teaches with an emphasis on uprooting misconceptions and misunderstandings about the behavior of climatic systems.