Paleoclimates

Current projects cover a wide variety of research topics:

• Investigation of pedogenic processes in modern soils using analyses of the chemical composition of soil matrix; the stable carbon, oxygen, and strontium isotope composition of soil calcite and organic matter; and the hydrogen and oxygen isotope composition of pedogenic phyllosilicates

• Using soil pCO2 estimates obtained through geochemical analysis of paleosol carbonates and co-existing organic matter as a proxy for paleoproductivity in ancient terrestrial environments

• Determining paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental parameters of Oligocene and Miocene terrestrial ecosystems in Ethiopia and Kenya using paleosol morphology and stable isotope geochemistry of paleosol minerals, fossil plants, and fossil vertebrate teeth

• Developing a carbon-isotope chemostratigraphy in order to locate the stratigraphic position of the Permo-Triassic boundary in northern Texas

• Determination of paleoatmospheric pCO2 across the Permian-Triassic boundary using pedogenic minerals from strata in the Turpan Basin, Xinjiang Province, western China

• Applying geochemical and paleopedological analyses of intercalated Permo-Carboniferous strata (cyclothems) in North America (Illinois and Kansas) and Central Europe (Bohemian Massif) in order to delineate changes in paleoenvironmental conditions during the Late Paleozoic ice age

• Stable isotope analyses of ancient soil-formed phyllosilicates as a proxy for Late Paleozoic paleotemperatures and δ18O values of precipitation

• Using δ18O values of apatitic microfossils (conodonts) as a proxy for sea-surface temperatures and the magnitude of glacioeustatic sea level fluctuations during the Late Paleozoic ice age

• Using δ13C values and C/N ratios of organic matter preserved in urban lake sediments as indicators of historical watershed development

Contact: Dr. Neil Tabor