Project Details
The past and present trace metal budget of the Black Sea - A comparison of the Holocene and Eemian marine ingression
Subject Area
Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry
Term
from 2009 to 2013
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 145942470
The goal of this project is to reconstruct the climatic and paleoenvironmental history of the yet unstudied Eemian sapropel in the Black Sea, which was recovered during DSDP Leg 42B Site 379A and Meteor cruise M72/5. We aim to improve the knowledge about the paleoenvironmental development of the Black Sea by comparing the Eemian with the recent (Holocene) sapropel using geochemical proxies at high resolution in a multidisciplinary approach. The main objectives we want to achieve with this proposal are a) the creation of a highresolution chemostratigraphic classification of the so far unstudied Eemian sapropel, b) reconstruction of the development of the chemo-/pycnocline, c) investigation of the transition from the limnic to the marine stage (and vice versa) in the Black Sea, d) reconstruction of paleoproductivity and d) an isotopic mass balance of trace metal fluxes from the water column to the sediment through time. To achieve these goals we will determine inorganic geochemical parameters (major and minor elements), stable metal isotopes (Fe, Mo, and U), and organic biomarkers (isorenieratene) at high resolution in key sections. The results of our study will also be used to compare the Black Sea sapropels with the Eemian “S5” sapropel from the Mediterranean Sea in an attempt to work out similarities and differences of the two settings.
DFG Programme
Infrastructure Priority Programmes