Project Details
Projekt
Reduced oxygenation during Heinrich Events – Testing hypotheses of (de)glacial circulation in the Atlantic Ocean
Subject Area
Palaeontology
Term
since 2024
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 555792487
Reconstructions of past changes in dissolved oxygen concentrations in the ocean are of inherent interest because of their influence on marine ecosystems and their potential to characterize the exchange of carbon between the atmosphere and the ocean. Here, we propose to reconstruct potential variations in bottom-water oxygenation in order to critically test existing hypotheses about North Atlantic ocean circulation during the last glacial and especially during cold events (i.e., Heinrich Events). Depending on the results of this study, either the “classical” paleo-circulation scenario with a prevailing southern-sourced water mass or the “new” scenario of a vigorous production of northern-sourced waters will be supported. Overall, the objectives of this proposal will be reached through a multi-proxy approach including the generation of qualitative and quantitative oxygenation and qualitative export production records based on sediment geochemistry, foraminiferal-based geochemistry and faunal proxies. To generate these records, we have chosen a “classic” core from the Dreizack Seamount (eastern North Atlantic) that formed the basis for Hartmut Heinrich’s work. These records will allow the proposed PhD student and the proponents to shed light onto the variations of bottom-water oxygenation in the eastern North Atlantic at a high temporal resolution (500 years) and to test the above-mentioned competing ocean-circulation scenarios.
DFG Programme
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