Climate and Environmental Change in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean
This project documents paleoceanographic, climatic, and environmental changes in the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent land areas over the last 10,000 years. The paleoenvironmental data is used to determine rates of change in the past, and to better understand both the natural and anthropogenic factors that contribute to climate variability on inter-annual to millennial timescales.
Paleoclimate Reconstruction from Marine and Lake Sediments
Highly-resolved records of past climate variability are increasingly important in light of the current need to differentiate between natural and anthropogenic climate change. Studies concentrate on the Holocene, the last 10,000 years. Analysis of microfossils, trace metal geochemistry, stable isotope geochemistry, and biomarkers sediment cores is performed at sub-millennial to decadal resolution in sediment cores from lakes and the deep ocean.
Coral Reefs as Climate Archives
Coral reefs are sentinels of climate change, responding to changes in water temperature, ocean pH, pollution and land use change near the coasts. This part of the project ties in closely with the CREST Project within the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program, and aims to reconstruct changes temperature, ocean circulation, sea level and the history of reef formation.
Paleoceanographic Proxy Calibration
A sediment trap time series (2008-2018) in the northern Gulf of Mexico is used to assess environmental controls on sediment flux, microfossil assemblages and the biogeochemistry of both molecular and calcium carbonate fossils. This information is used to improve calibrations, quantify uncertainties, and better understand the strengths and limitations of different paleoceanographic proxies in the Gulf of Mexico.
Below are tasks and science projects associated with this project.
Below are publications associated with this project.
Biological, Physical, And Chemical Data From Gulf of Mexico Core PE0305-GC1
Vibracore, Radiocarbon, Microfossil, and Grain-Size Data from Apalachicola Bay, Florida
Holocene evolution of Apalachicola Bay, Florida
Regionally coherent Little Ice Age cooling in the Atlantic Warm Pool
Evidence of multidecadal climate variability and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation from a Gulf of Mexico sea-surface temperature-proxy record
Seasonal Flux and Assemblage Composition of Planktic Foraminifera from the Northern Gulf of Mexico
The 20th-century development and expansion of Louisiana shelf hypoxia, Gulf of Mexico
The last 1000 years of natural and anthropogenic low-oxygen bottom-water on the Louisiana shelf, Gulf of Mexico
1400 yr multiproxy record of climate variability from the northern Gulf of Mexico
Record of the North American southwest monsoon from Gulf of Mexico sediment cores
Century-scale movement of the Atlantic Intertropical Convergence Zone linked to solar variability
Benthic foraminiferal census data from Gulf of Mexico cores (Texas and Louisiana continental shelf)
This project documents paleoceanographic, climatic, and environmental changes in the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent land areas over the last 10,000 years. The paleoenvironmental data is used to determine rates of change in the past, and to better understand both the natural and anthropogenic factors that contribute to climate variability on inter-annual to millennial timescales.
Paleoclimate Reconstruction from Marine and Lake Sediments
Highly-resolved records of past climate variability are increasingly important in light of the current need to differentiate between natural and anthropogenic climate change. Studies concentrate on the Holocene, the last 10,000 years. Analysis of microfossils, trace metal geochemistry, stable isotope geochemistry, and biomarkers sediment cores is performed at sub-millennial to decadal resolution in sediment cores from lakes and the deep ocean.
Coral Reefs as Climate Archives
Coral reefs are sentinels of climate change, responding to changes in water temperature, ocean pH, pollution and land use change near the coasts. This part of the project ties in closely with the CREST Project within the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program, and aims to reconstruct changes temperature, ocean circulation, sea level and the history of reef formation.
Paleoceanographic Proxy Calibration
A sediment trap time series (2008-2018) in the northern Gulf of Mexico is used to assess environmental controls on sediment flux, microfossil assemblages and the biogeochemistry of both molecular and calcium carbonate fossils. This information is used to improve calibrations, quantify uncertainties, and better understand the strengths and limitations of different paleoceanographic proxies in the Gulf of Mexico.
Below are tasks and science projects associated with this project.
Below are publications associated with this project.