RUI: A sedimentological and sequence stratigraphic framework for carbon isotopic sampling and interpretation

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).

During the Paleozoic Era (541-251.9 million years ago) the continents we repeatedly submerged by shallow seas. The chemistry of the rocks formed in these shallow seas record details about how carbon moved between the oceans, atmosphere, biosphere, and sediments (carbon cycling). This project will focus on understanding how sea level change influenced the record of carbon cycling, which will improve our understanding of Earth’s climate history.

Ten undergraduate students will participate in this project and gain valuable field and laboratory experience. The data generated will be used to build teaching modules to help the public understand how geologists study Earth’s climate history.

This project will explore the relationship between sea level and carbon isotopic records in ancient epicontinental carbonate settings by addressing the following questions: 1) does sea level change in epicontinental carbonate settings result in consistent and resolvable patterns in bulk carbonate isotopic values; 2) if these patterns do exist, are they resolvable at multiple scales of sea level change; and 3) are the patterns different depending on which process (carbon cycling, meteoric influence, or carbonate sedimentation) is exerting primary control? We will generate high resolution carbon isotopic records within a sedimentological and sequence stratigraphic framework along a shore to basin transect of the Early Mississippian Madison shelf and the Late Permian Permian Basin, where there is a high probability that sea level influenced the carbon isotopic patterns.

Results from this project will have implications for the methodological approach and application of carbon isotopic records from epicontiential seas and the generated carbon isotopic data will provide important geochemical constraints for carbon cycling and sea water chemistry during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.