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Details of Award

NERC Reference : NER/A/S/2003/00528

The transition metal isotopes and the biogeochemistry of the oceans.

Grant Award

Principal Investigator:
Professor D Vance, University of Bristol, Earth Sciences
Co-Investigator:
Professor M Kucera, Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen, UNLISTED
Co-Investigator:
Dr EJ Cox, The Natural History Museum, Life Sciences
Co-Investigator:
Professor P Statham, University of Southampton, Sch of Ocean and Earth Science
Science Area:
Marine
Earth
Overall Classification:
Earth
ENRIs:
Global Change
Science Topics:
Biogeochemical Cycles
Ocean Circulation
Climate & Climate Change
Abstract:
The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is largely controlled, on long timescales, by the concentration in the surface oceans, a parameter that is itself partially determined by the availability of nutrients (phosphate, nitrate, silica and the micronutrients like Fe and Zn). These nutrients exert the fundamental control on biological productivity of the surface oceans, and hence the amount of carbon stored in organic reservoirs and rendered unavailable for exchange with the atmosphere. This proposal seeks to improve our understanding of nutrient cycling in the oceans through the development of a new set of isotopic techniques to understand how Fe and Zn are moved around the present (and eventually the past) oceans. We will grow microscopic marine organisms in the laboratory to study isotopic fractionations associated with their use of Fe and Zn, we will examine the natural isotopic variations induced in modern seawater through biological usage of Zn, and we will lay the groundwork for the use of these tracers as monitors of past levels of biological productivity in the oceans, with implications for rapid swings in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels during past glaciations.
Period of Award:
15 Mar 2004 - 14 Mar 2007
Value:
£143,680
Authorised funds only
NERC Reference:
NER/A/S/2003/00528
Grant Stage:
Completed
Scheme:
Standard Grants Pre FEC
Grant Status:
Closed
Programme:
Standard Grant

This grant award has a total value of £143,680  

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FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)

Total - StaffTotal - T&STotal - Other CostsTotal - Indirect CostsTotal - Equipment
£73,371£6,367£18,696£33,750£11,496

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