Details of Award

NERC Reference : NER/A/S/2003/00377

Modelling rapid ocean biogeochemical change across the Eocene-Oligocene transition.

Principal Investigator:: Professor T Tyrrell, University of Southampton, Sch of Ocean and Earth Science
Co-Investigator:: Professor PA Wilson, University of Southampton, Sch of Ocean and Earth Science
Grant held at:: University of Southampton, Sch of Ocean and Earth Science

ENRIs:: Global Change
Science Topics:: Biogeochemical Cycles; Palaeoenvironments; Climate & Climate Change

Abstract:: One of the most dramatic changes to the Earth system during the last 100 My was the onset of Antarctic glaciation at the beginning of the Oligocene (~33 Mya). The move to an ice-house world was accompanied by a sudden step-change in calcite compensation depth (CCD), the measurable depth in the ocean at which coccoliths and other calcite calcium carbonate is completely dissolved. New NERC-funded ocean drilling records of unprecedented temporal resolution, reveal that these changes were even more abrupt and synchronous than previously suspected. We will test competing hypotheses for this transition using explicit quantitative models of ocean nutrient and carbon biogeochemistry. The models will output del-13C, %CaCO3, carbonate ion concentration, aqueous CO2 concentration, calcite compensation depth and other variables that can be compared to sediment proxies for this interval. These data make stringent demands on the hypotheses that seek to explain them and the comparison with model results is an important part of this quantitative investigation. Our work will improve our understanding of the cause and the response of the Earth system to the onset of the first major Cenozoic icesheets and the operation of the carbon cycle.

Authorised funds only

This grant award has a total value of £83,576

Total - T&S	Total - Staff	Total - Other Costs	Total - Indirect Costs
£1,557	£53,265	£4,252	£24,502

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