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- Hinrichs Lab - EUROPROX II-6
Hinrichs Lab - EUROPROX II-6
EUROPROX II-6: Ecological responses to extreme climates recorded by organic proxies: the role of prokaryotic primary producers
| Duration: | 2005 - 2007 |
| Funding: | Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Graduate College "Proxies in Earth History" |
| Principal Investigator(s): | Kai-Uwe Hinrichs |
| Involved scientists in the Hinrichs Lab: | Julio Sepúlveda |
| Partners: | Prof. Dr. Jörn Peckmann (MARUM/Universität Bremen), Prof. Dr. Roger Summons (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA) |
Abstract
To fill the gap of paleoecological information, this project aims to holistically reconstruct the structures of planktonic communities at a variety of sites and time windows to be targeted by groups participating in the next EUROPROX cycle. Two major targets include the Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Event 3, recently recovered during ODP Leg 207, and the Mid-Miocene Monterey carbon isotope excursion (e.g., Raymo, 1994). The latter episode will be studied in sediments from the Southeast Atlantic recovered during ODP Leg 175. We will test the working hypothesis that episodes of extreme environmental conditions were principally accompanied by the above-mentioned domain shifts. If so, we will elucidate the associated cause-effect relationships with the carbon cycle perturbations that marked these periods. Our data will be integrated in the framework of observations to be acquired by other EUROPROX partners and thus create ideal conditions for stimulating interdisciplinary interactions between graduate students.
In the spirit of a program dedicated to proxies, a significant portion of the project will deal with the exploration of novel molecular biomarker proxies by applying state-of-the-art HPLC-MS, GC-MS and GC-isotope ratio-MS techniques. At Bremen, the graduate student will focus on the development of streamlined protocols for the analysis of intact biohopanoids and archaeal tetraethers as markers for cyanobacterial and planktonic archaeal production, respectively, and search in the pool of polar HPLC-amenable compounds for unknowns that correlate with other geochemical and paleontological proxies studied by our EUROPROX partners. These exploratory elements will be embedded in a framework of structural and isotopic studies on GC-amenable lipids and determinations of isotopic compositions of nitrogen and organic carbon. In the laboratory of our international project partner Prof. Roger Summons at MIT, the student will conduct complementary studies on cyanobacterial geohopanoids by high-resolution GC-MS (e.g., Summons et al., 1999). A joint participation in EUROPROX will be beneficial for both teams and create an ideal basis for intensified interaction in the future.
The project is followed up by EUROPROX Project III-6.
To fill the gap of paleoecological information, this project aims to holistically reconstruct the structures of planktonic communities at a variety of sites and time windows to be targeted by groups participating in the next EUROPROX cycle. Two major targets include the Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Event 3, recently recovered during ODP Leg 207, and the Mid-Miocene Monterey carbon isotope excursion (e.g., Raymo, 1994). The latter episode will be studied in sediments from the Southeast Atlantic recovered during ODP Leg 175. We will test the working hypothesis that episodes of extreme environmental conditions were principally accompanied by the above-mentioned domain shifts. If so, we will elucidate the associated cause-effect relationships with the carbon cycle perturbations that marked these periods. Our data will be integrated in the framework of observations to be acquired by other EUROPROX partners and thus create ideal conditions for stimulating interdisciplinary interactions between graduate students.
In the spirit of a program dedicated to proxies, a significant portion of the project will deal with the exploration of novel molecular biomarker proxies by applying state-of-the-art HPLC-MS, GC-MS and GC-isotope ratio-MS techniques. At Bremen, the graduate student will focus on the development of streamlined protocols for the analysis of intact biohopanoids and archaeal tetraethers as markers for cyanobacterial and planktonic archaeal production, respectively, and search in the pool of polar HPLC-amenable compounds for unknowns that correlate with other geochemical and paleontological proxies studied by our EUROPROX partners. These exploratory elements will be embedded in a framework of structural and isotopic studies on GC-amenable lipids and determinations of isotopic compositions of nitrogen and organic carbon. In the laboratory of our international project partner Prof. Roger Summons at MIT, the student will conduct complementary studies on cyanobacterial geohopanoids by high-resolution GC-MS (e.g., Summons et al., 1999). A joint participation in EUROPROX will be beneficial for both teams and create an ideal basis for intensified interaction in the future.
The project is followed up by EUROPROX Project III-6.