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Understanding environmental controls on trace elements in coral aragonite


Dec. 2, 2014, noon - 1 p.m.
Slichter 3853

Presented By:
Whitney Doss
UCLA

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Paleoceanographic reconstructions and modern field studies of the response of marine calcifying organisms to their environment using elemental ratios are crucially dependent upon better understanding of biologically mediated fractionation. In particular, the hydrographic parameter calcium carbonate (CaCO3) saturation state (DCO32-) has been shown to affect biomineralization. Therefore robust empirical relationships between measurements and known seawater influences must be exactingly calibrated and supported by inclusive mechanistic explanations in order to understand past environments and also to predict future behavior. To this end, my research focuses on understanding and applying trace and minor element proxies in calcite and aragonite precipitated in tropical deep (by benthic foraminifera) and surface (by scleractinian coral) waters.