Award Abstract # 1555216
CAREER:Continental Paleoenvironmental Responses to Carbon Cycle Perturbations During the mid-Cretaceous Greenhouse

NSF Org: EAR
Division Of Earth Sciences
Recipient: THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO
Initial Amendment Date: February 16, 2016
Latest Amendment Date: February 8, 2019
Award Number: 1555216
Award Instrument: Continuing Grant
Program Manager: Dena Smith-Nufio
dmsmith@nsf.gov
 (703)292-7431
EAR
 Division Of Earth Sciences
GEO
 Directorate for Geosciences
Start Date: February 15, 2016
End Date: September 30, 2019 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $375,696.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $383,860.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2016 = $68,480.00
FY 2017 = $84,409.00

FY 2019 = $0.00
History of Investigator:
  • Marina Suarez (Principal Investigator)
    mb.suarez@ku.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: University of Texas at San Antonio
1 UTSA CIR
SAN ANTONIO
TX  US  78249-1644
(210)458-4340
Sponsor Congressional District: 20
Primary Place of Performance: University of Texas at San Antonio
One UTSA Circle
San Antonio
TX  US  78249-1644
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
20
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): U44ZMVYU52U6
Parent UEI: U44ZMVYU52U6
NSF Program(s): EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES,
Sedimentary Geo & Paleobiology
Primary Program Source: 01001617DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01001718DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT

01001920DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT

01002021DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 1045, 7459, 1575
Program Element Code(s): 157500, 745900
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.050

ABSTRACT

While widely known for the diverse dinosaur faunas of the time, the Cretaceous Period is important for more than just the creatures that populate the imagination, museums, and popular culture. Cretaceous climate changes may be the result of numerous disruptions to the carbon cycle, likely due to volcanism. The carbon cycle controls climate change. Past carbon cycle changes resulted in major climate shifts, environmental change, and extinction. By understanding ancient terrestrial carbon cycle perturbations, we can understand the consequences to ongoing disruptions to the carbon cycle. This project will determine if the Cretaceous carbon cycle disruptions resulted in temperature and precipitation changes on land. To achieve these scientific goals, funds will go toward supporting community college, undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral students as well as creating educational lab activities. As a Career award, the PI will develop collaborations with other universities, enhance her education activities and integrate these with a strong research program for professional development that will provide a solid base for future research.

This project spans the late Aptian to early Albian (approximately 115 to 110 million year ago), and specifically targets carbon isotope excursions associated with ocean anoxic event 1b from 4 localities (Utah, Texas, Spain, and China). The project will generate multiple climate proxies such as: 1) clumped isotope paleothermometry; 2) major element geochemistry to quantify weathering intensity and paleoprecipitation; and 3) carbon isotope data to estimate pCO2. This data will be synthesized to help identify the full range of climate change triggers, feedbacks, and responses during Cretaceous carbon cycle perturbations in continental environments.

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