Séminaire
Using biomarkers to explore terrestrial biogeochemical processes on the modern Earth and in the past
Date
le 15-02-2012 à 10:00Lieu Salle Stendhal, DGO, Bâtiment B18
Intervenant(s) Richard PANCOST, Professor, School of Chemistry, Organic Geochemistry Unit, Bristol Biogeochemistry Research Centre, University of Bristol, UK |
Résumé
One of the main challenges of Earth System Science is the reconstruction of past changes in biogeochemical processes, and specifically reconstructing how past global warming impacted the hydrological cycle. Much evidence suggests that this could have been significant, especially if rapid climate change caused a deviation from steady state conditions. An additional and important suite of tools in this endeavour are the abundances and isotopic compositions of lipid biomarkers; collectively, they can provide insight into continental temperatures, the precipitation regime and changes in continental to marine fluxes of organic matter. I will discuss these approaches, including their development and application, with a focus on the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum.