Understanding the relationship between climate change, ocean circulation and the carbon cycle is one of the greatest challenges for paleoclimatologists. The strong feedbacks between these systems result in complex interactions which make it difficult to predict the future course of climate change. Paleoclimatologic and paleoceanographic research has much to contribute to this research because, in recent geological history, large changes in each of these systems have occurred. The distribution of 14C provides one very important tracer of the past carbon cycle because its distribution and concentration is controlled by carbon cycles processes and radioactive decay. Thus it is possible to constrain the rates of change through the judicious measurement of past 14C distribution. The goal of this research is to continue the 14C age analysis of marine sediments on a variety of projects with paleoclimatic implications. The projects include: 1) studies of deep sea dissolution of calcium carbonate to determine the response of the ocean to the rapid change in atmospheric CO2 during the last deglaciation; 2) studies of the difference in 14C between surface and deep water to improve our understanding of the circulation response of the deep ocean to the last deglaciation; and 3) improvement of the deglacial chronology of both terrestrial and marine events associated with the Younger Dryas, a rapid, short-lived reversal of climatic change associated with the last deglaciation. This research is important because of its potential for enhanced understanding of the global carbon cycle.
