A wealth of fossil data (terrestrial and marine) from northern and southern high latitudes provide dramatic evidence that the Cretaceous was warm. However, these fossils provide incomplete snapshots of Cretaceous climate as their occurrences are discontinuous and their distributions do not provide a quantitative measure of Earth's temperature. A more continuous history of Earth's temperature change during the Cretaceous can be inferred from delta18-O ratios preserved in the Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) shells of foraminifera. Unfortunately, interpreting paleotemperatures from delta18-O measurements is complicated by diagenesis and uncertainties regarding the delta18-O composition of contemporary seawater. Discovery of new sites that yield Cretaceous foraminifera with truly exceptional preservation has helped address diagenetic concerns, and parallel analyses of magnesium-calcium (Mg/Ca) ratios can help separate seawater and temperature effects on measured delta18-O values. This proposal requests funds to collect, isolate, and analyze exceptionally well preserved foraminifera from up to 1150 m of Late Cretaceous cores from four key stratigraphic intervals at four localities in coastal Tanzania. Results generated will greatly improve temporal and spatial control of the Cretaceous tropical temperature record. Such improvement is necessary to advance our understanding of the linkages between climate forcing mechanisms, ocean circulation, and patterns of biotic evolution and extinction in the Cretaceous greenhouse world. In combination with climate model experiments, this grant will test hypotheses regarding greenhouse climate dynamics including tropical temperature history, purported greenhouse glacial episodes, and the degree to which tropical and 'global' temperatures co-vary. This project focuses on 1) delta18-O analyses of exceptionally well-preserved foraminifera across Late Cretaceous intervals of extreme warmth and relative cold including glacial intervals, 2) parallel measurements of Mg/Ca in selected samples to help constrain changes in seawater composition, and 3) climate model experiments and data-model comparisons that will allow better evaluation of model sensitivity to Carbon Dioxide (CO2).
Broader Impacts: The project involves partners from the United States (Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, University of Missouri-Columbia, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), the United Kingdom (Cardiff University, Bristol University, Southampton University, and University College London), the Republic of Ireland (Trinity College Dublin), and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation. The project has held regular science meetings and has enhanced the involvement of Tanzanian scientists. Graduate and undergraduate students are involved in all phases of this research, and the analyses are done at an NSF-funded stable isotope facility. Local Tanzanians are hired to support many aspects of field work. An additional benefit is improvement in the knowledge of the structural geology and stratigraphy of the southeast coastal region of Tanzania, which is useful for Tanzanian environmental policy decisions including possible hydrocarbon potential and drilling of shallow water wells.
