This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
This award supports an investigation of the deglacial record in the Gulf of Mexico, specifically the timing of the initial melting of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS). The PI will use a multi-proxy approach (d18O, Mg/Ca, and Ba/Ca) to detect salinity anomalies associated with the input of meltwater via the Mississippi River. The records will test the hypothesis that LIS melting was synchronized with Northern and Southern Hemisphere mid-latitude glacial melt, and comparison of the results with proxies records of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) will help assess the role of LIS meltwater in early deglacial AMOC changes and associated climate shifts. Results will be incorporated into the SynTraCE21,000 model-data comparison effort. Funding will support a PhD student, who will also lead the marine geology component of an oceanography camp for girls during each summer of the award term.
