This award supports a study of carbon isotopic compositions of benthic foraminifera from Eocene to Oligocene sediments from Ocean Drilling Program sites 689 and 690 on the Maud Rise of the Southern Ocean. The analysis of paired species (epifaunal-infaunal) will be used to establish a record of paleoproductivity and will be corroborated with organic carbon, biogenic silica, total benthic foraminiferal number and total sediment accumulation rates. The paleoproductivity data from these high-latitude sequences will be compared with existing planktonic foraminiferal isotope data to determine how productivity changes are related to the evolution of Southern Ocean paleoclimate conditions. This information will be useful for evaluating the role of productivity changes on climatic conditions over long periods of geologic time.
