This award is for support of a study of late Neogene foraminifera and molluscs from Dry Valleys glaciomarine sediment. Oxygen, carbon, and strontium isotopes will be measured on foraminifera from the thick glaciomarine sequences in Eastern Taylor Valley, and molluscs from the Prospect Mesa gravels in central Wright Valley. The principal result will be a well-dated history of the temperature and salinity for late Neogene fjords in Taylor and Wright Valleys. Because fjord inflow comes from the Ross Sea, this history reflects that of the principal water mass in the Ross Sea which is stamped with the climate of the Ross Sea region. This is a collaborative proposal between Prentice at the University of Maine, Ishman of the U.S. Geological Survey, and Berkman at The Ohio State University.
