9406067 O'Neil A newly developed simplified method of oxygen isotope analysis of phosphatic materials will be exploited in a proposed program of interdisciplinary research projects that utilize basic principles of earth sciences, chemistry and biology. Particular emphasis will be placed on applications of the method to paleoclimatology, determination of equilibrium fractionation factors at low and high temperatures, biomineralization, mechanisms of phosphate-water interactions, anthropology, and paleontology. The proposed research program includes, among others, the following projects: (1) Bacterial synthesis of hydroxyapatite and fluorapatite with determinations of equilibrium fractionations between H2O and PO4 (dissolved and solid) as well as the mechanisms of the exchange reactions and REE uptake, (2) Paleoecology of Pleistocene cave bears (paleoclimate), (3) Viking Settlements in Greenland during the Little Ice Age (anthropology, paleoclimate, paleodiet), (4) A test of proposed large oxygen isotope excursions in late Devonian oceans from analysis of conodonts, (5) Paleoecology of whales and fishes, and (6) Laboratory calibration of 18O- fractionations between apatite minerals and water at high temperatures. Samples for all projects are in hand and preliminary data have been obtained.
