This award will support a variety of studies involving use of trace metals (Ba, Cd, Sr) in benthic foraminiferal shells for application to paleo-deep ocean circulation. Previous work has shown that trace metals and 13-C do not follow the same trends, although they have all been used as tracers of deep-water type. The project will analyze live specimens from a variety of environments and compare results with co-occurring dead specimens to determine effects of early diagenesis; compare the same values with bottom water and pore waters (measured by others) to determine how accurately the organisms reflect ambient conditions; and examine changes in all tracers in depth transects from the western (Ontong-Java Plateau) and eastern (Cocos Ridge) tropical Pacific over the last glacial cycle, in order to establish a first-order record of deep circulation changes.
