Development of micropalaeontologic and palynologic proxies for palaeodepth and productivity in the Maastrichtian Tethys
Jacques Peeters
Europrox
This project is a part of the integrated research programme "Proxies in Earth History of the European Graduate College. Palynological and foraminiferal proxies will be developed and tested for their power to reconstruct environmental conditions in the late Maastrichtian tropical Tethys. Of particular interest is the development of water depth and productivity proxies for this time interval. The focus of this study will be lying on depth transects across the Tethyan margins (North Africa and Middle East, southern Spain)as well as on an ODP core from the (open ocean) Eratosthenes Sea Mount (Eastern Mediterranean Basin)
The proxies will be based on a broad range of different paleoenvironments and would include absolute numbers microbiota (benthic and planktic foraminifera, dinoflagellates) per gram sediment, relative abundance of groups (ratios of P/B, P/G, and nearshore-offshore taxa) and ecologic marker species (benthic and planktic).
This research project will provide a microbiota-based environmental basis for pre-K/T boundary climatic change and sea level studies in the Tethys. Microbiotic data will be complemented by geochemical analyses (carbonate and TOC contents, stable isotopes, diagenesis) on part of the material in order to reveal temporal and cyclic sedimentation patterns. A main component of the palynologic and geochemistry studies will be at the partner institutes in Utrecht and Amsterdam.