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A Quantitative Proxy Of Diatom Dissolution With Implications For Biological Production In The Eastern Equatorial Pacific Over The Past 25,000 Years, Jonathan Warnock

Honors Capstones

Here we present a quantitative proxy for determining opal dissolution in deep sea sediment cores. The ratio of organic carbonxalcite production in the ocean is thought to affect global climate by changing CO2 levels in the atmosphere. The diatom-dominated opal producers generate significant organic carbon and have the ability to sequester organic carbon from the atmosphere to the ocean floor. Thus using diatom accumulation rates to reconstruct diatom production is important to climate research. However, opal and organic carbon accumulation rates reflect both variable production and preservation. Separating these factors is crucial to estimating past opal and organic carbon fluxes. …