Anitra Ingalls seminar 12/11/07 (rescheduled)
Paul Clayton Building—Room 401
Terrestrial organic carbon in the sea: A multi-proxy investigation
Anitra Ingalls at sea
Anitra Ingalls, University Washington School of Oceanography
ABSTRACT: Near shore sediments are the largest long-term repository of organic carbon in the ocean. Organic carbon originally produced on land and later delivered to coastal sediments via rivers and runoff comprises a significant portion of this important carbon reservoir.
Several proxies have been developed to quantify the contribution of terrestrial organic matter to marine sediments. While each of these proxies has improved our understanding of carbon sources to coastal sediments, each of these proxies also has shortcomings.
The most recently developed of these proxies, the Branched and Isoprenoid index of Tetraethers (BIT index), claims to be an improvement on earlier proxies because it is based on a soil microbial source that integrates a variety of terrestrial carbon sources.
Here, the BIT index is compared to more traditional proxies of terrestrial carbon (δ13C of total organic matter, C/N ratio of organic matter and lignin phenol signatures) in a variety of environments.
The data suggest that no single proxy can be used to quantify terrestrial carbon inputs across environments and that the diversity of terrestrial carbon sources, transport mechanisms and diagenetic alteration bias each proxy in different ways.
Read more about Dr. Ingalls
The seminar will take place in the usual location for CMOP Seminars:
Paul Clayton Building—Room 401
OGI School of Science & Engineering
Oregon Health & Science University (West Campus)
20000 Walker Road
Beaverton, OR 97006
The seminar may be also available by two-way videoconference. However, this lecture will not be available for webcast, at the request of the speaker. The lecture will be recorded, with copies available with permission of the speaker. Contact the webmaster for assistance.
Learn more about CMOP Seminars