Development and Application of Biogenic Mineral-Bound Nitrogen Isotope Measurements to the Million-Year Timescale

Development and Application of Biogenic Mineral-Bound Nitrogen Isotope Measurements to the Million-Year Timescale
Author: Emma Ruth Kast
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020
Genre:
ISBN:

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As an essential nutrient required by all organisms, biologically available nitrogen (?fixed N?) plays an integral role in biogeochemical cycling at Earth?s surface. The nitrogen isotope ratio (15N/14N, ?15N) of fixed N is sensitive to biogeochemical transformations that constitute the nitrogen cycle. Additionally, the ?15N of organisms increases with trophic level. ?15N can be a powerful tool for reconstructing the N cycle and the trophic level of organisms, yet poor preservation of N in the geologic record have limited our ability to apply ?15N on million-year timescales. This dissertation focuses on million-year time scale nitrogen cycling and trophic ecology using biogenic mineral-bound organic matter ?15N.A foraminifera shell-bound organic matter ?15N (FB-?15N) record is presented for the early Cenozoic (66 million years ago until present). There is a large decrease (by ~15 ? in the Pacific and by ~ 6 ? in the Atlantic) between 57 and 50 million years ago, before Eocene global cooling. This indicates expanded ocean suboxia in the Paleocene, followed by its tectonically driven demise.Mineral-bound ?15N methods are adapted for use with tooth enamel and enameloid, abundant fossils that are widely used in geochemical and paleontological studies of the past. Enamel(oid)-bound organic matter ?15N (?15NEB) has a long-term method precision of 0.7 ? (1?) and there is substantial evidence for preservation on million-year time scales. Modern shark tooth ?15NEB shows that despite significant intra- and inter-individual differences (up to 3 ?), ?15NEB captures ocean inter- and intra-basin differences in fixed N ?15N. Modern bovid (cow and bison) ?15NEB shows a close correspondence to collagen ?15N, and reflects the dietary plant ?15N on the terrestrial landscape.Applying ?15NEB to the fossil record, the high ?15NEB of the ancient mega-tooth shark Otodus megalodon provides evidence for a remarkably high trophic position. A 100-million-year fossil shark ?15NEB record from the North Atlantic largely corroborates fixed N ?15N changes observed in FB-?15N.This dissertation expands our understanding of marine nitrogen cycling and the trophic position of ancient sharks. This work establishes new mineral-bound ?15N tools and initiates mineral-bound N isotope investigation of the million-year geologic record.

Carbon Cycling in the Glacial Ocean: Constraints on the Ocean’s Role in Global Change

Carbon Cycling in the Glacial Ocean: Constraints on the Ocean’s Role in Global Change
Author: Rainer Zahn
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 579
Release: 2013-06-29
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3642787371

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A comprehensive progress report on the multi-disciplinary field of ocean and climate change research is given. It compiles introductory background papers and leading scientific results on the ocean-atmosphere carbon cycle with emphasis on the ocean's carbon inventory and the various components involved. The relationship between plankton productivity, carbon fixation, oceanic PCO2 and climate change is investigated from the viewpoint of long-term climatic change during the late Quaternary cycles of ice ages and warm ages. The various approaches range from micropaleontology over organic and trace element geochemistry to molecular isotope geochemistry.

The European Nitrogen Assessment

The European Nitrogen Assessment
Author: Mark A. Sutton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 665
Release: 2011-04-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1139501372

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Presenting the first continental-scale assessment of reactive nitrogen in the environment, this book sets the related environmental problems in context by providing a multidisciplinary introduction to the nitrogen cycle processes. Issues of upscaling from farm plot and city to national and continental scales are addressed in detail with emphasis on opportunities for better management at local to global levels. The five key societal threats posed by reactive nitrogen are assessed, providing a framework for joined-up management of the nitrogen cycle in Europe, including the first cost-benefit analysis for different reactive nitrogen forms and future scenarios. Incorporating comprehensive maps, a handy technical synopsis and a summary for policy makers, this landmark volume is an essential reference for academic researchers across a wide range of disciplines, as well as stakeholders and policy makers. It is also a valuable tool in communicating the key environmental issues and future challenges to the wider public.

Lithium Isotopes

Lithium Isotopes
Author: Philip A. E. Pogge von Strandmann
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 51
Release: 2021-08-26
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1108997627

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Lithium isotopes are a relatively novel tracer of present and past silicate weathering processes. Given that silicate weathering is the primary long-term method by which CO2 is removed from the atmosphere, Li isotope research is going through an exciting phase. We show the weathering processes that fractionate dissolved and sedimentary Li isotope ratios, focusing on weathering intensity and clay formation. We then discuss the carbonate and silicate archive potential of past seawater δ7Li. These archives have been used to examine Li isotope changes across both short and long timescales. The former can demonstrate the rates at which the climate is stabilised from perturbations via weathering, a fundamental piece of the puzzle of the long-term carbon cycle.

The Search for Life's Origins

The Search for Life's Origins
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 161
Release: 1990-02-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309042461

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The field of planetary biology and chemical evolution draws together experts in astronomy, paleobiology, biochemistry, and space science who work together to understand the evolution of living systems. This field has made exciting discoveries that shed light on how organic compounds came together to form self-replicating molecules-the origin of life. This volume updates that progress and offers recommendations on research programs-including an ambitious effort centered on Mars-to advance the field over the next 10 to 15 years. The book presents a wide range of data and research results on these and other issues: The biogenic elements and their interaction in the interstellar clouds and in solar nebulae. Early planetary environments and the conditions that lead to the origin of life. The evolution of cellular and multicellular life. The search for life outside the solar system. This volume will become required reading for anyone involved in the search for life's beginnings-including exobiologists, geoscientists, planetary scientists, and U.S. space and science policymakers.

The South Atlantic in the Late Quaternary

The South Atlantic in the Late Quaternary
Author: Gerold Wefer
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 742
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3642189172

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The South Atlantic plays a critical role in the couplingofoceanic processes between the Antarctic and the lower latitudes. The Antarctic Ocean, along with the adjacent southern seas, is of substantial importance for global climate and for the distributionofwater masses because itprovides large regions ofthe world ocean with intermediate and bottom waters. In contrast to the North Atlantic, the Southern Ocean acts more as an "information distributor", as opposed to an amplifier. Just as the North Atlantic is influencedby the South Atlantic through the contributionofwarm surface water,the incomingsupply ofNADW - in the area of the Southern Ocean as Circumantarctic Deep Water - influences the oceanography ofthe Antarctic. The competing influences from the northern and southern oceans on the current and mass budget systems can be best studied in the South Atlantic. Not only do changes in the current systems in the eastern Atlantic high-production regions affect the energy budget, they also influence the nutrient inventories, and therefore impact the entire productivity ofthe ocean. In addition, the broad region of the polar front is a critical area with respect to productivity-related circulation since it is the source of Antarctic Intermediate Water. Although theAntarctic Intermediate Watertoday liesdeeper than the water that rises in the upwelling regions, it is the long-term source ofnutrients that are ultimately responsible for the supply oforganic matter to the sea floor and to sediments.

Stable Isotope Geochemistry

Stable Isotope Geochemistry
Author: John W. Valley
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 676
Release: 2018-12-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1501508741

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Volume 43 of Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry follows the 1986 Reviews in Mineralogy (Vol. 16) in approach but reflects significant changes in the field of Stable Isotope Geochemistry. In terms of new technology, new sub-disciplines, and numbers of researchers, the field has changed more in the past decade than in any other since that of its birth. Unlike the 1986 volume, which was restricted to high temperature fields, this book covers a wider range of disciplines. However, it would not be possible to fit a comprehensive review into a single volume. Our goal is to provide state-of-the-art reviews in chosen subjects that have emerged or advanced greatly since 1986. This volume was prepared for Short Course on Stable Isotope Geochemistry presented November 2-4, 2001 in conjunction with the annual meetings of the Geological Society of America in Boston, Massachusetts.