Marisa Montes (INSTAAR)

INSTAAR Seminar Series. Hybrid event, in person and via Zoom

Location: Sievers Conference Room (SEEC S228). 4001 Discovery Drive, Boulder, CO

Audience: All are welcome

Abstract: My talk will focus on exploring organic fossils (lipid biomarkers) as proxies to reconstruct past climates and environments and how they could help in informing the impacts of future climate scenarios. In the first part, I will present lipid biomarker reconstructions from the Gulf of Alaska and discuss the Cordilleran Ice Sheet-ocean-climate interactions during the Mid-Piacenzian Warm Period (MPWP, ~3.3 million years ago (Ma)), the onset of the North Hemisphere Glaciation (oNHG, ~2.6 Ma) and glacial and interglacial cycles (last 500,000 years). I will also explore nutrient-marine productivity-carbon cycle linkages in relation to higher atmospheric CO2 climate events during the MPWP and MIS 5e (~133,000 years ago), lower atmospheric CO2 levels during the oNHG and MIS 6 (~150,000 years ago). I will end the first part of my talk by presenting my current project at INSTAAR, reconstructing the marine productivity export in the Gulf of Mexico during the asteroid impact that famously killed the dinosaurs (~66 Ma) and somehow less famously disrupted the marine food web. In the second part, I will talk about (exciting?) new developments on lipid biomarkers, compound-specific stable isotopes, culture studies and ancient DNA for Arctic sea-ice reconstructions.

After presentation: There will be time for informal discussion with the speaker after the presentation; cookies and coffee will be served.