Research Training Program

Kristin Adams
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Whitewater, Wisconsin

Brian Huber, Ph.D.
Supervising Scientist
Department of Paleobiology

"This experience has been more
than a stepping stone towards
my future, but will rather
serve as a catalyst for what
is to come."

Global Warming and Foraminifera: Are Humans Really at Fault?

In order to understand the current global warming event, one must first understand what has occurred throughout the geologic past. Once such event occurred during the Late Cretaceous, which is often called the Cretaceous "Hothouse" Event. The Tanzania Drilling Project was formed to gather data from this time period in the form of fossilized, single-celled organisms called foraminifera. The organisms form single or multi-chambered shells from oceanic calcium carbonate (CaCO3). A technique, called stable isotope mass spectrometry, utilizes the carbon and oxygen isotopes associated with this to provide insights to a climate much warmer than it is today and provides a backdrop to the current global situation. The specific focus of this aspect of the program was to determine the ocean characteristics of a five million year time span during the Turonian Stage (approximately 90 million years ago), such as temperature, salinity, and primary productivity (photosynthesis activity). In addition, the vertical profile of the different foraminifera species were determined in order to compare the global temperature (benthic, or bottom-dwelling species) with the tropical, local temperature (planktic, or surface-dwelling species). The overall climatic data will be used to help determine whether the global warming event is the fault of humans, a natural occurrence, or a combination of both

This research was supported by a grant
from the National Science Foundation, Award EAR 0451802.