Title: Carbonate clumped isotope geochemistry as an applied tool in paleoceanography and paleoclimate, within an inclusive science framework
Speaker: Dr. Aradhna Tripati
Associate Professor, Director of Center for Diverse Leadership in Science, UCLA.
Abstract: The emergence of new proxies enables us to address fundamental questions about Earth’s climate evolution. A promising new tool for the study of environmental change through time is the carbonate clumped isotope thermometer. In principle, this technique can provide a thermodynamically based estimate of carbonate mineral formation temperature and a relatively assumption-free calculation of water 18O/16O ratios. Over the past fourteen years, I have studied the systematics of carbonate clumped isotopes in foraminifera and coccoliths and other geological archives including lacustrine and soil carbonates. In this talk, I will discuss work we have done to improve measurement capabilities, overcome challenges such as sample size requirements and accuracy, and develop its usability for paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic reconstructions. I will highlight applications to reconstruct tropical temperatures and terrestrial hydroclimates in the past, including proxy-model comparisons to understand underlying dynamical mechanisms. My talk will also touch on new developments relating to the physical geochemistry of clumped isotopes in carbonates. We are using both theory and experiments to quantify kinetic isotope effects, and have developed the novel capability to make measurements of multiple clumped isotope species in carbonates. I will describe the social context for this scientific research, and how this has led to efforts within my research group and in the Center for Diverse Leadership in Science, to support belonging, equity, justice and innovation in the geosciences and within
higher education.
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