Conducting geochemical analysis of carboniferous carbonates and implications for ocean oxygenation

Geoffrey Gilleaudeau, Assistant Professor, Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences, received funding for the project: "Geochemical Analysis of Carboniferous Carbonates and Implications for Ocean Oxygenation."  

He and his collaborators aim to generate a new composite carbon record through the lower Mississippian in the Williston Basin. They also aim to generate a new record that tests the hypothesis that carbon excursion was related to an expansion of global ocean anoxia, or absence of oxygen. 

"This project will produce the first complete composition carbon isotope record through the Lower Carboniferous of the Williston Basin, as well as produce a uranium isotope paleo-redox record that tests the influence of ocean anoxia on the initiation of the Late Paleozoic Ice Age," Gilleaudeau said.

Gilleaudeau received $1,100 from the Society for Sedimentary Geology for this research. Funding began in Sept. 2023 and will end in late Dec. 2024.