Research Group Bohaty Paleontology and Paleoclimate
The Research Group Paleontology and Paleoclimate within the Institute of Earth Sciences is focused on paleoenvironmental and paleoceanographic problems across many different intervals of geological time, with the broad aim of examining Earth System connections between ice-sheet history, atmospheric CO2 levels, ocean temperature, ocean circulation, and biotic/ecosystem changes.
The study of sedimentary archives from the high latitudes is a specific priority to address questions regarding the timing the onset of Antarctic glaciation, behavior of Antarctic ice sheets once formed, and global palaeoceanographic responses and feedbacks to glaciation.
Our primary research techniques include development of high-resolution geochemical and chemostratigraphic records, plankton microfossil analysis for age dating and paleoecological reconstructions, and integrated stratigraphy and correlation of deep-sea drill cores. Fossil diatoms and foraminifera the main focus of micropaleontological investigations within the research group, with a particular emphasis on multi-proxy studies that combine microfossil stratigraphic, assemblage, geochemical, or morphometric analysis with sediment geochemistry techniques.
Current research activities are concentrated on development of robust paleoclimate histories across key intervals of Cenozoic climate change, ranging from warm “greenhouse” intervals of the early-to-mid Paleogene to glacial−interglacial cycle dynamics of the Neogene and Quaternary. Important research problems that current studies are directed towards include: (i) abrupt changes in marine biota and ocean chemistry associated with extreme hyperthermal events; (ii) the timing of Antarctic cooling and ice-sheet advances in the early ‘icehouse’ time interval and relationship to CO2 change; (iii) biotic controls on major Cenozoic climate shifts and the role of biosiliceous plankton in modulating climate change during major transitions; and (iv) the magnitude of West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat and Southern Ocean circulation during prominent Pleistocene interglacial events.
Within the research group, the establishment of a new ‘Laboratory for Micropaleontology and Microfossil Geochemistry' within the Institute of Earth Sciences is currently in progress. The laboratory will provide state-of-the-art microscopic imaging capabilities and instrumentation for high-throughput light stable isotope analysis of a wide range of sample substrates.