Principal Investigator Edward Boyle
Studies of ice cores from Greenland show that in the period between 30,000 to 60,000 years ago, there were a succession of 17 abrupt warmings after severe glaciations followed by an almost equally abrupt shift back to glacial conditions. Many scientists think that these shifts are due to instabilities in the deep ocean circulation. But there is very little evidence showing a link between ocean circulation and these events. In order to bridge this gap, Boyle’s group are analyzing fossil deep sea benthic foraminifera from a 53-meter sediment core on the Bermuda Rise to watch the changes between high percentages of North Atlantic Deep Water (low Cd) and high percentages of Southern Ocean Deep Water (high Cd).