The remains of microscopic plankton blooms in near-shore ocean environments slowly sink to the seafloor, setting off processes that forever alter an important record of Earth’s history, according to research from geoscientists, including David Fike at Washington University in St. Louis.
The remains of microscopic plankton blooms in near-shore ocean environments slowly sink to the seafloor, setting off processes that forever alter an important record of Earth’s history, according to research from geoscientists, including David Fike at Washington University in St. Louis.
Fike is co-author of a new study published July 20 in Nature Communications.
“Our previous work identified the role that changing sedimentation rates had on local versus global controls on geochemical signatures that we use to reconstruct environmental change,” said Fike, professor of earth and planetary sciences and director of environmental studies in Arts & Sciences.
“In this study, we investigated organic carbon loading, or how much organic matter — which drives subsequent microbial activity in the sediments — is delivered to the seafloor,” Fike said. “We are able to show that this, too, plays a critical role in regulating the types of signals that get preserved in sediments.
Read more at Washington University in St. Louis
Photo Credit: Buddy_Nath via Pixabay
