Cecilie Phillips
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Sierra Petersen
Co-Presenter:
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences / LSA
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: Session 4 – 2:40pm – 3:30 pm
Room: League Ballroom
Authors: Cecilie Phillips, Alex Quizon, Sierra Petersen
Presenter: 87
Abstract
The Last Interglacial Period, which was around 150,000 years ago, was the most recent time in Earth’s history that the climate was relatively similar to what it is today. It is important to research the climate before, during, and after the last Interglacial Period so that we can compare the current climate trends to past trends and potentially predict the future of the climate. In my research on the Last Interglacial Period, I looked at Mercenaria shells collected from field sites in Massachusetts, Virginia, and South Carolina. I used a hand drill to drill tiny holes down the center axis of each shell, and I performed stable isotope analysis on each of the samples gathered from the drilling. The stable isotope analysis gave me the d18O and d13C values over the lifetime of the shells, which I used to determine the temperature of the water during the growth of the shell. This temperature data is especially important because the temperature during that time period has primarily been studied in the northeast Atlantic, and this will fill in the data gap on the eastern United States coast, especially the southeast, that other research has left.
Environmental Studies, Interdisciplinary
