Gabrielle Petrella
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Ingrid Hendy
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Geological Sciences / LSA
Program: UROPF
Session: Session 3 (11:00am – 11:50am)
Authors:
Abstract
Sediment chemistry reflecting the varying levels of calcium carbonate, organic carbon, oxides and sulfides present in each sample, is being studied to provide a comprehensive understanding of the ocean’s makeup when undergoing a large environmental shift. This project examines environmental shifts to better formulate patterns based on oceanic sediment composition. These samples were removed from the ocean floor using a coring technique, before being ground into a white powder with a mortar and pestle. Samples were weighed with a balance and placed into tin capsules before being combusted in an Elemental Analyzer. The goal is to find the percent of calcium carbonate and organic carbon in the samples, to determine their impact on the oxides and sulfides in the sediments. These findings will display amounts of calcium carbonate and organic carbon produced by marine organisms before the transition from a greenhouse to icebox world. Currently, humans are burning fossil fuels, accelerating the levels of CO2 into the atmosphere, warming the planet and melting glacial masses. Both calcium carbonate and organic carbon will allow long-term CO2 storage and capture into rocks, decreasing ocean acidification and reversing temperature changes by cooling the planet to form ice sheets. Evidence is being investigated that flux of CO2 out of the atmosphere is responsible for producing a colder climate and therefore, the transition from greenhouse to icebox world. Once conclusions are proposed, climate scientists will possess data to better predict land and ocean temperatures that will be experienced during this transition and can test for quantities of materials that were found when the first one occurred. Climate and the environment affect all living organisms. By understanding the repercussions of a transition back into a greenhouse world, action can be taken to ensure that maintaining life is sustainable.
