Cooperative Agreement for CESU Partner with North Atlantic Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit

The USGS is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research to investigate the impacts of historical marine climate, tropical storm, and sea-level variability in the tropical western Atlantic, work that will contribute to several ongoing projects at the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center (SPCMSC). These paleoclimate reconstructions will allow for the impact assessment natural climate variations on these regions in the past. Ultimately this will inform ecological and societal management decision making, including planning for the impacts of future climate change and sea-level rise that are expected to influence coastal communities and ecosystems. Research Objectives: Conduct diagenetic screening (XRD analysis) and U-series dating of storm-deposited coral skeletons from south Florida to reconstruct tropical storm activity during late Holocene. Additional geochemical analysis of these samples (i.e., stable isotope ratios) may be conducted based on the results of the initial dating. Conduct diagenetic screening (XRD analysis) and U-series dating of Quaternary carbonates from the western Atlantic for sea-level reconstructions.