Research Explorer

Project

The onset of the end-Ordovician glaciation: chitinozoan and graptolite distribution unravel its causative mechanisms
Code
31507908
Duration
01 January 2008 → 30 September 2009
Funding
Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
Research disciplines
  • Natural sciences
    • Geology
    • Oceanography
    • Animal biology
    • Evolutionary biology
Keywords
micropalaeontology Palaeo-oceanography Hirnantian glaciation palaeoclimatology Global Circulation Model (GCM) Early Palaeozoic Icehouse ordovician
 
Project description
 

This project uses the distribution patterns and geochemistry of planktonic chitinozoans and graptolites to ground-truth Ordovician climate model (GCM) predictions of ocean state, and to reconstruct the climatic impact of the deflection of water masses during the onset of the end-Ordovician glaciation. It provides a test for the 'closing ocean gateway hypothesis', also postulated as a cause of Pleistocene glaciation.