Stable Isotope Paleo Environments Research Group (SIPERG)

Have a question or comment? Contact Alan Wanamaker at (515) 294-5142 or adw@iastate.edu.

Why study past environments?

We try to understand how the atmosphere and oceans behaved in the past. By doing this, we can better document the natural range of variability in these systems. This allows us to better understand the impacts global change might bring due to increased anthropogenic forcing.

Geochemical tools for reconstructing past climates and environments:

There are many ways and methods to investigate past climates and environments. Of these methods, stable isotope geochemistry is perhaps one of the most powerful and reliable tools.

What is sclerochronology?

Sclerochronology is considered by many to be the aquatic equivalent of dendrochronology. This powerful method is helping to unlock high-resolution marine archives (e.g., corals, corallines, mollusks, otoliths) for paleoclimate and paleoecology studies. Sclerochronological techniques are commonly used in freshwater environments as well.

Recent Presentations by SIPERG members:

3^rd International Sclerochronology Conference, Caernarfon, North Wales, UK, May 18-22, 2013.

Liu, Y-W, Aciego, S.M., and Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Boron isotopic composition in Arctica islandica shell: a potential historical, prehistorical, and geologic seawater pH indicator.

Mette, M.J., Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Ambrose, W.G., Retelle, M.J., and Carroll, M.L., Exploring the relationships among atmospheric and hydrographic variability and Arctica islandica shell growth and geochemistry in coastal northern Norway.

Wanamaker, A.D., Jr., Lower, E.E., Griffin, S.M., and Kreutz, K.J., Tracing slope water currents to the Gulf of Maine (northwestern Atlantic) using radiocarbon derived from a multi-century master shell chronology.