High-Resolution Sea Surface Temperature Records in Barbados Corals From Past Interglacial Periods

The PI will attempt to quantify the rate and magnitude of climate and sea level changes during the last interglacial using patter of architecture and community succession in reef sequences of four Caribbean islands in existing University of Maryland collections. The study will establish a regional pattern to rule out local tectonic and oceanographic variabilities. The samples will be analyzed by ICP-SMS to see if improved resolution is sufficient to screen Th dating and paleotemperatures based on Sr/Ca and U/Ca ratios in order to detect alteration in coral records. Results of the ICP-SMS analyses will be compared to previous thermal ionization mass spectroscopy results.