Sediments that accumulate in the ocean yield clues about climates and environmental conditions of the past. Cyclical changes in sediment composition reveal that climate has changed often and regularly throughout the history of our planet and has affected life in the oceans. Organic matter, which is created by plants and animals, gives evidence of the amounts and kinds of organisms that formerly populated areas, and some biota provide environment-specific information. Cores of sediments from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean are being studied to identify the timing and nature of natural climate changes caused thousands and even millions of years ago. The amounts and types of biological residues are inferred through determinations of the elemental, isotopic, and molecular compositions of organic matter in samples from sediment cores. Samples are prepared for analysis by a variety of laboratory procedures. Instruments that are used are a CHNS elemental analyzer and a gas chromatograph. The resulting data are entered into spreadsheets for calculations and then transferred into graphic software to identify age-related patterns.

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​Student Tasks and Responsibilities: Students will be responsible for preparing samples for analyses and for performing the actual analyses. They will collate and plot their data, and they will write a report on what they did and what it tells us about the impacts of past climate changes on the history of life at the location they have studied.