Biomineralization of phosphate and carbonate

Fossil biogenic phosphates and biogenic carbonates are the most widely used paleoenvironmental and –climatic tracers. In particular, their O-isotope (and C-isotope) compositions are directly related to the paleoenvironmental conditions of formation; that is the temperature and isotopic composition of the water from which these minerals formed. Research focuses on a wide range of collaborative paleoclimatic and –environmental applications as well as method developments, including the calibration and O-isotope analyses of phosphate as silver-phosphate for paleoenvironmental interpretations.

Sharks

 

Participants: : Laurent Decrouy, Laszlo Kocsis, Jorge Spangenberg, Eric Verrecchia, Torsten Vennemann, and Peter Szabo (SCIEX project, PhD student) as well as colleagues from ISTE (Thierry Adatte, Peter Baumgartner, Karl Föllmi) and many external collaborators

 

Typical recent publications
Decrouy L. and Vennemann T.W. (2013). Potential influence of the chemical composition of water on the stable oxygen isotope composition of continental ostracods. Journal of Paleolimnology, v. 50, 577-582.
Godet A., Föllmi K.B., Spangenberg J.E., Bodin S., Vermeulen J., Adatte T., Bonvallet L., Arnaud H., 2013. Unlocking the message of Early Cretaceous drowning surfaces from the Helvetic Alps: What can be learnt from platform-to-basin correlations? Sedimentology 60 pp. 152-173.
Jochum K.-P., Wang X., Vennemann T.W., Sinha B., and Müller W.E.G., (2012) Siliceous deep-sea sponge Monorhaphis chuni: A potential paleoclimate archive in ancient animals, Chemical Geology, V. 300-301, p. 143-151.
Khozyem H., Adatte T., Spangenberg J.E., Tantawy A.A., Keller G., 2013. Paleoenvironmental and climatic changes during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) at the Wadi Nukhul Section, Sinai, Egypt. Journal of the Geological Society of London 170 pp. 341-352.
Kocsis L., Dulai A., Bitner M.A., Vennemann T., and Cooper M., (2012). Geochemical compositions of Neogene phosphatic brachiopods: implications for ancient environmental and marine conditions. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, V. 326-328, p. 66-77.
Kocsis L., Vennemann T.W., Hegner E., Fontignie D., and Tütken, T. (2009). Constraints on Miocene oceanography and climate in the Western and Central Paratethys: O-, Sr-, and Nd-isotope compositions of marine fish and mammal remains. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol., V. 271, 117-129.
Romano, C., Goudemand, N., Vennemann, T.W., Ware, D., Schneebeli-Hermann, E., Hochuli, P.A., Brühwiler T., Brinkmann W., and Bucher H. (2013). Climatic and biotic upheavals following the end-Permian mass extinction. Nature Geoscience, V. 6, 57-60.
Tütken T., Kaiser T.M., Vennemann T., Merceron G. (2013). Opportunistic feeding strategy for the Earliest old world hypsodont equids: evidence from stable isotope and dental wear proxies. PLOS one, V. 8, e74463; doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0074463.