Research & Projects

Iron can act as a critical micronutrient in ocean environments. The quantity and bioavailabilty of iron can be a major control on marine primary productivity and the storage and cycling of carbon. We use methods including chemical sequential extractions and X-ray fluorescence to assess how iron delivery changed with fluctuations in climate and glacial configurations over the past 12,000 years, and how these changes have affected carbon cycling on the Arctic continental margin. This work can provide insight into how future climate change might affect sensitive Arctic ecosystems.  This project is in collaboration with paleoceanographic researchers within the greater Nansen Legacy project.

Large continental ice sheets covering much of northern Europe collapsed and reformed multiple times over the last 180,000 years. We hypothesize that such dramatic changes to ice sheets affected ocean circulation and sediment delivery patterns on the Arctic continental margin. To test this hypothesis, we use radiogenic isotopes to trace changes in sediment and water mass sources in sediment cores from the Yermak Plateau collected as part of the TRANSSIZ Expedition. Collaborators on this project include researchers from the University of Florida Department of Geological Sciences. 

The rapid melting of ice sheets is among the most visible consequences of anthropogenic climate change and has the potential to disrupt marine biogeochemical cycles. Predicting how marine primary productivity will respond in this rapidly changing environment remains uncertain, because ice sheets may enhance inputs of iron into regions where it is presently a bio-limiting nutrient. As a 2025-2026 Schlanger fellow I am investigating how iron delivery and reactivity have changed over long timescales with the expansion and decline of multiple major ice sheets. I am using multiple geochemical proxies to analyze IODP samples from Baffin Bay, the Ross Sea, and the Gulf of Alaska.

I participated in IODP Expedition 400 as an inorganic geochemist in 2023. My post-expedition research focuses on reconstructing sediment provenance in Baffin Bay using techniques including clay mineralogy X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, radiogenic isotope mass spectrometry, and statistical analysis in R. I will also collaborate with other expedition participants on projects focused on ancient DNA-mineral interactions and the influence of iron diagenesis on paleomagnetic records.  This work will contribute to a clearer picture of how the Greenland Ice Sheet has responded to climate change over long timescales.