Seminar

The study of past ocean conditions provides valuable information to understand the past climate. Past ocean conditions can be reconstructed using proxies, which are variables that correlate with other environmental variables of interest, such as temperature or salinity. Here, I explore the use of several trace element ratios in ostracod shells from shallow marine waters in Hong Kong as proxies to reconstruct several marine parameters. In this study, two species were selected, Sinocytheridea impressa and Neomonoceratina delicata, which were analyzed under different techniques, including ICP-MS, EPMA and FT-TRA. Through these techniques, I investigate the internal composition of valves, as well as their elemental ratios. The results of this thesis indicate that Mg/Ca, Mn/Ca, Zn/Ca, Ni/Ca and Ba/Ca of cleaned adult ostracods of these two species are useful for reconstructing environmental parameters such as temperature, salinity and suspended solids, among others. The new proxies explored here can be used to more fully assess past environmental changes, anthropogenic disturbances and climate variations along coastal areas of the Western Pacific Ocean.