This thesis describes the development of a rare earth element (REE) proxy for paleoceanographic studies of climate change. This work was done in three stages with the goal: (1) To develop a cleaning method that overcomes the problems of REE readsorption; (2) To measure pore water REEs for evaluation of...
The microbial loop plays a crucial role in remineralization of organic matter and fuels recycled production in the aquatic environment. The capability of microbes to utilize particular compounds can be examined through their ectoenzyme (found outside the cell) activities using fluorogenic substrate analogs. These catalysts hydrolyze polymers otherwise too large...
The distribution of barite (BaSO₄) in marine sediments has long been studied as a proxy for paleoproductivity. While pure barite is known to be a stable mineral in oxic sediments, it is also known that variations in the Sr/Ba ratio influence its solubility and liability during early diagenesis. To extract...