Dr. Or M. Bialik

Research at PetroLab

The core of my research is to unravel Earth history utilizing the marine sedimentary record, primarily through methodological analysis of the composition, distribution, petrology, structure and texture of these rocks. This approach is carried out in order to incorporate this understanding into a large-scale sequence stratigraphy analysis and geochemical framework. The amalgamation of these two techniques had provided me with the necessary tools for better understanding the long-term dynamic interplay and changes between basin evolution, climate, sea level and seawater composition through time, as are imprinted in the sedimentary record.

Past warm periods, sometimes referred to as Greenhouse Earth intervals, while different from the world as we current live within, holds clues to better understand current tendencies and predictions for our possible future. Elevated temperatures and high atmospheric pCO2 accompanied by high sea level and acidic waters, are all contextual outcomes of global warming. By studying Earth past climate, we can gain valuable insights into current trends and probabilities for the planet’s future.

The study of sedimentary sequences that were deposited during past warm intervals in the Earth climate, notably chemical and biochemical rock sequences (e.g. carbonates and evaporites), provides powerful tool for such investigation. These rocks form one of the most informative data reservoirs for these periods. The combination of short residence time and the capacity for subsurface carbon storage, makes these sedimentary units excellent recorders of climatic, atmospheric and oceanographic changes at multiple time-scale resolutions. In fact, carbonate and evaporitic sediments record the various signals of climate in a multitude of ways, such as facies, fauna, texture, diagenetic features, geometry, insoluble residue, organic matter content, trace element and isotopic compositions. Applying a holistic approach, where qualitative and quantitative measurements are used in combination with conceptual and numerical models, the most comprehensive picture of the depositional systems can be generated as well as the environmental conditions in which they were formed. The integration of sequence stratigraphy with a combination of high resolution depositional and diagenetic facies analysis in marine geosciences, produces a reliable proxy for past climate reconstruction, which is an emerging discipline over the past few decades. In shallow-water environments this study becomes even more critical as these regions lack the continuity of the sedimentary record, yet hold valuable information as for human evolution and development of modern societies through time.