Markus Adloff

The chemical composition of marine sediments deposited during past carbon cycle perturbations reflects changed matter fluxes and isotopic fractionations which characterise these biogeochemical disruptions. The Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Events (OAEs) are intriguing examples of past carbon cycle perturbations, as they suggest that initial carbon injections unleashed major nutrient fluxes into the oceans which in turn strengthened carbon uptake by marine organic carbon burial and restored a biogeochemical balance. Understanding the causes and consequences of different associated biogeochemical changes during these events can teach us about the long term response of the Earth system to large carbon cycle perturbations. To improve our mechanistic understanding of these events, I use and extend an Earth system model of intermediate complexity to investigate rates and relationships between environmental changes and the geochemical composition of the ocean and deposited sediments.