Biosignatures

Number of credits: 3

Course manager: Vincent Grossi

Course type: ca. 2/3 lectures and 1/3 tutorials

Main objectives

To acquire fundamental knowledge (basic concepts, approaches and analytical methods, case studies, multi-proxy approaches, limitations, etc.) about the use of different bio-indicators (lipid biomarkers, pollen grains, dinoflagellates, siliceous plankton, carbonates, transition metals) in (paleo)environmental and biogeochemical studies.

Content

• Initiation to organic and inorganic biosignatures (biomarkers) and associated analytical approaches/methods.
• Comparison of elemental and molecular analyses to study the functioning and evolution of past and present-day ecosystems: case studies.
• Stable (¹³C, D/H) and radiogenic (¹⁴C) compound specific isotope analyses and applications for paleo-environmental and paleo-climatic reconstructions.
• Systematics and ecology of dinoflagellates: keys to environmental information in marine and continental ecosystems.
• Pollen grain analysis: markers of vegetation dynamics – methods for reconstructing past climates.
• Combination of different biotic markers for paleo-environmental reconstructions (case studies).
• The marine silica cycle from the Precambrian to the present and evolution of biogenic siliceous signatures in sediments.