UNLOCKING THE SCIENCE IN SEDIMENTS
​Dr Micha Ruhl
Assistant Professor in Sedimentary Geochemistry, Stratigraphy and Palaeoclimatology
Department of Geology, Trinity College Dublin,
The University of Dublin, Ireland
Museum Building
E-mail: micha.ruhl@tcd.ie
UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESSES THAT GOVERN THE EARTH SYSTEM, ON LAND AND IN THE OCEANS, AND THROUGH TIME:
HOW IT WAS, HOW IT IS, AND HOW IT WILL BE
My research focuses on marine and continental sediments that formed in Earth's past. These sediments, in sedimentary successions, form an archive of Earth's past climatic and environmental conditions, and the changes therein. I study these sediments to understand the mechanisms that govern Earth's physical, geochemical and biological processes, how and why they change, and the role they play in forcing Earth's climate and environment through time:
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Major Global Change Events:
Time periods in Earth history marked by rapid and large-scale changes in (global) climate and the environment (such as global warming/cooling, ocean (de-)oxygenation), and their potential link to Large Igneous Province (LIP) volcanism, and major biotic crises (mass extinctions) and evolution.
Global (Bio)Geochemical Cycles:
Changes in global (bio)geochemical cycles, by the rapid and large scale change in fluxes between Earth's geochemical reservoirs, for example the release and sequestration of (greenhouse) gasses and chemical compound into and from the ocean-atmosphere-biosphere.
Depositional Environments & Sedimentary Processes:
Temporal and spatial variability in the depositional environments and sedimentary processes, on local inter- and intrabasinal, regional and global scale; on land, and in the oceans.
Geological Time:
Constraining the rate of change in climate, the marine and terrestrial environment, evolution and extinction, and change in geochemical fluxes, through the extaction of astronomical time-series from sedimentary archives, and its integration with geochronology.
