Planktic Foraminiferal Assemblages to Reconstruct the Kuroshio Current Extension across an Analogue Warm Period

Authors: Sofia CorsicoSnchez, Adriane Lam

Field of Study: Science, Technology, Engineering, and/or Math

Program Affiliation: Summer Scholars and Artists Program (SSAP), Ancient Life, Oceans, and Environment Lab

Faculty Mentors: Adriane Lam

Easel: 11

Timeslot: Morning

Abstract: The Kuroshio Current Extension (KCE) is a current system off the Japanese coast that significantly influences the local Japanese and Western United States atmosphere. When the KCE meets the subpolar western boundary current, the Oyashio Current, they create an organismal boundary, fostering an environment with high species diversity. Foraminifera, marine zooplankton with calcareous shells, serve as proxies for inferring paleoceanographic behavior in response to paleoenvironmental events. As temperature-sensitive organisms, they track their preferred environments. By analyzing the community composition of fossil foraminifera recovered from deep sea sediment cores during geologically warmer times, surface ocean dynamics can be reconstructed. The mid-Piacenzian Warm Period (mPWP) acts as a benchmark for assessing ocean warming as it resembles our current Earth’s carbon levels. In analyzing fossil plankton assemblages from KCE across the mPWP, the response of the KCE to analogous warming can be tracked, which is crucial to understanding future responses under climate change.