Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100553

Funded Activity Summary

Exploring links between climate change, ocean chemistry, and the rise of multicellular life: The Ediacaran sedimentary record of central Australia. For most of Earth’s history, single-celled organisms were the only forms of life on the planet. Not until roughly 600 million years ago do fossils of multicellular animals appear in the rock record. Explanations for the Ediacaran rise of multicellularity include extreme climate change, meteorite impact and oxygenation of the global ocean. Evaluation of these hypotheses is complicated by the fact that stratigraphic records that span the appropriate time interval are rare. This project is focused on the carbon, oxygen, and zinc isotopic records preserved by Ediacaran marine rocks in the Amadeus Basin of central Australia. Results will contribute to a more complete record of fluctuations in ocean chemistry during a key interval of Earth history.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2014

End Date: 31-12-2017

Funding Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award

Funding Amount: $392,570.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Geology | Stratigraphy (incl. Biostratigraphy and Sequence Stratigraphy) | Isotope Geochemistry | Tectonics

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences | Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity at Regional or Larger Scales |

Other Keywords

Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences | Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity at Regional or Larger Scales | Geology | Isotope Geochemistry | Stratigraphy (incl. Biostratigraphy and Sequence Stratigraphy) | Tectonics

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