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Project title

Assessing the potential of Holocene shellbeds in Galway Bay as palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimate archives

Primary Funding Agency

Geological Survey Of Ireland (GSI)

Co-Funding Organisation(s)

n/a

Lead Organisation

University College Dublin (UCD)

Lead Applicant

n/a

Project Abstract

Cores of Holocene sediments from Galway Bay include shellbeds, an underused data source critical to reconstructing the bay�s recent palaeoenvironmental and sedimentary history. Examples may include the �Turritella Layer�: the marine palaeobiological record of a short term climatic cooling event (�the 8.2kyr event�). Others formed via sedimentological processes; their taphonomy and biofabric reflects the processes involved and environmental context. We will resolve the origin of representative examples of shellbeds via the first comprehensive analysis of their microstratigraphy, ecology and taphonomy. Doing so has significant wider implications. The primary objective is to elucidate if some represent a biological response to environmental change in the past that is potentially relevant to present-day freshening of the North Atlantic. Similar shellbeds occur in other Holocene successions offshore Ireland. Objective 2 is to provide a tool to help understand better the 3D subsurface geology of offshore shallow marine sites that can make better use of existing core archives, and be applied in future investigations. Such data is relevant to topics including the siting of maritime infrastructure and quantifying offshore georesources. The project therefore brings added value to research priorities of the GSI, several current national programmes, plus various government agencies and commercial bodies.

Grant Approved

�29,948.00

Research Hub

n/a

Research Theme

Relevant to other areas as well as climate

Start Date

01/12/2020

Initial Projected Completion Date

31/11.2021