What can ancient oceans and seas tell us about climate change?

Department of Earth Sciences Prof. Uwe Brand will explore this topic on Wednesday, Jan. 29 in his Chancellor’s Chair for Research Excellence lecture entitled “Geochemistry of biogenic carbonates: Proxy of geologic events.”

The focus of Brand’s talk is on the end Permian mass extinction, the most severe extinction event ever recorded in Earth’s history. He’ll also look at climate change in modern subarctic Canada (Hudson Bay) during the last century.

Brand’s research uses biogenic carbonates and their chemistry to reconstruct ancient oceans and seas, and unravel the causes and circumstances surrounding climatic changes throughout the Earth’s past.

The lecture will be held from noon to 1:30 p.m. in Pond Inlet. A light lunch will be served at the event. Please RSVP for lunch by e-mailing orsadmin@brocku.ca or calling x5332.

The Chancellor’s Chair for Research Excellence, awarded for a three-year term, was created to encourage and sustain high levels of scholarly performance.

Brand held the chair from 2008 to 2011.