▷ Carbon cycle, silicate weathering, and tectonics: Influence of Southeast Asian uplift on climate during the Neogene as seen from seawater ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr

Marine sediment records of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr tell us about changes in continental silicate weathering through time, a process that has been hypothesized to be the main sink of atmospheric CO₂. Therefore, tectonics is thought to play a significant role in geological-scale climate evolution through silicate weathering. A hypothesis connected to this theory is that the uplift of highly weatherable rocks in maritime SE Asia contributed significantly to the cooling trend that started ~15 million years ago.

My current focus is to estimate silicate weathering rates in the Zambales Ophiolite Complex, Philippines, using river geochemistry, with the goal of using this as a reference value to refine strontium fluxes from maritime SE Asia. Combining my own data and published geochemical studies in the region, I think about refining our understanding of the seawater ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr mass balance over the past ~15 million years.