Research project
Organic-matter accumulation in lacustrine shale and its modern analogue
- Start date: 1 February 2022
- End date: 30 September 2025
- Funder: Petrochina Hangzhou Research Institute of Geology
- Value: £190,000
- Partners and collaborators: Petrochina Hangzhou Research Institute of Geology
- Primary investigator: Professor Simon Poulton
- Co-investigators: Yuxuan Wang
- External co-investigators: Zhen Qiu
The purpose of this project is to investigate nutrient cycling and links to productivity, organic matter burial and oxygenation in modern and ancient redox sensitive environments. For the modern realm, focus is on Lake Tianchi in China, which is an anoxic non-sulphidic lake. Redox and nutrient proxies will be applied to reconstruct the biogeochemical behaviour of phosphorus, and essential nutrient, under anoxic, manganese-rich conditions. These findings will then be upscaled via biogeochemical modelling to evaluate modern controls on organic matter production and burial. Attention will then turn to the ancient Ordos Basin in China, to use the findings from the modern studies to evaluate controls in organic matter accumulation and burial in an ancient lacustrine environment.
Impact
New insight will be gained into redox controls on organic matter burial and oxygenation in ancient environments.