Deciphering the Sedimentary Record of Papua New Guinea

Climate variability, environmental change, and tectonic events (e.g., earthquakes) can be recorded in sedimentary strata, or layers of sediment. Our research aims to decipher if and how such factors are chronicled in the coastal ocean near a large river. This will be accomplished by closely examining a large marine sedimentary deposit on the continental shelf called a subaqueous delta clinoform. The strata comprising this feature are the diary of ancient conditions. From collaboration with our colleagues (see PNG Source to Sink research), we will have knowledge of processes (e.g., seasonal discharge or wave events) affecting strata preserved on the modern continental shelf seaward of the Fly River. We plan to use these insights coupled with computer simulations (known as modeling) and investigation of the deeper stratigraphy to evaluate how marine sedimentation processes of today may have differed from those in the past. More specifically, we will use Jumbo Piston Coring to obtain cores of approximately 50 feet (15 m) in length, and strata in these cores will compared with the seismic reflection data from the Chirp. Modeling of sedimentation processes will enable our research to be applied to other areas. This collaborative research is essential to determining how river dispersal systems and their strata they generate have evolved during sea-level rise in the Holocene (last 10,000 years).