due to their high iron content
Dissolved metal concentrations in the ocean have changed considerably over our planet’s 4.6-billion-year-old history. The concentrations are hard to quantify, but chemically-precipitated rocks contain evidence of changing ocean chemistry. We aim to reconstruct the evolution of seawater chemistry using a combination of (1) modern experiments studying how metals like Mn and Fe can substitute into calcites or how Fe and Zn mineralize with sulfides, and (2) measurements of well-preserved rocks over time, such as carbonate rocks (see below!) screened using isotopic proxies for diagenesis.
Relevant publications:
Stay tuned!