Geoquímica Aplicada à Paleontologia

When studying the ancient environments the paleontology can benefit of the data from isotope geology and from the geochemistry. The information about the faunal associations and the morphological characteristics of the specimen can be complemented with information about their geochemical details allowing the development of more accurate paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Several examples can be cited such as: (i) calculation of the sea water paleotemperatures from marine fossils using the 18O/16O ratios of the exoskeletons; (ii) determination of paleoceanographic conditions through the determination of εNd in sediments and fossils; (iii) evaluate the oxygenation of the water column in a marine environment from the rare-earth concentrations of fossils and sediments.
This course intends to provide a view of the main geochemical and isotopic tools (radiochronology excluded), with applications in paleontology.