all using only my mind! I started with studying mud from southern Maryland (which is around 50 million years old) and another mass extinction which may have been caused by an asteroid impact, just like the impact that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs!
While still living in New York, I was able to travel to the Northeast Pacific Ocean, far to the west of Washington State and to a depth of 3800 meters below the surface of the ocean. Here, I analyzed a sediment core (which is essentially a straw of mud from the bottom of the ocean) to understand how, when and why shells are preserved. This work helps us to better understand how the oceans store carbon and counteract the negative effects on the Earth of climate change! With this work, I was able to explore in my mind a part of the ocean very few people have ever seen, by working on mud that goes back long before humans appeared on the Earth! I also studied sediment from the Northwestern Pacific Ocean, covering over one million years of Earth history.
Now: what are my explorer's tools? How am I able to explore the past and these distant places?
I use chemical and biological tools, which we call "proxies", to help me decode the past, including measuring the types of atoms in shells and what kinds of shells are present at what times! A proxy is a measurement or calculation that can help us reconstruct the past.
An example you may have already come across are pictures in museums. These images provide us with a little portal into what the past looked like. Although we don't have all the details, we can start to put together a story about what life was like for the people in the photo. This helps us to better understand what life was like back then!
