IGCP 700: CARBONATE BUILD-UPS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA
Short summary
This is a joint 5 years project led by Mahasarakham University (Palaeontological Research and Education Centre, with Depertment of Biology,Faculty of Sciences) and partner institutes including Department of Mineral Resources of Thailand, Universiti Teknologi Petronas (Malaysia) and Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Our project will integrate studies on all aspects of limestone build-ups such as ancient atolls and reefs in age from 470-250 million years ago. IGCP 700 is the first project to examine limestone build-ups in general, how, why and when they were deposited and their economic and social uses. Limey sediments are deposited in a wide variety of environments and in the past were deposited in deep to shallow seas. Today limestones cover much of the earth’s surface and constitute much of the earth’s geological record. Limestone formed as large and small sedimentary build-ups with very significant inputs from organisms such as algae, sponges and corals. These limestone deposits are today reservoirs for oil, gas and water, as sources of cement and agricultural fertilizer and are important environmentally, scenically and touristically as coral reefs, cave deposits and towering hills and mountains. We will synthesize studies on limestone build-ups and their constituent organisms through time and assess the impact of changing seawater and atmospheric chemistry and temperature on their evolution.
Website : https://prc846.wixsite.com/igcp700