Project Grant 2026648

This four-year, $527,667 project grant from the National Science Foundation's Polar Programs will fund collaborative research to evaluate evidence of extinction patterns and depositional conditions from a Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary outcrop section in Antarctica. Led by the University of Alabama, the research team will analyze sediment samples using detailed sedimentary structures, geochemistry, and microfossils to determine if the end-Cretaceous mass extinction was a single or double-phased event. They will also evaluate whether the study region was a restricted, suboxic marine environment or an open shelf. In addition to advancing scientific understanding of this significant extinction event, the grant includes an integrated student training program and a partnership with a high school Earth sciences teacher, consistent with the Polar Programs' mission to support polar research and broaden participation in STEM. Analysis under this four-year award beginning September 2022 should provide new insights into the end-Cretaceous extinction through high-resolution stratigraphic and geochemical study of an Antarctic site.