People | Katharina Billups

Katharina Billups
Associate Director and Associate Professor
Oceanography
University of Delaware
College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment
206 Cannon Laboratory
 Phone: 1-302-645-4249

kbillups@udel.edu

 

Education

  • B.S., Geology, University of California, Davis, 1991.
  • M.S., Geology, University of California, Davis, 1993.
  • Ph.D., Earth Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1998.

Research Interests

I use light stable isotopes and other geochemical tools to investigate paleoclimates and ocean history as recorded in deep-sea sediments. My research primarily involves the application of stable isotopes in planktonic and benthic foraminifera to extract paleoenvironmental information about the surface and deep ocean. The stable isotopic composition of foraminifera is a fundamental tool to reconstruct individual components of the earth's climate system, such as surface and deep ocean circulation, from which we learn about past ocean-atmosphere interactions and climate sensitivity to boundary conditions, for example. I am interested in the processes behind the climate record which necessitates comparisons of proxies on millennial to tectonic time scales. This research is anchored in large volumes of stable isotope analyses on relatively small samples. I have a facility for stable isotope mass spectrometry.

Current Projects

Millennial-scale climate change during the Pleistocene

At sites in the northwestern subtropical North Atlantic we are generating multi-species, high resolution, planktonic and benthic foraminiferal stable isotope records that span the time interval between about 1.4 Ma to 0.3 Ma. This time period includes many glacial to interglacial cycles as climate evolved toward more extreme states. Our objective is to investigate the relative climate stability of glacial versus interglacial periods.

Climate Sensitivity to orbital forcing during the Pliocene

We are constructing benthic and planktic foraminiferal stable isotope records from ODP Site 1208 in the northwestern subtropical Pacific spanning the early to late Pliocene climate transition. We are interested in the role of the subtropical Pacific surface ocean in the development of wide spread Northern Hemisphere Glaciation at this time.
 

Diatom-Bound Nitrogen Isotopes as a Diagenetically Stable Proxy for Southern Ocean Nutrient Utilization during the early Pliocene

We (A. Aufdenkampe, Stroud Water Research Center, and Postdoctoral Researcher R. Hays) are measuring the d15N values bound to diatom organic matter and contained in bulk sediments in two cores from the Southern Ocean spanning the late Miocene to early Pliocene climate transition. Down-core diatom-bound d15N will provide early Pliocene surface water nitrate d15N values and concentrations as a proxy for past nutrient utilization and paleoproductivity. Coupled with bulk sediment d15N values we seek to resolve the degree of sediment diagenesis. 

Paleoproductivity

Together with collaborators in Europe (L. Diester-Haas, K. Emeis, L. Francois) I am reconstructing marine productivity over key intervals of the Neogene. The project involves proxies (benthic foraminiferal accumulation rates and geochemical records) as well as numerical modeling to better understand the relationship between the carbon cycle and longer term climate change.

Research Group

Robert Poirier, M.S. Student
Andre Scheinwald, M.S. Student

Teaching

  • Geological Oceanography MAST 637
  • Paleoceanography MAST/GEOL 857
  • Isotope Geochemistry MAST 852
  • Introduction to Ocean Sciences MAST 482

Selected Publications

2012

Billups, K., A. Aufdenkampe, R. Hays,. 2012. Late Miocene through early Pleistocene nutrient utilization and export production in the antarctic Zone of the Southern Ocean, Global and Planetary Change,  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2012.11.014

Venti, N.L. and K. Billups. 2012. Stable-isotope stratigraphy of the Pliocene-Pleistocene climate transition in the northwestern subtropical Pacific, Palaeoecology, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, doi:10:1016/j.palaeo.2012.02.001.
 
2011

Billups, K., N. Rabideaux and J. Stoffel. 2011. Suborbital-scale surface and deep water records in the subtropical North Atlantic: implications on thermohaline overturn. Quaternary Science Reviews, 30, 2976-2987. 

Diester-Haass, L., K. Billups and K.C. Emeis. 2011. Marine biological productivity and carbon cycling during the Oligocene to Miocene climate transition. Palaeoecology, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, 302, 464-473. 

2010

Billups, K., M. 2010. Microfossils reveal the working of a water planet. Geology, 38, 863-864.

Voelker, A.H.L., T. Rodrigues, R. Stein, J. Hefter, K. Billups, D. Oppo, J. McManus and J.O. Grimalt. 2010. Variations in mid-latitude North Atlantic surface water properties during the mid-Brunhes (MIS 9-14) and their implications for the thermohaline circulation. Climate of the Past, 6, 531-552. 

Eichler, P., K. Billups and C.C. Velez Cardona. 2010. Tracing salinity with the stable isotopic composition of foraminiferal tests in an Atlantic coastal lagoon, Delaware, USA. Journal of Foraminiferal Research, 40, 14-33. 

Billups, K. and K. Scheiderich. 2010. A synthesis of late Oligocene through Miocene deep sea temperatures as inferred from foraminiferal Mg/Ca ratios. Int. Assoc. Sedimentol. Spec. Publ. 42, 1-15. 

2009

Diester-Haass, L., K. Billups, D.R. Grouml, Bcke, L. Francced, Bois, V. Lefebvre and K.C. Emeis. 2009. Mid-miocene paleoproductivity in the Atlantic Ocean and implications for the global carbon cycle, Paleoceanography, 24, PA1209, doi:10.1029/2008PA001605.

 

2008 

Weirauch, D. K. Billups and P. Martin. 2008. Evolution of Millennial-Scale Climate Variability During the Mid Pleistocene, Paleoceanography, 23, PA3216, doi:10.1029/2007PA001584. 

Billups, K., C. Kelly and E. Pierce. 2008. The Late Miocene to Early Pliocene Climate Transition in the Southern Ocean, Palaeoecology, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, 267, 31-40.

Billups, K. 2008. A Tale of Two Climates, Nature Geosciences, 1, 294-295. 

Lazarus, D., B. Bittniok, L. Diester-Haass, K. Billups, Y. Ogaway, Y. Takahashi, K. Takahashi and P. Meyer. 2008. Radiolarian and sedimentologic paleoproductivity proxies in late Pleistocene sediments of the Benguela Upwelling System, ODP Site 1084, Marine Micropaleontology, 68, 223-235. 


Waite, A., L. Diester-Haass, S. Gibbs, R. Rickaby, H. Stoll and K. Billups. 2008. A Top-down and Bottom-up Comparison of paleoproductivity proxies: Calcareous Nannofossil Sr/Ca Ratios and Benthic Foraminiferal Accumulation Rates, G-Cubed, 9, doi: 10/1029/2007GC001812. 

2007

**Billups, K. and K. Scheiderich. A synthesis of late Oligocene through Miocene deep sea temperatures as inferred from foraminiferal Mg/Ca rations. Sedimentology, in press. 

Ravelo, A.C., K. Billups, P.S. Dekens, T.D. Herbert and K.T. Lawrence. 2007. Onto the Ice Ages: Proxy evidence for the onset of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation, in deep-time perspectives on climate change: marrying the signal from computer models and biological proxies. M. Williams, A.M. Haywood, J. Gregory and D. Schmidt (eds). The Geological Society of London and the Micropalaeontological Society.

2006

Diester-Haass, L., K. Billups and K. C. Emeis. The late Miocene carbon isotope shift and marine biological productivity in the Indo-Pacific Ocean (ODP Sites 721, 1172, 1146, and 846): a (dusty) link Paleoceanography/, 21, doi.:10.1029/2006PA001267,2006.

Billups, K., C. Lindley, J. Fisler and P. Martin. 2006. Mid Pleistocene climate instability in the subtropical northwestern Atlantic. Global Planetary Change, 54, 251-262.

 Lazarus, D., Bittniock, B., Meyers, P., Diester-Haass, L. and K. Billups. 2006. Comparison of radiolarian and sedimentologic Paleoproductivity proxies in the latest Miocene-Recent Benguela Upwelling System. Marine Micropaleontology, 60, 269-294.

*  Billups, K., C. Lindley, J. Fisler and P. Martin. 2006. Mid Pleistocene climate stability in the subtropical northwestern Atlantic, Global Planetary Change, 54, Issues 3-4, 251-262.
 
2005

Diester-Haass, L., K. Billups and K.C. Emeis. 2005. In search of the late Miocene-early Pliocene "Biogenic Bloom" in the Atlantic Ocean, (ODP Sites 982, 925, 1088). Paleoceanography, 20:10.1029/2005PA001139.

Niemitz, M. D. and K. Billups. 2005. Millennial-scale variability in western tropical Atlantic surface ocean hydrography during the early Pliocene. Marine Micropaleontol. 54:155-166.

Billups, K. 2005. A snowmaker for the ice ages. Nature News and Views. 433:809-810.

Former Students

Lindley, Carolyn. Millennial-scale variability during the Pleistocene: An investigation of climate stability during marine isotope stages 12-16 (M.S., 2004). Office of Climate Observation, NOAA.

Scheiderich, Kathleen. Multiple uses for paried Mg/Ca and oxygen isotope measurements of foraminiferal calcite: Paleoclimatic, Paleoceanographic, and Tectonic applications. (M.S., 2004). University of Maryland, College Park (Ph.D. Student).

Waite, Amanda Jo. Top down and bottom up: A comparision of nannofossil SR/CA and benthic foraminiferal accumulation rates as paleoproductivity indicators. (M.S., 2005). Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science, Miami, FL (Ph.D. Student).

Weirauch, Daniel. A high-resolution record of climate instability spanning ~1.0 million years across the mid-Pleistocene transition. (M.S., 2007).

Venti, Nicholas. The role of the Kuroshio extension in the Pliocene-Pleistocene climate transition. (Ph.D., 2011). 



  • College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment  •   111 Robinson Hall  •   Newark, DE 19716  •   USA
    Phone: 302-831-2841  •   E-mail: ceoe-info@udel.edu