title: Geochemical compositions of marine fossils as proxies for reconstructing ancient environmental conditions.
abstract: A brief summary is given here about some of the geochemical methodologies that are often used to obtain information from fossils and sediments about the past environment. Such methods are frequently applied in our project in which the formation of Paleogene phosphate sequences in North  Africa is investigated. These layers were deposited in shallow marine seas during a period of extreme warm climate with a high CO(2) concentration in the atmosphere. Some of the characteristics of this greenhouse interval are similar to the modern anthropogenic situation hence it  is intensively investigated from several aspects by many scientists. Here the geochemical compositions of fossils deposited during this time are discussed, focusing on how the data are obtained and how they could be evaluated in terms of palaeo-environmental conditions.
authors: Ambizione SNF, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des géosciences et de l'environnement, Institut de Minéralogie et Géochimie, UNIL - Dorigny - Anthropole, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. laszlo.kocsis@unil.ch
authors: László
authors: L
authors: Kocsis
mesh_terms: D000352:Africa, Northern; D000818:Animals; D001031:Apatites; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry; D002621:Chemistry / Q000379:methods*; D002980:Climate; D004602:Elements; D004777:Environment; D005580:Fossils; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D005844:Geology / Q000379:methods*; D007834:Lasers; D008674:Metals, Rare Earth / Q000737:chemistry; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning / Q000379:methods; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry; D010163:Paleontology / Q000379:methods*; D010710:Phosphates / Q000737:chemistry; D014070:Tooth / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D001031:Apatites; D004602:Elements; D008674:Metals, Rare Earth; D010710:Phosphates; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D010100:Oxygen