Carbonate Shells of the Freshwater Gastropod <I>Viviparus lentus</I> (IMAGE)
Caption
Michael Hren of the University of Connecticut and his coauthors examined these carbonate shells of the freshwater gastropod Viviparus lentus from the Hampshire Basin, United Kingdom. They used a clumped-isotope thermometer technique to determine the concentration of bonded heavy oxygen and carbon isotopes in these shells, which gives a picture of land temperatures during the Eocence-Oligocene transition, about 34 million years ago. Terrestrial temperatures were determined to be closely linked to atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Credit
Photo courtesy Michael Hren.
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Image and caption embargoed for public release 3 p.m. EDT Monday, April 22, 2013.
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