Research Interests

I am interested in using foraminifera calcite as a proxy for past ocean conditions. In my Master’s research I used magnesium to calcium ratio (Mg/Ca) of planktonic foraminifera, Globigerinoides sacculifer, to reconstruct 5 Ma of sea surface temperatures in the south-eastern Atlantic Ocean. My current project if focused on developing a proxy for carbonate ion concentration in seawater. I will try to establish a relationship between boron to calcium (B/Ca) ratio of benthic foraminifera, Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi, Cibicidoides pachderma and Cibicidoides mundulus, and carbonate ion concentration in the Gulf of Mexico. I will also try to apply this relationship to reconstruct past carbonate conditions in the gulf.

Publications

Wojcieszek, D.E., P.S., Dekens, D., Bell, S., Jung, and D., Kroon, in prep., Stable SST and local hydrological changes in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean over the last 4 Ma.

Wojcieszek, D.E., and H., Piekarek-Jankowska, in prep. [a], Sediment sampling techniques. In: Bolalek, J., (ed.), Physical, biological and chemical sediment analyses, Gdansk University.

Wojcieszek, D.E., and H., Piekarek-Jankowska, in prep. [b], Sediment description. In: Bolalek, J., (ed.), Physical, biological and chemical sediment analyses, Gdansk University.

Conference Abstracts

Wojcieszek, D.E., and P.S. Dekens (2011), Sea surface temperature and salinity in the south Atlantic subtropical gyre over the last 4 Ma, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco.

Kynett, K.G., Dekens, P.S., and D.E. Wojcieszek (2011), Reconstructing the thermocline in the south Atlantic subtropical gyre over the last 4 Ma, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco.

Wojcieszek, D.E., and P.S., Dekens (2010), Stable SST and local hydrological changes in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean over the last 4 Ma, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco.

Wojcieszek, D.E., and P.S., Dekens (2010), Stable sea surface temperature in the South Atlantic subtropical gyre over the last 4 Ma (first author), International Conference on Paleoceanography, San Diego.

Wojcieszek, D.E., and P.S., Dekens (2010), Pliocene-Pleistocene links between south Atlantic subtropical gyre and eastern equatorial Atlantic upwelling region (first author), Ocean Sciences Meeting, Portland.

Dekens, P.S., and D.E., Wojcieszek (2009), California margin sea surface temperatures during the early Pliocene, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco.

Lab Experience

Laboratory Student Assistant at SFSU, January 2009 – December 2010. Alkenone (UK’37) SST proxy: Organic matter extraction from marine sediments, organic compound separation using gas chromatography (HP 6890, split/splitless inlet, FID), Mg/Ca SST proxy in foraminifera: freeze-drying sediments, washing samples, identification and picking foraminifera shells, trace metal foraminiferal cleaning, and Inductively Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES) analysis.

Laboratory Student Assistant at Gdansk University, October – December 2006. Processing sediment samples from the Gulf of Finland for grain size analysis and organic matter content for thesis research.

Internship at the Marine Geology Department of National Institute of Engineering, Technology and Innovation, Lisbon, Portugal, June – August 2006. Freeze-drying sediments, washing samples for foraminifera study, identification and picking foraminifera shells for isotopic analysis.

Field Work

West Florida shelf, Gulf of Mexico, September 2011, RV Weatherbird II. Taking sediments cores (multi-corer, box corer) for Deepwater Horizon Oils Spill impacts research.

Gulf of Gdansk Cruise with Oceanographic Institute of Gdansk University, September 2005. Taking water column and water surface film samples, nutrient concentration analyses (NO3, NO2, PO4, NH3).

Paleontological excavation in Krasiejow, Poland, with the Institute of Paleobiology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, August 2005.