This project focuses on evaluating shallow water oxygenation during the SPICE event, a large positive shift in carbon isotopes during the late Cambrian. Because the SPICE occurs contemporaneously with a trilobite extinction, it has been suggested that anoxia may have played a significant role in both the excursion and extinction.

We seek to test this hypothesis by evaluating oxygenation in carbonate rocks from 6 globally distributed SPICE sections. We use the I/Ca redox proxy to elucidate oxygen trends before, during, and after the SPICE event.