She investigates calcite recrystallization in marine sediments in order to understand the state of preservation of these records. Delaney is also interested in the geochemistry and accumulation rate of phosphorus, a limiting nutrient in the ocean, in marine sediments. Much of Delaney's research has focused on the Cenozoic. She has carried out modeling studies concerned with oceanic geochemical mass balances in the Cenozoic and their implications for continental weathering and hydrothermal fluxes. Robert Garrison 's current research focuses on the sedimentology and diagenesis of marine sediments deposited in high fertility regions, particularly coastal upwelling zone.
Climate exerts a powerful influence on the diversity and organization of continental ecosystems.
Paul Koch seeks to understand the impact of climate change on evolution and extinction of mammals. His research explores this connection in three ways. Koch's research lab develops new geochemical techniques to reconstruct paleoclimate on land. They use oxygen isotope chemistry of soil minerals and mammal teeth to reconstruct the oxygen isotope composition of rainfall, which is closely tied to mean annual temperature. Working with Jim Zachos, Koch has demonstrated that these episodes of warming in the Rocky Mountains correspond to relatively brief intervals of high marine temperatures, and consequently that mammalian migration and evolution may be directly modulated by rapid changes in global climate.