Gruhn, Leah Mohr2020-12-112020-12-112008-12https://hdl.handle.net/11299/217459A thesis submitted to the faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota by Leah Mohr Gruhn, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, December 2008. Advisor: Dr. Christina D. Gallup.Five fossil Porites corals from the Huon Gulf have been analyzed for monthly Sr/Ca and ẟ18O variations. Additionally, two nearby modern Porites corals from Sanaroa Island and New Britain, both located within the Solomon Sea (Figure 1-2), have been collected and analyzed for monthly Sr/Ca and ẟ18O variations so that we can better understand how modern Porites corals are recording environmental conditions in the Solomon Sea. The mean ẟ18O and Sr/Ca values, combined with seasonal amplitudes preserved in the geochemical signals in the fossil corals have been compared to those in the modern corals in order to address the following questions: (1) What was the eustatic sea level when the fossil corals were living? Did the fossil corals grow in times of low to intermediate rapidly rising sea level or at high and stable sea level? and (2) What was the climate in terms of SST and SSS in the western equatorial Pacific when the fossil corals were living?enUniversity of Minnesota DuluthSwenson College of Science and EngineeringDepartment of Geological SciencesPlan As (thesis-based master's degrees)Master of ScienceDepartment of Earth and Environmental SciencesMaster of Science in Geological SciencesThesis or Dissertation