Oceanic anoxic events represent global crisis for our planet. The main characteristics of these relatively short-lived episodes are the stratification of the water column and the decrease of oxygenation in the oceans. The initial cause is massive volcanic eruptions, and the direct consequence is the extinction of certain groups of organisms but also the evolution of a number of new plant and animal species. The GEACAP project will focus on three main anoxic events that left measurable and proven traces (geochemical, biological, lithological) in the paleoenvironments of the shallow-marine Adriatic Carbonate Platform (AdCP): T-OAE, OAE2 and OAE3. The characteristic of global anoxia in the shallow-marine deposits of the AdCP are abundance of the organic matter with a negative shift of the ratio of stable carbon isotopes, extinction event of certain organisms with facies differentiation. The relationship between the AdCP bauxite deposits and volcaniclastic events opens up new possibilities in the reconstruction of climatic conditions and more precise emersion horizon intervals dating. Absolute dating of detrital zircons from bauxite deposits as well as numerous analytical methods of the "bauxite matrix" have so far shown relationship between relatively short-term volcanic events and climatic optimum episodes in processes of forming bauxite. The methods required for the implementation of the project are: geochemistry of stable isotopes, geochronology (LA-ICP-MS), SEM-EDS, XRD, Whole-rock geochemistry, heavy-light fractionation, geological mapping, determination of the geological columns and profiles, micropaleontology and micropetrography. Aforementioned research can be related with recent climate changes, hydrological cycles, stratification in marine environments and increasingly occurrences of recent dysoxic areas.

The main goal of this project is to increase the productivity and quality of scientific research and the development of human resources of the Department of Geology of the Croatian Geological Survey (Strategy of smart specialisation of the Republic of Croatia - S.3., Basic strategic goals of CGS - C.1., C.5.). More precisely, the main goal is focused research of the globally recognized topics that are insufficiently researched in the Republic of Croatia. Financing and support of the field work, analytics at CGS and external laboratories will enable open access publishing (minimum 5 - maximum 10 papers, Q1/Q2). The establishment of a project team and the interdisciplinary approach in order to solve a complex topic (mapping, paleontology, geochemistry, geochronology, paleoecology, structural geology, mineralogy, volcanology) will increase the current CGS human potential. Connecting with researchers at internationally recognized scientific institutions (Smith College - USA, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen - Germany) will lead to potentially new collaborations and future projects applications. Interpretation of the project results in context of the recent climate changes can also increase the importance of the aforementioned study.