Paleoclimate Records In Shallow Marine Sedimentary Strata (PRISMS) was established in February 2021 as an international collaboration between researchers at Simon Fraser University (Canada), National Taiwan University (Taiwan), Leibniz Institute of Applied Geophysics (Germany), and the University of Geneva (Switzerland). Our first workshop is slated for Taiwan in 2023.

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The research goals of PRISMS are to resolve paleoclimate records in the rock record with a focus on sediment deposited in shallow marine (beach to shelf) environments. Shallow-marine settings are traditionally not considered to preserve pristine records of paleoclimate; however, work in sedimentary basins with very high accomodation/ sedimentation rates such as the Western Foreland Basin, Taiwan show that these settings can preserve high-resolution records of climate change and its impact on sedimentation. Our goal is to study high accomodation basins globally and assess local records of paleoclimate changes preserved therein. The resulting data is intended to inform and revise forward looking climate models by developing more site specific and accurate past climate histories.