Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 329, Issue 5990, Pages 428-432Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.1188886
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- MIUR (Italian Ministry of University and Research) [2007-2007W9B2WE 001]
- Swiss Science Foundation [200021-113687]
- ETH Zurich
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Ocean acidification induced by atmospheric CO2 may be a major threat to marine ecosystems, particularly to calcareous nannoplankton. We show that, during the Aptian (similar to 120 million years ago) Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a, which resulted from a massive addition of volcanic CO2, the morphological features of calcareous nannofossils traced the biological response to acidified surface waters. We observe the demise of heavily calcified nannoconids and reduced calcite paleofluxes at the beginning of a pre-anoxia calcification crisis. Ephemeral coccolith dwarfism and malformation represent species-specific adjustments to survive lower pH, whereas later, abundance peaks indicate intermittent alkalinity recovery. Deepwater acidification occurred with a delay of 25,000 to 30,000 years. After the dissolution climax, nannoplankton and carbonate recovery developed over similar to 160,000 years under persisting global dysoxia-anoxia.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available