Journal
JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
Volume 8, Issue 10, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/jmse8100737
Keywords
planktonic foraminifera; shell weight; climate variability; sea surface density; carbonate production; X-ray microscopy (mu CT); delta O-18 and Mg/Ca analyses
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Planktonic foraminiferal biomineralization intensity, reflected by the weight of their shell calcite mass, affects global carbonate deposition and is known to follow climatic cycles by being increased during glacial stages and decreased during interglacial stages. Here, we measure the dissolution state and the mass of the shells of the planktonic foraminifera species Globigerina bulloides from a Tropical Eastern North Atlantic site over the last two glacial-interglacial climatic transitions, and we report no major changes in plankton calcite production with the atmospheric pCO(2) variations. We attribute this consistency in foraminifera calcification to the climatic and hydrological stability of the tropical regions. However, we recorded increased shell masses midway through the penultimate deglaciation (Termination II). In order to elucidate the cause of the increased shell weights, we performed delta O-18, Mg/Ca, and mu CT measurements on the same shells from a number of samples surrounding this event. Compared with the lighter ones, we find that the foraminifera of increased weight are internally contaminated by sediment infilling and that their shell masses respond to local surface seawater density changes.
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