late eocene to early miocene ice sheet dynamics and the global carbon cycle paired benthic foraminiferal trace metal and stable isotope records have been constructed from equatorial pacific ocean drilling program site 1218 the records include the two largest abrupt 1 myr increases in the cenozoic benthic oxygen isotope record oi 1 in the earliest oligocene 34 ma and mi 1 in the earliest miocene 23 ma the paired mg ca and oxygen isotope records are used to calculate seawater 18o w calculated w suggests that a large antarctic ice sheet formed during oi 1 and subsequently fluctuated throughout the oligocene on both short 0 5 myr and long 2 3 myr timescales between about 50 and 100 of its maximum earliest oligocene size the magnitudes of these fluctuations are consistent with estimates of sea level derived from sequence stratigraphy the transient expansion of the antarctic ice sheet at mi 1 is marked in the benthic 18o record by two positive excursions between 23 7 and 22 9 ma each with a duration of 200 300 kyr bottom water temperatures decreased by 2 c over the 150 kyr immediately prior to both rapid 18o excursions however the onset of each of these phases of ice growth is synchronous within the resolution of the records with the onset of a 2 c warming over 150 kyr we suggest that the warming during these glacial expansions reflect increased greenhouse forcing prompted by a sudden decrease in global chemical weathering rates as antarctic basement silicate rocks became blanketed by an ice sheet this represents a negative feedback process that might have operated during major abrupt growth phases of the antarctic ice sheet

exchange of neodymium and its isotopes between seawater and small and large particles in the sargasso sea the concentrations and isotopic ratios of nd were measured in small 1 53 m and large 53 m in situ filtered particles sediment trap material sediment and aerosol samples collected during oligotrophic and productive conditions in the sargasso sea atmospheric input is the main source of exogeneous nd into the sargasso sea based on ndal ratios in trapped material we suggest that up to 50 of atmospheric nd could dissolve at the air sea interface the concentration and isotopic composition of nd vary with both depth and the particle size neodymium concentrations of small and large particles increase with depth from 2 9 12 g g and 5 8 11 8 g g respectively at 40 m the nd signature of large particles is significantly more negative nd 0 13 1 0 2 than that of the small ones nd 0 11 7 0 3 and the particles filtered deeper below 237 m the nd 0 values for small particles match the seawater whereas the nd 0 values of large particles remain less radiogenic these differences are related to the different behaviors of the particulate fractions small particles apparently exchange nd with seawater and then sink rapidly to depth as biologically formed aggregates large particles these aggregates isolate the small particles slowing the exchange with the water to produce different signatures between large particles and seawater since these exchange processes modify the particulate nd signature the shallow radiogenic nd 0 signature observed in the surface and subsurface waters in the nw atlantic is not due to external contributions and is likely of advective origin at depth below 800 m the magnitude of the aggregation disaggregation process varies significantly with season the fraction of small particles repackaged into large aggregates can vary from 0 8 to 80 100 in productive and oligotrophic conditions respectively this seasonal variation may correspond to sinking particles of different zooplanktonic origin vertical fluxes of nd into and out of the sargasso sea as well as exchange fluxes in the water column are examined about 50 of the particulate flux from the surface is remineralized at depth a net scavenging flux of 0 8 10 4 g m2 y is required this value corresponds to a scavenging nd residence time of 1900 y considerably longer than previous estimates of global oceanic residence time of nd on the order of 400 y

a study of cleaning procedures used for foraminiferal mg ca paleothermometry the various cleaning steps required for preparation of foraminiferal samples for mg ca and sr ca analysis are evaluated for their relative importance and effects on measured elemental ratios it is shown that the removal of silicate contamination is the most important step for the measurement of mg ca ratios in an example bulk sample mg ca decreases from 10 5 to 2 5 mmol mol 1 during clay removal oxidation of organic material causes a lowering of sample mg ca in the order of 10 or approximately 1 c when converted to temperature use of dilute acid leaching to remove adsorbed contaminants causes partial dissolution of the sample carbonate and a corresponding decrease in mg ca reductive treatment also causes dissolution of the sample and a decrease in the mg ca ratio of up to 10 15 sample preparation for sr ca analysis does not require the same degree of rigor as is necessary for mg ca work the within run reproducibility of the method described here for g ruber in a core top sample from the arabian sea was 1 8 mean sample ratio was 4 72 mmol mol 1 when converted to temperature this becomes 28 0 2 c the equivalent result for sr ca was 0 5 mean ratio 1 44 mmol mol 1

a simple evaluation of cleaning procedures on fossil benthic foraminiferal mg ca 1 recent studies suggest that benthic foraminiferal mg ca may be useful in reconstructing deep water temperature changes during the quaternary and on longer timescales rosenthal et al 1997 lear et al 2000 martin et al 2002 because changes in deep water temperature may be small sample preparation could play an important role in reconstructing accurate temperatures from shell mg ca a simple examination of changes in measured shell chemistry of benthic foraminifera from two intervals subjected to increasingly rigorous cleaning reveals that fossil benthic foraminiferal samples cleaned by oxidation yield lower mg ca values than samples only rinsed and weak acid leached reductive cleaning further lowered the shell mg ca of one of the two benthic species examined lower mg ca values following oxidation and reduction appear to reflect removal of contaminant mg associated with remnant organic matter and adsorbed phases

microstructural and geochemical perspectives on planktic foraminiferal preservation glassy versus frosty in recent years it has become apparent that the cool tropic paradox of paleogene and cretaceous greenhouse climates arises because of the diagenetic alteration of tropical planktic foraminiferal calcite near the seafloor yielding artificially high 18o values because the mg ca compositions of foraminiferal and inorganic calcite are thought to be quite different mg ca measurements should be a sensitive way of monitoring diagenetic alteration here we examine the extent of diagenetic alteration of eocene planktic foraminiferal calcite using scanning electron microscope imaging of foraminiferal test microstructures and geochemical 18o and mg ca analyses we compare microstructural and geochemical characteristics between given species exhibiting two contrasting states of preservation those that appear frosty under reflected light and those that appear glassy microstructural evidence reveals extensive diagenetic alteration of frosty foraminiferal tests at the micron scale while 18o analyses document consistently higher 18o and therefore lower paleotemperatures in this material yet we find that 18o offsets between species in these frosty foraminiferal assemblages appear to be generally preserved suggesting that frosty foraminifera remain valuable for generating relatively short approximately 1 myr paleoceanographic time series that do not demand absolute estimates of paleotemperature we also find that the observed increase in mg ca for planktic foraminifera exhibiting diagenetic alteration compared to glassy taphonomies is far smaller than would be expected from the addition of inorganic calcite based on laboratory derived mg2 partition coefficients our findings imply that a much lower mg2 partition coefficient controls inorganic calcite formation in deep sea sedimentary sections in accordance with the findings of baker et al 1982

environmental controls on the stable isotopic composition of mercenaria mercenaria potential application to paleoenvironmental studies 1 we have investigated the environmental controls of seasonally resolved records of oxygen and carbon isotopes of modern mercenaria mercenaria bivalves collected live from five coastal sites along the east coast of north america seasonal profiles of 18o and 13c obtained by subsampling the incremental growth layers of aragonite were compared with in situ historical records of temperature and salinity we show that m mercenaria 18o profiles track accurately the seasonal variations of water temperature and that variations in growth rates do not affect the shell 18o values growth rates are strongly reduced or interrupted below water temperatures ranging from 8 to 10 c implying that only bivalves sampled in tropical areas track the full amplitude of seasonal variations although further measurements of water 18o and a better understanding of seasonal variations of the water 18o salinity relationships are necessary mercenaria mercenaria bivalves appear to precipitate their shell close to isotopic equilibrium whereas the amplitude of the seasonal profiles of 18o reflects variations in water temperature the annual average 18o decreases with latitude reflecting the trend of rainfall and riverwater 18o with latitude over the northern american continent

an intensity ratio calibration method for the accurate determination of mg ca and sr ca of marine carbonates by icp aes an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy icp aes method for the accurate and precise simultaneous measurement of the mg ca and sr ca content of carbonates was established while a precision of 0 3 1 standard deviation sd is easily obtainable for both mg ca and sr ca analysis a ca matrix effect complicates achieving similar levels of accuracy with conventional calibration procedures an alternative ratio calibration procedure is proposed which overcomes the ca matrix effects and ensures the accuracy of the mg ca and sr ca analysis of marine carbonates to 0 3 almost an order of magnitude better than conventional calibration methods the longer term precision is 0 1 if the batch run average values are corrected for longer term drift the method is suitable for analysis of foraminiferal calcite and coral aragonite and can easily be adjusted for the analysis of other carbonates or microsamples

coccolith sr ca as a new indicator of coccolithophorid calcification and growth rate 1 polyspecific coccolith separates from core top sediments in the eastern equatorial pacific show variations of 15 in sr ca ratios across the equatorial upwelling zone with sr ca highest at the equator and decreasing off axis these variations cannot be due to changes in the sr ca of seawater which varies by less than 2 in the surface ocean variations in sr ca of coccolith sediments are similar to variations in primary productivity and alkenone estimated coccolithophorid growth rates in overlying surface waters and to caco3 rain rates measured in sediment traps because of these relationships and because calcification rate exerts a strong control on sr ca in abiogenic calcites we suggest that the observed sr ca variations in coccoliths may be strongly controlled by coccolithophorid growth and calcification rates although temperature may also influence coccolith sr ca to a lesser degree changes in dissolution intensity and coccolith assemblages appear to exert a minor influence if any on coccolith sr ca in these sediment core tops if further work confirms relationships between coccolith sr ca and coccolithophorid productivity sr ca records of past changes in coccolithophorid productivity may be useful in reconstructing past variations in the rain ratio of organic to carbonate carbon an important control on deep ocean ph and partitioning of co2 between the atmosphere and ocean in addition coccolith sr ca might provide an independent record of past changes in coccolithophorid growth rates which in combination with data on the carbon isotopic fractionation in coccolithophorid organic matter may permit more reliable calculations of past dissolved co2 in the surface ocean

the potential of ion microprobe analysis in detecting geochemical variations across individual foraminifera tests 1 trace element chemistry variations within individual foraminifera tests may provide valuable information on past ocean conditions however the combination of thin test walls and the presence of surface contaminants not held within the carbonate structure provide a stringent test to microanalytical methods we analysed two tests of the benthic foraminifera ammonia batavus by ion microprobe and compared two sets of analytical conditions using apertures to restrict the size of the analysed area to ca 10 m diameter reduced the effects of sample contamination sr concentrations were unaffected by any contamination encountered and mg could be determined provided checks were made for silicate contamination using al si and k intensities measured sr concentrations 1 012 1 379 mmol mol 1 were in reasonable agreement with previously reported values mg concentrations 0 691 1 412 mmol mol 1 were significantly lower than values reported previously for calcitic benthic species significant variations in sr concentrations occurred within individual test chambers and may reflect the juxtapositioning of calcite of different ages as the test is deposited significant variations in mg and sr concentrations also occurred between test chambers

glacial interglacial variations in the neodymium isotope composition of seawater in the bay of bengal recorded by planktonic foraminifera this study presents neodymium isotope and elemental data for cleaned planktonic foraminifera from odp site 758 in the southernmost reaches of the bay of bengal in the north east indian ocean cleaning experiments using oxidative reductive techniques suggest that diagenetic fe mn oxyhydroxide coatings can be effectively removed and that the measured nd isotope composition reflects the composition of seawater from which the foraminiferal calcium carbonate was precipitated modern core top pulleniatina obliquiloculata and globorotalia menardii give end values of 10 12 0 16 and 10 28 0 16 respectively indistinguishable from recent direct measurements of surface seawater in this area a high resolution nd isotope record obtained from g menardii for the past 150 kyr shows systematic variations end 3 on glacial interglacial timescales the timing of those variations shows a remarkable correspondence with the global oxygen isotope record which suggests a process controlling the nd isotope composition that responds in phase with global climate cycles palaeoclimate reconstruction indicates that during the last glacial maximum changes in monsoon circulation resulted in a reduction in rainfall over the indian subcontinent and a decrease in the flux of river water delivered to the bay of bengal thus changes in the riverine input of nd a change in either flux or composition most likely caused the isotope variations although changes in dust source or local ocean circulation may have also played a role these results clearly establish a link between climate change and variations in radiogenic isotopes in the oceans and illustrate the potential of nd isotopes in foraminifera for high resolution palaeoceanographic reconstruction

precision of the current methods to measure the alkenone proxy u 37 k and absolute alkenone abundance in sediments results of an interlaboratory comparison study measurements of the u 37 k index and the absolute abundance of alkenones in marine sediments are increasingly used in paleoceanographic research as proxies of past sea surface temperature and haptophyte mainly coccolith bearing species primary productivity respectively an important aspect of these studies is to be able to compare reliably data obtained by different laboratories from a wide variety of locations hence the intercomparability of data produced by the research community is essential here we report results from an anonymous interlaboratory comparison study involving 24 of the leading laboratories that carry out alkenone measurements worldwide the majority of laboratories produce data that are intercomparable within the considered confidence limits for the measurement of alkenone concentrations however there are systematic biases between laboratories which might be related to the techniques employed to quantify the components the maximum difference between any two laboratories for any two single measurements of u 37 k in sediments is estimated with a probability of 95 to be c in addition the overall within laboratory precision for the u 37 k temperature estimates is estimated to be c 95 probability similarly from the analyses of alkenone concentrations the interlaboratory reproducibility is estimated at 32 and the repeatability is estimated at 24 the former is compared to a theoretical estimate of reproducibility and found to be excessively high hence there is certainly scope and a demonstrable need to improve reproducibility and repeatability of u 37 k and especially alkenone quantification data across the community of scientists involved in alkenone research

crystallinity of foraminifera shells a proxy to reconstruct past bottom water co3 changes 1 the reconstruction of past changes in bottom water co3 is central to evaluating competing oceanic scenarios that deal with long term variations in atmospheric pco2 in search of a quantitative bottom water co3 proxy we analyzed the variations of calcite crystallinity of planktonic foraminifera globigerinoides ruber shells picked from core top samples along three depth transects ontong java plateau and the northeast margin of irian jaya in the western equatorial pacific and the sierra leone rise in the eastern tropical atlantic the strong empirical relationship between calcite crystallinity inferred from the full width at half maximum fwhm of calcite 104 x ray diffraction peak and bottom water saturation relative to calcite co3 shows that foraminifera calcite crystallinity could be a promising proxy for the reconstruction of upper pleistocene bottom water carbonate ion concentration

isotopic composition of throughfall in pine plantation and native eucalyptus forest in south australia summary knowledge of the isotopic composition in precipitation is of importance for studies using isotopic composition as hydrological tracers to investigate recharge sources of groundwater hydrograph separation and paleoclimate reconstruction in catchments with vegetation cover major water isotope inputs are throughfall instead of precipitation thus it is necessary to know how much precipitation isotopic composition is altered by vegetation canopy and how this alteration varies with different vegetation covers however few studies have examined these issues with continuous monitoring and for typical vegetation covers in south australia in this study we investigate the stable isotopic composition of throughfall over two vegetation surfaces pine plantation and native eucalyptus forest with bulk precipitation and throughfall samples collected from september 2009 to october 2010 with an average 18 day interval together with intra event precipitation samples collected at a nearby location from september 2009 to february 2013 we synthesized a conceptual framework for throughfall isotopic composition including the effects of intra event selection and inter event selection and partial evaporation using d 18 o and d excess the results indicate that the selection processes either within individual events or between events or both contribute to throughfall isotopic composition over the two vegetation covers with less important but observed effects from partial evaporation pine plantation site with a denser vegetation cover has experienced larger alteration in throughfall isotopic composition the significance of the difference between throughfall and precipitation isotopic compositions for groundwater sources hydrograph separation and paleoclimate reconstruction studies are also discussed 2014 elsevier b v all rights reserved

calibration of the c 14 timescale over the past 30 000 years using mass spectrometric u th ages from barbados corals uranium thorium ages obtained by mass spectrometry from corals raised off the island of barbados confirm the high precision of this technique over at least the past 30 000 years comparison of the u th ages with 14c ages obtained on the holocene samples shows that the u th ages are accurate because they accord with the dendrochronological calibration before 9 000 yr bp the 14c ages are systematically younger than the u th ages with a maximum difference of 3 500 yr at 20 000 yrbp the u th technique thus provides a way of calibrating the radiocarbon timescale beyond the range of dendrochronological calibration

temporal stability of the neodymium isotope signature of the holocene to glacial north atlantic the neodymium isotopic composition of marine precipitates is increasingly recognized as a powerful tool for identifying changes in ocean circulation and mixing on million year to millennial timescales unlike nutrient proxies such as 13 c or cd ca nd isotopes are not thought to be altered in any significant way by biological processes and thus they can serve as a quasi conservative water mass tracer however the application of nd isotopes in understanding the role of thermohaline circulation in rapid climate change is currently hindered by the lack of direct constraints on the signature of the north atlantic end member through time here we present the first results of nd isotopes measured in u th dated deep sea corals from the new england seamounts in the northwest atlantic ocean our data are consistent with the conclusion that the nd isotopic composition of north atlantic deep and intermediate water has remained nearly constant through the last glacial cycle the results address long standing concerns that there may have been significant changes in the nd isotopic composition of the north atlantic end member during this interval and substantiate the applicability of this novel tracer on millennial timescales for paleoceanography research

in situ measurements of li isotopes in foraminifera in situ measurement of li isotope ratios in foraminifera has been developed using a cameca ims 1270 ion microprobe in situ 7li analyses have been performed in biogenic calcite of planktonic foraminifera from various locations results show that for west pacific mixed globigerinoides and globorotalia 22 s161 e the isotopic variability between tests and within a single test respectively is not significantly greater than estimated analytical uncertainty 1 5 mean 7li for several planktonic foraminifera tests corresponds to the seawater value strongly suggesting negligible li isotope fractionation relative to seawater as previously inferred by hall et al 2005 using thermo ionization mass spectrometer and multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry techniques combined with scanning electron microscopy and ion microprobe imaging micron sized grains enriched in lithium silica and aluminum have been found in the foraminifera calcite matrix a simple mixing model shows that 0 3 2 wt of marine clays incorporated within the analyzed calcite would lower the foraminifera 7li value by 3 to 10 relative to the isotopic composition of the pure calcite by comparison no such grains have been detected in corals the presence of micron sized silicate grains embedded within the foraminifera calcite is consistent with the erez 2003 biomineralization model involving calcite precipitation from seawater vacuoles by contrast coral calcium carbonate is instead precipitated from ions which have been pumped or diffused through several membranes impermeable to micrometric grains ion microprobe in situ 7li measurements in biogenic calcite present new methods for investigating both biomineralization processes and the past record of the ocean composition by exploring geochemical variations at a scale that is smaller in space and in time

calibration of mg ca thermometry in planktonic foraminifera from a sediment trap time series 1 paired mg ca and 18o measurements on planktonic foraminiferal species g ruber white g ruber pink g sacculifer g conglobatus g aequilateralis o universa n dutertrei p obliquiloculata g inflata g truncatulinoides g hirsuta and g crassaformis from a 6 year sediment trap time series in the sargasso sea were used to define the sensitivity of foraminiferal mg ca to calcification temperature habitat depths and calcification temperatures were estimated from comparison of 18o of foraminifera with equilibrium calcite based on historical temperature and salinity data when considered together mg ca mmol mol of all species except two show a significant r 0 93 relationship with temperature t c of the form mg ca 0 38 0 02 exp 0 090 0 003 t equivalent to a 9 0 0 3 change in mg ca for a 1 c change in temperature small differences exist in calibrations between species and between different size fractions of the same species o universa and g aequilateralis have higher mg ca than other species and in general data can be best described with the same temperature sensitivity for all species and pre exponential constants in the sequence o universa g aequilateralis g bulloides g ruber g sacculifer other species this approach gives an accuracy of 1 2 c in the estimation of calcification temperature the 9 sensitivity to temperature is similar to published studies from culture and core top calibrations but differences exist from some literature values of pre exponential constants different cleaning methodologies and artefacts of core top dissolution are probably implicated and perhaps environmental factors yet understood planktonic foraminiferal mg ca temperature estimates can be used for reconstructing surface temperatures and mixed and thermocline temperatures using g ruber pink g ruber white g sacculifer n dutertrei p obliquiloculata etc the existence of a single mg thermometry equation is valuable for extinct species although use of species specific equations will where statistically significant provide more accurate evaluation of mg ca paleotemperature

impact of biomineralization processes on the mg content of foraminiferal shells a biological perspective the mg ca ratio in foraminiferal shells is widely used as a proxy for paleotemperatures nevertheless it seems that the basic mg content of foraminifera is determined by biological factors as can be concluded from the large inter species and intrashell variability and the frequent deviations from inorganic behavior this paper discusses three possible ways by which foraminifera can control or modify the mg content in their shell 1 involvement of organic matrix in the precipitation process that may alter the partition coefficient of mg in biogenic calcite 2 controlled conversion of transient amorphous phases to calcite and 3 modification of the mg concentration in the parent solution from which the crystals precipitate the first two mechanisms are probably responsible for the precipitation of high mg calcite phases whole shell or sublayers while the third mechanism leads to the formation of low mg calcite phases we propose a model adapted from epithelial cells that allows massive mg2 removal from the biomineralization site this model is especially relevant to the planktonic and deep benthic low mg foraminifera that are frequently used for paleotemperature reconstructions we discuss the possible biological roles of mg in the shell in terms of the calcite polymorph conservation the in vivo chemical stability of the shell the functions of mg as a stabilizer of transient phases and as a controlling agent of the precipitation process several temperature sensitive biological processes that may influence the mg ca ratio of the shell are suggested and a model that combines biogenic and inorganic considerations is presented the model uses mg heterogeneity in the shell together with temperature response biologic and inorganic of biomineralization processes to account for the deviation of planktonic foraminifera from inorganic calcite at equilibrium with seawater

taxon specific epibenthic foraminiferal δ18o in the arctic ocean relationship to water masses deep circulation and brine release we determined 18ocib values of live rose bengal stained and dead epibenthic foraminifera cibicidoides wuellerstorfi cibicides lobatulus and cibicides refulgens in surface sediment samples from the arctic ocean and the greenland iceland and norwegian seas nordic sea this is the first time that a comprehensive 18ocib data set is generated and compiled from the arctic ocean for comparison we defined atlantic water aw upper arctic bottom water uabw and arctic bottom water abw by their temperature salinity characteristics and calculated mean equilibrium calcite 18oequ from summer sea water 18ow and in situ temperatures as a result in the arctic environment we compensate for cibicidoides and cibicides specific offsets from equilibrium calcite of 0 35 and 0 55 respectively after this taxon specific adjustment mean 18ocib values plausibly reflect the density stratification of principle water masses in the nordic sea and arctic ocean in addition mean 18ocib from aw not only significantly differs from mean 18ocib from abw but also 18ocib from within aw differentiates in function of provenience and water mass age furthermore in shallow waters brine derived low 18ow can significantly lower the 18ocib of cibicides spp and thus 18ocib may serve as a paleobrine indicator there is no statistically significant difference however between deeper water masses mean 18ocib of the nordic sea and of the eurasian and amerasian basins and no influence of low 18ow brines is recorded in recent uabw and abw 18ocib of c wuellerstorfi this may be due to dilution of a low 18ow brine signal in the deep sea and or to preferential incorporation of relatively high 18ow brines from high salinity shelves although our data encompass environments with seasonal sea ice and brine formation supposed to ultimately ventilate the deep arctic ocean 18ocib from uabw and abw do not indicate negative excursions this may challenge hypotheses that call for enhanced arctic brine release to explain negative benthic 18o spikes in deep sea sediments from the late pleistocene north atlantic ocean

interlaboratory comparison study of mg ca and sr ca measurements in planktonic foraminifera for paleoceanographic research thirteen laboratories from the usa and europe participated in an intercomparison study of mg ca and sr ca measurements in foraminifera the study included five planktonic species from surface sediments from different geographical regions and water depths each of the laboratories followed their own cleaning and analytical procedures and had no specific information about the samples analysis of solutions of known mg ca and sr ca ratios showed that the intralaboratory instrumental precision is better than 0 5 for both mg ca and sr ca measurements regardless whether icp oes or icp ms is used the interlaboratory precision on the analysis of standard solutions was about 1 5 and 0 9 for mg ca and sr ca measurements respectively these are equivalent to mg ca based temperature repeatability and reproducibility on the analysis of solutions of 0 2 c and 0 5 c respectively the analysis of foraminifera suggests an interlaboratory variance of about 8 rsd for mg ca measurements which translates to reproducibility of about 2 3 c the relatively large range in the reproducibility of foraminiferal analysis is primarily due to relatively poor intralaboratory repeatability about 1 2 c and a bias about 1 c due to the application of different cleaning methods by different laboratories improving the consistency of cleaning methods among laboratories will therefore likely lead to better reproducibility even more importantly the results of this study highlight the need for standards calibration among laboratories as a first step toward improving interlaboratory compatibility

reconstruction of deglacial sea surface temperatures in the tropical pacific from selective analysis of a fossil coral the sr ca of coral skeletons demonstrates potential as an indicator of sea surface temperatures ssts however the glacial interglacial sst ranges predicted from sr ca of fossil corals are usually higher than from other marine proxies we observed infilling of secondary aragonite characterized by high sr ca ratios along intraskeletal pores of a fossil coral from papua new guinea that grew during the penultimate deglaciation 130 2 ka selective microanalysis of unaltered areas of the fossil coral indicates that ssts at approx 130 ka were le 1 c cooler than at present in contrast with bulk measurements combining infilled and unaltered areas which indicate a difference of 6 7 c the analysis of unaltered areas of fossil skeletons by microprobe techniques may offer a route to more accurate reconstruction of past ssts

biogeochemical controls on palaeoceanographic environmental proxies a review scientific observations of our oceans and climate go back no more than a couple of hundred years most of our information about the evolution of earth s ocean climate system relies instead on proxies primarily measurements of sediment components that respond to changes in environmental parameters this paper provides an overview of some of the most important biological and geochemical proxies and outlines their contribution to our understanding of the ocean climate system we also discuss some of the challenges that need to be overcome to obtain accurate records these include better understanding of the controls on the mechanisms of biomineralization the impacts of post depositional dissolution and diagenesis on primary proxy relationships proxy validation and analytical considerations

compositional variability in a cold water scleractinian lophelia pertusa new insights into vital effects we analyzed sr ca and mg ca ratios in the thecal wall of lophelia pertusa a cold water coral using sims ion microprobe techniques the wall grows by simultaneous upward extension and outward thickening compositional variability displays similar trends along the upward and outward growth axes sr ca and mg ca ratios oscillate systematically and inversely the sensitivity of lophelia sr ca ratios to the annual temperature cycle 0 18 mmol mol 1 c is twice as strong as that exhibited by tropical reef corals and four times as strong as the temperature dependence of sr ca ratios of abiogenic aragonites precipitated experimentally from seawater a comparison of the skeletal composition of lophelia with results from precipitation calculations carried out using experimentally determined partition coefficients suggests that both temperature dependent element partitioning and seasonal changes in the mass fraction of aragonite precipitated from the calcifying fluid influence the composition of lophelia skeleton results from calculations that combine these effects reproduce both the exaggerated amplitude of the sr ca and mg ca oscillations and the inverse relationship between sr ca and mg ca ratios

reconciling down core anticorrelation of diatom carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios from the southern ocean 1 oceanic nutrient cycling in the southern ocean is supposed to have an important impact on glacial interglacial atmospheric co2 changes and global climate in order to characterize such nutrient cycling over the last two climatic cycles we investigated carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios of diatom bound organic matter 13cdiat and 15ndiat respectively in two cores retrieved form the atlantic and indian sectors of the antarctic ocean the two cores show the same isotopic patterns the 13cdiat values are depleted during glacial periods and enriched during interglacial periods indicating lower productivity during cold times the 15ndiat values are enriched during glacial periods and depleted during interglacial periods arguing for greater nitrate utilization during cold times taken at face value this apparent contradiction leads to opposite conclusions on the role of the southern ocean biological pump on the atmospheric co2 changes however the two sets of data can be reconciled by a sea ice plus mixing rate scenario that calls upon a balance between the effect of cutting off gas transfer at the ocean atmosphere boundary and the effect of reducing vertical transport of nutrients through the pycnocline

comparison of isotopic composition of planktonic foraminifera in plankton tows sediment traps and sediments planktonic foraminifera from plankton tows sediment traps and sediments in the central north atlantic were studied in order to understand what determines their oxygen and carbon isotope composition a clear separation of species and genera on a 18o vs 13c plot for all samples suggests that their isotopic composition is controlled to a certain degree by biological factors within a species population the globorotaliids show a positive linear correlation between 18o and 13c while the shallow dwelling spinose species mostly globigerinoides species do not show a definite trend the latter species when collected in plankton tows often show slight negative deviations from isotopic equilibrium with respect to oxygen all species deviate from carbon isotope equilibrium by 1 5 to 6 these deviations from equilibrium are probably caused by incorporation of isotopically light metabolic co2 into the skeleton which is enhanced by the activity of symbiotic algae during their ontogeny the average weight per individual of most species increases which indicates that calcification continues to a depth of about 100 m this additional skeleton roughly 50 by weight is isotopically heavier because temperatures are lower and photosynthesis of symbiotic algae stops below the photic zone therefore the skeleton of foraminifera collected in sediment traps below 400 m has an overall oxygen isotope composition that seems to be in equilibrium for caco3 deposited in the upper 100 m