evidence for enhanced aridity in the tarim basin of china since 5 3 ma abstract thick cenozoic deposits formed from the erosion of the northern evolving edge of the tibetan plateau provide opportunities to study the exhumation history and climatic changes within the region such deposits are important because they are located in an actively deforming mountain belt as well as in a rain shadow of the tibetan plateau multi proxy studies indicate that hyperarid climate has prevailed since 5 3 ma ago within the basin this information together with the geometry analysis of syntectonic deposits of the sanju anticline which indicate tectonic deformation at 5 3 ma enable us to better understand the interlay between climatic changes and tectonic uplift our results suggest that the tectonic uplift of the kunlun mountains at 5 3 ma must have been one of the significant regional tectonic events and the uplifted elevation of the kunlun mountains more effectively blocks the penetration of moisture from the indian monsoon into the tarim basin and thus enhances the rain shadow effect this can account for the increasing aridity as well as the formation of the world s second largest active sand desert the taklimakan desert in the tarim basin initiated at 5 3 ma ago

assessing the reliability of magnesium in foraminiferal calcite as a proxy for water mass temperatures though many studies on the mg contents in the calcitic tests of foraminifers exist the processes controlling its uptake are still a matter of debate laboratory cultures offer an excellent opportunity to reveal these mechanisms the mg concentrations within single chambers of the planktic foraminifer globigerinoides sacculifer brady maintained under controlled laboratory conditions were measured 1 at variable temperatures 19 5 29 5 c and constant salinity and 2 at variable salinity 22 45 and constant temperature the experimental results suggest that under natural conditions temperature is the leading mechanism controlling the mg ca ratio temperature and magnesium are related proportionally a temperature increase of ca 10 c gives rise to an increase of the magnesium concentrations of ca 130 drastic unnatural salinity changes dominate the effects of temperature a 110 change in the mg ca ratio was observed when salinity was elevated or reduced by more than ca 10 specimens which underwent gametogenesis reveal significantly higher mg concentrations than specimens that did not release gametes partition coefficients for mg in foraminiferal calcite are orders of magnitude lower than values from inorganically precipitated calcite when comparing observed mg ca ratios of foraminiferal tests with predicted mg ca ratios calculated according to empirical equations it becomes evident that foraminiferal tests are undersaturated with respect to mg for the water temperature they have experienced apparently foraminifers are capable of controlling their mg concentration the physiological processes presumably responsible for such depressed mg ca ratios appear to be temperature controlled as deduced from the close relationship of the observed mg ca ratios and water temperature this study demonstrates that variations in temperature and salinity are definitely reflected in the mg content of foraminiferal tests magnesium may thus serve as a paleo proxy for past surface water temperatures as long as postdepositional changes and salinity variations are of subordinate importance or can be excluded

foraminiferal mg ca evidence for southern ocean cooling across the eocene oligocene transition constraining the magnitude of high latitude temperature change across the eocene oligocene transition eot is essential for quantifying the magnitude of antarctic ice sheet expansion and understanding regional climate response to this event to this end we constructed high resolution stable oxygen isotope 18o and magnesium calcium mg ca records from planktic and benthic foraminifera at four ocean drilling program odp sites in the southern ocean planktic foraminiferal mg ca records from the kerguelen plateau odp sites 738 744 and 748 show a consistent pattern of temperature change indicating 2 3 c cooling in direct conjunction with the first step of a two step increase in benthic and planktic foraminiferal 18o values across the eot in contrast benthic mg ca records from maud rise odp site 689 and the kerguelen plateau odp site 748 do not exhibit significant temperature change the contrasting temperature histories derived from the planktic and benthic mg ca records are not reconcilable since vertical 18o gradients remained nearly constant at all sites between 35 0 and 32 5 ma based on the coherency of the planktic mg ca records from the kerguelen plateau sites and complications with benthic mg ca paleothermometry at low temperatures the planktic mg ca records are deemed the most reliable measure of southern ocean temperature change we therefore interpret a uniform cooling of 2 3 c in both deep surface thermocline waters and intermediate deep waters of the southern ocean across the eot cooling of southern ocean surface waters across the eot was likely propagated to the deep ocean since deep waters were primarily sourced on the antarctic margin throughout this time interval removal of the temperature component from the observed foraminiferal 18o shift indicates that seawater 18o values increased by 0 6 0 15 across the eot interval corresponding to an increase in global ice volume to a level equivalent with 60 130 modern east antarctic ice sheet volume

microdistribution of mg ca sr ca and ba ca ratios in pulleniatina obliquiloculata test by using a nanosims implication for the vital effect mechanism the mg ca ratio within foraminiferal calcareous tests shells is widely used to reconstruct past seawater temperature however recent studies reported that the organic components within a test affect the mg ca distribution in this study we have measured the mg ca sr ca and ba ca ratios within the planktonic foraminifera pulleniatina obliquiloculata by using a nanosims secondary ion mass spectrometer sims which has excellent spatial resolution 1 m and allows us to compare the distribution of chemical compositions with that of the organic components element compositions show banding distributions composed of alternately higher and lower values of those elemental ratios the mg ca ratios previously considered to be mainly controlled by calcification temperature show larger variations than the values expected from the seawater temperature at the habitat depth of p obliquiloculata comparison of the elemental distribution with the test microstructure reveals that the bands of high mg ca and sr ca ratios correspond with layers of the organic components such coincidence suggests that the organic components strongly affect the mg ca and sr ca ratios within a test in spite of the heterogeneous distribution temperature estimated from the averaged mg ca ratio within a test is consistent with seawater temperature at the habitat depth of p obliquiloculata indicating that whole mg ca ratio of foraminiferal test may be useful as paleotemperature proxy in contrast to the mg ca ratio the heterogenity in ba ca ratio which previously has been considered to be mainly controlled by the ambient seawater composition is not fully matched with the layers of the organic compositions although the organic components concentrate ba other unknown factors appear to also cause heterogenity in ba incorporation

effects of seawater carbonate ion concentration and temperature on shell u mg and sr in cultured planktonic foraminifera we investigate the sensitivity of u ca mg ca and sr ca to changes in seawater co3 and temperature in calcite produced by the two planktonic foraminifera species orbulina universa and globige rina bulloides in laboratory culture experiments our results demonstrate that at constant temperature u ca in o universa decreases by 25 7 per 100 mol co3 k g 1 as seawater co3 increases from 110 to 470 mol kg 1 results from g bulloides suggest a similar relationship but u ca is consistently offset by 40 at the same environmental co3 in o universa u ca is insensitive to temperature between 15 c and 25 c applying the o universa relationship to three u ca records from a related species globigerinoides sacculifer we estimate that caribbean and tropical atlantic co3 was 110 70 mol kg 1 and 80 40 mol kg 1 higher respectively during the last glacial period relative to the holocene this result is consistent with estimates of the glacial interglacial change in surface water co3 based on both modeling and on boron isotope ph estimates in settings where the addition of u by diagenetic processes is not a factor down core records of foraminiferal u ca have potential to provide information about changes in the ocean s carbonate concentration below ambient ph ph 8 2 mg ca decreased by 7 5 o universa t o 16 6 g bulloides per 0 1 unit increase in ph above ambient ph the change in mg ca was not significant for either species this result suggests that mg ca based paleotemperature estimates for the quaternary during which surface ocean ph has been at or above modern levels have not been biased by variations in surface water ph sr ca increased linearly by 1 6 0 4 per 0 1 unit increase in ph shell mg ca increased exponentially with temperature in o universa where mg ca 0 85 exp 0 096 t whereas the change in sr ca with temperature was within the reproducibility of replicate measurements copyright 2004 elsevier ltd

paleo sea surface temperature calculations in the equatorial east atlantic from mg ca ratios in planktic foraminifera a comparison to sea surface temperature estimates from u37k oxygen isotopes and foraminiferal transfer function we present two 270 kyr paleo sea surface temperature sst records from the equatorial divergence and the south equatorial current derived from mg ca ratios in the planktic foraminifer globigerinoides sacculifer the present study suggests that the magnesium signature of g sacculifer provides a seasonal sst estimate from the upper 50 m of the water column generated during upwelling in austral low latitude fall winter common to both down core records is a glacial interglacial amplitude of 3 3 5 c for the last climatic changes and lower holocene and glacial oxygen isotope stage 2 temperatures compared with interglacial stage 5 5 and glacial stage 6 temperatures respectively the comparison to published sst estimates from alkenones oxygen isotopes and foraminiferal transfer function from the same core material pinpoints discrepancies and conformities between methods

three dimensional distribution and evolution of permafrost temperatures in idealized high mountain topography 1 permafrost degradation is regarded as a crucial factor influencing the stability of steep rockwalls in alpine areas discernment of zones of fast temperature changes requires knowledge about the temperature distribution and evolution at and below the surface of steep rock in complex high mountain topography strong lateral heat fluxes result from topography and variable surface temperatures and profoundly influence the subsurface thermal field to investigate such three dimensional effects numerical experimentation was conducted using typical idealized geometries of high mountain topography such as ridges peaks or spurs the approach combines a surface energy balance model with a three dimensional ground heat conduction scheme to investigate belowground temperature distribution and permafrost occurrence in high mountain topography time dependent simulations are based on scenario data gained from regional climate models results indicate complex three dimensional patterns of temperature distribution and heat flow density below mountainous topography for equilibrium conditions which are additionally perturbed by transient effects permafrost occurs at many locations where temperatures at the surface do not indicate it e g on the south face of ridges or below the edges of a peak the modeling tools applied have potential for a number of studies in high mountains addressing questions related to permafrost distribution and evolution at depth in real topographies for instance the reanalysis of temperature related instabilities

modulation and daily banding of mg ca in orbulina universa tests by symbiont photosynthesis and respiration a complication for seawater thermometry the mg ca composition of calcium carbonate tests shells secreted by planktonic foraminifera is increasingly being employed to estimate past seawater temperatures and reconstruct paleocean and climate records spanning hundreds of thousands of years we show using two high resolution microanalysis techniques that the final chamber of the planktonic foraminifera orbulina universa typically comprises between three and six paired low and high mg growth bands the number and spacing of these bands is consistent with a diurnal origin modulated by changing ph within the foraminiferal microenvironment due to the day night photosynthesis respiration cycle of algal symbionts the amplitude of mg ca variation within individual tests and across many daily growth bands cannot be accounted for by seawater temperature in the shallow euphotic zone habitat of o universa our results indicate the mg ca composition of calcite precipitated by o universa in nature is strongly influenced by diurnal changes in the biological activity of algal symbionts and the host foraminifer this brings into question the fundamental premise often made in applying mg ca palaeoseawater thermometry that the mg ca composition of foraminiferal calcite is determined by seawater temperature and whether the mg ca composition of other planktonic species that are more widely used for palaeoseawater thermometry are subject to similar influences 2004 elsevier b v all rights reserved

sr partitioning in the benthic foraminifera ammonia aomoriensis and amphistegina lessonii the shallow water benthic foraminifera ammonia aomoriensis and amphistegina lessonii were grown at different seawater sr ca and the test sr ca ratio was determined by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry a aomoriensis test sr ca is positively correlated with seawater sr ca the linear regression has a slope of 0 17 representing the overall sr partitioning coefficient kdsr the slope remains unchanged if seawater ca concentration is changed in order to change the seawater sr ca in the case of a lessonii the slopes of the linear regressions representing kdsr differ from one another i e 0 16 if the sr concentration is changed and 0 32 if the ca level is changed this difference in kdsr can be explained by the relative to a aomoriensis high mg content of a lessonii ca 40 mmol mol distorting the calcite lattice and weakening the discrimination against sr the mg content of a aomoriensis is too low ca 4 mmol mol to observe the influence on sr partitioning all data are compatible with a recently developed model for minor element partitioning in foraminifera nehrke et al 2013 mewes et al 2015a on the whole our data confirm the model applicability of the model to sr and dependence of the calcite sr ca on seawater sr ca as opposed to seawater sr concentration and improve our understanding of the model influence of calcite mg ca on sr partitioning

the source of ions for biomineralization in foraminifera and their implications for paleoceanographic proxies the global carbon cycle is strongly perturbed by fossil fuel burning leading to atmospheric co2 increase climatic warming followed by polar ice melting and global sea level rise are predicted due to the greenhouse effect of increasing co2 in the atmosphere houghton et al 1995 the ocean plays a major role in neutralizing the excess co2 because the amount of inorganic carbon available for exchange with the atmosphere in the ocean is approximately 50 60 times larger than in the atmosphere e g siegenthaler and sarmiento 1993 the bulk of the atmospheric co2 excess will eventually be neutralized by caco3 dissolution in the deep marine environment this is however is a relatively slow process that operates on the time scale of ocean circulation 1000 yrs and is therefore causing an accumulation of co2 in the atmosphere this phenomenon will result in potentially severe consequences to the well being of global ecological systems obviously the scientific attention of many biogeochemists is focused on processes controlling the response of the marine system to changes in atmospheric co2 concentrations e g archer and maier reimer 1994 broecker 1997 sigman and boyle 2000 berger 2002 foraminifera corals and coccolithophores in the global carbon cycle there are four dominant processes involved in neutralizing the excess atmospheric co2 in the ocean these are 1 gas exchange at the air sea interface and reaction with the carbonate ion to form bicarbonate 2 net primary productivity 3 caco3 production and dissolution and 4 ocean circulation most of these processes are biologically mediated and may have special importance in shallow tropical environments where the exchange with the atmosphere is more direct in this review we address the mechanism of biomineralization in one of the major groups that precipitates caco3 in the ocean the foraminifera as we will show this group

the coordination of mg in foraminiferal calcite the mg ca ratio of foraminiferal calcite is a widely accepted and applied empirical proxy for ocean temperature the analysis of foraminifera preserved in ocean sediments has been instrumental in developing our understanding of global climate but the mechanisms behind the proxy are largely unknown analogies have been drawn to the inorganic precipitation of calcite where the endothermic substitution of mg for ca is favoured at higher temperatures however evidence suggests that foraminiferal mg incorporation may be more complex foraminiferal magnesium is highly heterogeneous at the sub micron scale and high mg areas coincide with elevated concentrations of organic molecules na s and other trace elements fundamentally the incorporation mode of mg in foraminifera is unknown here we show that mg is uniformly substituted for ca within the calcite mineral lattice the consistency of mg specific x ray spectra gathered from nano scale regions across the shell test reveals that the coordination of mg is uniform the similarity of these spectra to that produced by dolomite shows that mg is present in an octahedral coordination ideally substituted for ca in a calcite crystal structure this demonstrates that mg is heterogeneous in concentration but not in structure the degree of this uniformity implies the action of a continuous mg incorporation mechanism and therefore calcification mechanism across these compositional bands in foraminifera this constitutes a fundamental step towards a mechanistic understanding of foraminiferal calcification processes and the incorporation of calcite bound palaeoenvironment proxies such as mg

controls on shell mg ca and sr ca in cultured planktonic foraminiferan globigerinoides ruber white mg ca and sr ca ratios were determined on a single species of planktonic foraminiferan globigerinoides ruber white collected from the gulf of eilat and cultured in seawater at five different salinities 32 to 44 five temperatures 18 to 30 c and four ph values 7 9 to 8 4 the mg ca temperature calibration of cultured g ruber with an exponential slope of 8 3 c agrees well with previously published calibrations from core tops and sediment traps however the dependence of mg ca on salinity with an exponential slope of 5 3 psu is also significant and should be included in the calibration equation with this purpose we calculated a calibration equation for g ruber dependent on both temperature and salinity within the 95 confidence limits mg ca mmol mol exp 0 06 0 02 s psu 0 08 0 02 t c 2 8 1 0 r2 0 95 the influence of ph on mg ca ratios is negligible at ambient seawater ph 8 1 to 8 3 however we observe a dominating ph control on shell mg ca when the ph of seawater is lower than 8 0 sr ca in g ruber shows a significant positive correlation with average growth rate presumably part of the variability in shell sr ca in the geological record is linked to changes in growth rates of foraminifera as a response to changing environmental conditions

an overview of biomineralization processes and the problem of the vital effect biomineralization links soft organic tissues which are compositionally akin to the atmosphere and oceans with the hard materials of the solid earth it provides organisms with skeletons and shells while they are alive and when they die these are deposited as sediment in environments from river plains to the deep ocean floor it is also these hard resistant products of life which are mainly responsible for the earth s fossil record consequently biomineralization involves biologists chemists and geologists in interdisciplinary studies at one of the interfaces between earth and life leadbeater and riding 1986 biomineralization refers to the processes by which organisms form minerals the control exerted by many organisms over mineral formation distinguishes these processes from abiotic mineralization the latter was the primary focus of earth scientists over the last century but the emergence of biogeochemistry and the urgency of understanding the past and future evolution of the earth are moving biological mineralization to the forefront of various fields of science including the earth sciences the growth in biogeochemistry has led to a number of new exciting research areas where the distinctions between the biological chemical and earth sciences disciplines melt away of the wonderful topics that are receiving renewed attention the study of biomineral formation is perhaps the most fascinating truly at the interface of earth and life biomineralization is a discipline that is certain to see major advancements as a new generation of scientists brings cross disciplinary training and new experimental and computational methods to the most daunting problems it is however by no means a new field the first book on biomineralization was published in 1924 in german by w j schmidt schmidt 1924 and the subject has continued to intrigue a dedicated community of scientists for many years until the early 1980s the field was known as

climate impact of late quaternary equatorial pacific sea surface temperature variations magnesium calcium data from planktonic foraminifera in equatorial pacific sediment cores demonstrate that tropical pacific sea surface temperatures ssts were 2 8 0 7 c colder than the present at the last glacial maximum glacial interglacial temperature differences as great as 5 c are observed over the last 450 thousand years changes in sst coincide with changes in antarctic air temperature and precede changes in continental ice volume by about 3 thousand years suggesting that tropical cooling played a major role in driving ice age climate comparison of sst estimates from eastern and western sites indicates that the equatorial pacific zonal sst gradient was similar or somewhat larger during glacial episodes extraction of a salinity proxy from the magnesium calcium and oxygen isotope data indicates that transport of water vapor into the western pacific was enhanced during glacial episodes

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

diagenetic mg calcite overgrowths on foraminiferal tests in the vicinity of methane seeps methane is a potent greenhouse gas and some episodes of past global warming appear to coincide with its massive release from seafloor sediments as suggested by carbon isotope records of foraminifera here we present structural geochemical and stable carbon isotope data from single foraminiferal calcite tests and authigenic mg calcite overgrowths in a sediment core recovered from an area of active methane seepage in western svalbard at ca 340 m water depth the foraminifera are from intervals in the core where conventional bulk foraminiferal 13c 13c values are as low as 11 3 mg ca analyses of the foraminiferal tests reveal that even tests for which there is no morphological evidence for secondary authigenic carbonate can contain mg rich interlayers with mg ca up to 220 mmol mol transmission electron microscopy tem of the contact point between the biogenic calcite and authigenic mg calcite layers shows that the two phases are structurally indistinguishable and they have the same crystallographic orientation secondary ion mass spectrometry sims analyses reveal that the mg rich layers are strongly depleted in 13c 13c 13c as low as 34 1 these very low 13c 13c values indicate that the authigenic mg calcite precipitated from pore waters containing methane derived dissolved inorganic carbon at the depth of the sulfate methane transition zone smtz as the depth of the smtz can be located several meters below the sediment seawater interface interpretation of low foraminiferal 13c 13c values in ancient sediments in terms of the history of methane seepage at the seafloor must be undertaken with care

influence of temperature on the composition of magnesian calcite overgrowths precipitated from seawater a constant disequilibrium technique was used to determine the composition of magnesian calcite overgrowths precipitated on pure calcite seeds from artificial seawater at 5 25 and 40 c the amount of magnesium incorporated in the overgrowths at a given temperature is independent of the precipitation rate over a wide range of saturation states and is believed to correspond to a composition in true equilibrium with seawater the distribution coefficient of magnesium dmg2 c in the magnesian calcite overgrowths increases almost linearly with temperature being 0 0121 0 0013 at 5 c 0 0172 0 0022 at 25 c and 0 0271 0 0013 at 40 c these values apply only to magnesian calcites precipitated from standard composition seawater since a previous study has shown dmg2 c to be a function of the mg2 ca2 ratio in the parent solution results of this study are compared with values reported previously by other workers and with the compositional distribution of naturally occurring magnesian calcite cements and ooids found in seawater it appears that variations in temperature are not sufficient to account for the compositional variability of naturally occurring inorganic marine magnesian calcite cements

calibrations for benthic foraminiferal mg ca paleothermometry and the carbonate ion hypothesis benthic foraminiferal magnesium calcium ratios were determined on one hundred and forty core top samples from the atlantic ocean the norwegian sea the indian ocean the arabian sea and the pacific ocean mostly at sites with bottom water temperatures below 5 c mg ca ratios are consistently lower by not vert similar 0 2 mmol mol in samples cleaned using oxidative and reductive steps than using oxidative cleaning differences between cibicidoides species have been identified mg ca of cibicidoides robertsonianus cibicidoides kullenbergi cibicidoides wuellerstorfi comparison with bottom water temperatures support observations of lowered mg ca of c wuellerstorfi at temperature below not vert similar 3 c compared with values predicted by published calibrations and from other cibicidoides species hydrographic data shows that carbonate ion saturation co32 decreases rapidly below this temperature an empirical sensitivity of co32 on mg ca has been established for c wuellerstorfi of 0 0086 0 0006 mmol mol mol kg a novel application using modern temperatures and last glacial maximum temperatures derived via pore fluid modelling supports a carbonate ion saturation state effect on mg incorporation this may significantly affect calculated 18oseawater obtained from foraminiferal 18o and mg ca temperature

effect of different seawater mg2 concentrations on calcification in two benthic foraminifers magnesium incorporated in foraminiferal calcite mg cacc is used intensively to reconstruct past seawater temperatures but in addition to temperature the mg cacc of foraminiferal tests also depends on the ratio of mg and ca in seawater mg casw the physiological mechanisms responsible for these proxy relationships are still unknown this culture study investigates the impact of different seawater mg2 on calcification in two benthic foraminiferal species precipitating contrasting mg cacc ammonia aomoriensis producing low mg calcite and amphistegina lessonii producing intermediate mg calcite foraminiferal growth and test thickness were determined and mg ca was analyzed using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry la icp ms results show that at present day seawater mg casw of 5 both species have highest growth rates reflecting their adaptation to modern seawater element concentrations test thickness is not significantly affected by different mg casw the relationship between mg casw and mg cacc shows a distinct positive y axis intercept possibly reflecting at least two processes involved in foraminiferal biomineralization the associated mg partition dmg changes non linearly with increasing mg casw hence suggesting that the dmg is best described by an exponential function approaching an asymptote

the relationship between shell size and mg ca sr ca δ18o and δ13c of species of planktonic foraminifera the relationship between shell size and mg ca sr ca 18o and 13c of planktonic foraminiferal calcite has been investigated using seventeen species in six different size fractions mg ca increases and sr ca decreases with increasing size except for two globorotaliid species which show the opposite trend the changes in mg ca broadly follow 18o calcification temperatures except that surface and near surface dwelling species show larger changes in mg ca than can be accounted for by differences in calcification temperature derived from 18o the increases in mg ca and decreases in sr ca vary linearly with the well established increase in 13c with size this is consistent with smaller individuals calcifying faster than larger individuals and larger individuals forming calcite that more closely reflects seawater temperature and composition it appears that variations in calcification rate affect mg and sr shell chemistry the observations may account for part of the temporal variability in foraminiferal sr ca within a single size fraction that has been attributed to changes in seawater sr ca

characterization of mg ca distributions in planktonic foraminifera species by electron microprobe mapping 1 the distribution of mg ca within the tests of eight modern planktonic foraminifer species has been characterized using electron microprobe mapping species include several that are commonly used for estimation of past seawater temperatures globigerinoides ruber g sacculifer neogloboquadrina incompta synonym of n pachyderma dex n dutertrei and g truncatulinoides each of the investigated species displays large variations in mg ca composition within individual tests however the pattern of mg ca variation is notably different between symbiont bearing and symbiont free species in symbiotic species cyclic mg ca compositional banding occurs that is characterized by narrow 1 3 m high mg ca typically 8 11 mmol mol bands intercalated between broader low mg ca typically 1 5 mmol mol bands this factor of 2 3 difference equates to an apparent calcification temperature change of 10 c or more such temperature changes are considered highly improbable and suggest vital effects significantly modify the incorporation of mg ca into the tests of symbiont bearing species these vital effects remain poorly understood and demand further careful evaluation as they may need to be accounted for when making reliable reconstructions of past oceanic temperatures symbiont free species typically have fewer and broader compositional bands that may reflect more closely changes in calcification temperature as these species migrate within a water column