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Seasonal Flux and Assemblage Composition of Planktic 

Foraminifera from the Northern Gulf of Mexico, 2008–2009 

By Jessica W. Spear and Richard Z. Poore 

Open File Report 2011–1002

U.S. Department of the Interior 

U.S. Geological Survey 
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U.S. Department of the Interior 

KEN SALAZAR, Secretary 

U.S. Geological Survey 

Marica K. McNutt, Director 

U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia 2011 

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Suggested, citation: 

Spear, J.W and Poore, R.Z., 2011, Seasonal flux and assemblage composition of planktic foraminifera from the 

northern Gulf of Mexico, 2008 - 2009: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011-1002, 17 p. 

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endorsement by the U.S. Government. 

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copyright owners to reproduce any copyrighted material contained within this report. 
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Contents 

Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Regional Setting ............................................................................................................................................................ 5

Materials and Methods .................................................................................................................................................. 6

Results and Discussion ................................................................................................................................................. 7

Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................................. 15

Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................................................ 15

References Cited ......................................................................................................................................................... 16

Figures 

1. Location of the sediment-trap mooring, nothern Gulf of Mexico.. ............................................................................... 6 

2. Temperature and salinity depth profiles at the trap site during 2009.. ....................................................................... 8

3. Average daily flux of all planktic foraminifers and the 10 most abundant species/groups during 2009.. .................. 11

4. Average daily flux for all planktic foraminifers and weekly percent abundance of the 10 most common 

species/groups of planktic foraminifers during 2009.. .................................................................................................. 13

5. Comparsion of 2008 and 2009 Globigerinoides ruber (white and pink) flux.... ........................................................ 14

Tables 

1. Planktic foraminiferal flux and percent contribution to the total assemblage for the 14 most common species.... ..... 9

 
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Seasonal Flux and Assemblage Composition of Planktic 

Foraminifera from the Northern Gulf of Mexico, 2008–2009 

By Jessica W. Spear and Richard Z. Poore 

Abstract 

The U.S. Geological Survey established a sediment trap in the northern Gulf of Mexico to 

collect time-series data on the flux and assemblage composition of live planktic foraminifers. This 

report provides an update of the 2008 time-series data to include results from 2009. Ten species, or 

varieties, of planktic foraminifers constitute >90 percent of the assemblage: Globigerinoides ruber (pink 

and white varieties), Gs. sacculifer, Globigerina calida, Globigerinella aequilateralis, Globorotalia 

menardii group, Gt. truncatulinoides, Pulleniatina spp., Orbulina universa, and Neogloboquadrina 

dutertrei. The mean daily flux is about 215 tests per square meter per day (m-2 day-1), with maximum 

fluxes of >800 tests m-2 day-1 during early February and minimum fluxes of <20 tests m-2 day-1 during 

early October. Globorotalia truncatulinoides shows a clear preference for the winter and continues to 

provide the greatest number of tests for 2009, consistent with data from 2008. Globigerinoides ruber

(white variety) flux increased more than 3 orders of magnitude from an average of 3 tests m-2 day-1 in 

2008 to 11 tests m-2 day-1 in 2009. However, though Gs. ruber (white) abundance increased from 1.5 

percent in 2008 to 4.9 percent in 2009, it continues to be a minor contributor to the total assemblage 

composition, in contrast to assemblage records from nearby sediments that indicate Gs. ruber (white) 

typically comprises approximately 20-30 percent of the assemblage. 
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Introduction 

A sediment trap was moored in the northern Gulf of Mexico in January 2008 as part of a U.S. 

Geological Survey Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellowship project. The sediment trap, equipped with an 

automated sampling system, has continuously collected material in the water column from January 2008 

to the present and is currently deployed. Information on the trap, trap mooring, planktic foraminifers as 

climate proxies, and the results from the first year are detailed in Tedesco and others (2009). In this 

paper, we update results from the sediment-trap series to include material collected between January and 

December of 2009. The paper presents the data without interpretation. 

Regional Setting 

The Gulf of Mexico is a semi-enclosed basin surrounded by the Gulf Coast of the United States, 

Mexico, and Cuba (fig. 1). Sea-surface temperature (SST) at the trap site ranges from a winter low of 

around 21 C to a high of 30 C (World Ocean Atlas 2005 data cited in Locarnini and others, 2006). 

Sea-surface salinity (SSS) ranges from about 35 practical salinity units (psu) in the winter to 32 psu in 

the summer (World Ocean Atlas 2005 data cited in Antanov and others, 2006). 

The Gulf of Mexico is connected to the Caribbean and tropical North Atlantic through the Loop 

Current. The Loop Current is a surface current that enters the Gulf of Mexico between Cuba and the 

Yucatan Peninsula and typically loops east and south before exiting through the Florida Straits. 

The Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and western tropical North Atlantic comprise the Atlantic Warm 

Pool, the Atlantic portion of the Western Hemisphere Warm Pool. The Atlantic Warm Pool is defined 

by the region covered by water warmer than 28.5 oC and constitutes a large part of the tropical heat 

engine, supplying moisture to the atmosphere and latent heat to North America from early spring to 

early fall (Wang and Enfield, 2001; Wang and others, 2006). World Ocean Atlas 2005 climatology 
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indicates the trap site is part of the Atlantic Warm Pool during July, August, and September (summer) 

(Locarnini and others, 2006). 

Figure 1. Location of the sediment trap mooring (inverted triangle) in the northern Gulf of Mexico at approximately 

27.5°N. latitude and 90.3°W. longitude. 

Materials and Methods 

A McLane PARFLUX Mark 78 automated sediment trap was deployed in early January 2008 in 

approximately 1,150 m of water depth at approximately 27.5oN. latitude and 90.3oW. longitude. The 

trap is positioned at 700 m of water depth on the mooring to guarantee the collection of deeper dwelling 

species of planktic foraminifers (for example, Globorotalia spp.). The trap is equipped with 21 

collection cups that are mounted on a rotating plate that is programmed to rotate every 7 to 14 days. 
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Each cup contains a 3.7-percent buffered (sodium borate) formalin solution to poison and preserve the 

samples. Each trap sample represents a 1- to 2-week collection period. The trap is recovered and 

redeployed every 3-6 months, depending on sampling frequency. A gap in our sampling occurred from 

late May to late September 2009 due to scheduling problems. Samples from the weeks of March 17, 

April 7, May 5, October 22, November 19, and December 10 of 2009 were not recovered due to loss of 

the cups during deployment. During visits to the trap site, conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) 

measurements were collected using a Sea-Bird Electronics SBE9plus (fig. 2). 

Sediment-trap samples were wet split into four aliquots using a precision rotary splitter at the 

University of South Carolina, stored in buffered deionized water, and then refrigerated. A quarter split 

was wet sieved over a 150-micrometer ( m) sieve and subsequently wet picked for all foraminifers. To 

supplement total test counts in intervals with less than 300 foraminifers, we sieved and picked an 

additional one-quarter split and summed the counts. All planktic foraminifers were identified to species. 

The species counts are reported as flux in tests per square meter per day. Flux was calculated by 

multiplying the individual species counts by number of splits, then dividing by sampling length, which 

was typically 7 or 14 days. Percent abundance is reported weekly and for each season. Seasonal flux is 

the total flux for each individual species. Seasons are defined as winter (January, February, and March), 

spring (April, May, and June), summer (July, August, and September), and fall (October, November, 

and December). Relative seasonal abundances were calculated by dividing the individual species total 

seasonal flux by the total seasonal flux for all planktic foraminifers. 

Results and Discussion 

More than 25 species of planktic foraminifers were identified in the sediment-trap material. Ten 

species, or varieties, of planktic foraminifers constitute >90 percent of the assemblage: Globigerinoides 

ruber (d’Orbigny) (pink and white varieties), Gs. sacculifer (Brady), Globigerina calida (Parker),
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Figure 2. Temperature (panels on left) and salinity (panels on right) depth profiles from this study for the trap site 

during 2009. m, meters; psu, pratical salinity units. 

Globigerinella aequilateralis (Brady), Globorotalia menardii group [The Gt. menardii group includes 

Gt. menardii (Parker, Jones, and Brady), Gt. tumida (Brady), and Gt. ungulata (Bermudez)], Orbulina 

universa (d’Orbigny), Gt. truncatulinoides (d’Orbigny), Pulleniatina spp., and Neogloboquadrina 

dutertrei (d’Orbigny) (table 1, figs. 3 and 4). We discuss further the seasonal and annual variability of 

two species: Gt. truncatulinoides and Gs. ruber (white and pink). 

The mean daily flux of planktic foraminifers recovered from the sediment trap in 2009 was 

about 215 tests m-2 day-1 (table 1and fig. 3). The winter (January, February, and March) flux ranges 

from 84 to 865 tests m-2 day-1, with a mean flux of 346 tests m-2 day-1. Spring (April and May; June is 

missing) flux ranges from 36 to 208 tests m-2 day-1, with a mean flux of 127 tests m-2 day-1. The fall 

(October, November, and December) flux ranges from 16 to 384 tests m-2 day-1, with a mean flux of 

121 tests m-2 day-1.

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Table 1. Planktic foraminiferal flux (tests per square meter per day, m-2 d-1) and percent contribution (in 

parentheses) to the total assemblage for the 14 most common species, northern Gulf of Mexico. Table is 

separated by season (that is, winter, spring, summer, and fall) and year. The first 10 species listed comprise 

about 90 percent of the total flux. Particularly low fluxes (that is, <50 tests m-2 d-1) are denoted with an asterisk 

next to the mid-week collection date. 

Globorotalia truncatulinoides is the most abundant species in the early winter season, 

comprising >50 percent of the assemblage during January to mid-February (fig. 4). The spinose species 

Gs. ruber (pink), Gs. ruber (white), Gl. aequilateralis, and G. calida become important contributors for 

the remaining 6 weeks of the winter season. The spring assemblage is dominated by Gs. ruber (pink) 

and Gs. sacculifer, which combined make up >40 percent of the total assemblage. Globigerinella 

aequilateralis and G. calida contribute about 25 perecent. The summer season was not sampled in 

2009. Assemblage composition for the first half of fall is composed mostly of spinose species, Gs. 

ruber (pink), Gs. ruber (white), and G. calida. The non-spinose species Gt. menardii group, N. 

dutertrei, and Pulleniatina spp. dominate the latter half of the fall assemblage. 

Globorotalia truncatulinoides (d’Orbigny) is a non-spinose species that is common in the tropics 

and subtropics (Tolderlund and Bé, 1971). Globorotalia truncatulinoides is the most abundant species 

found in the trap, comprising >25 percent of the annual assemblage composition and providing more 

than twice as many tests as the next most abundant species. Six years of sediment-trap data from the 

Sargasso Sea indicate that Gt. truncatulinoides is the largest source of foraminiferal calcite to the 

seafloor (Deuser, 1986). Its restriction to the winter season may be related to reproduction. A number 

of studies have suggested this species relies on vertical mixing, which is greatest in winter, to help 

advect juveniles to the euphotic zone (Bé and Ericson, 1963; Hemleben and others, 1985; Lohmann and 

Schweitzer, 1990). 
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Figure 3. Average daily flux (tests per meter square per day, m-2 day-1) of 7- to 14-day long sampling intervals of all 

planktic foraminifers and the 10 most abundant species/groups during 2009. Note the scale change in the y-axes. 

The break in the x-axis represents a gap in sampling from late May to late September. 

Globigerinoides ruber is a spinose, symbiont-bearing species that occurs in two forms, pink and 

white, distinguished by the presence of pink pigmentation that ranges in coverage from the proloculus to 

the entire test. This species is an important proxy for past low- to mid-latitude climate reconstructions, 

and, therefore, its seasonal range has implications for interpreting the records embedded in their calcite. 

The sediment record shows Gs. ruber (white) is a major component (~20-30 percent) of late 

Holocene planktic foraminifer assemblages (Kennett and others, 1985; LoDico and others, 2006; Poore 

and others, in press). In contrast, flux and percent-abundance data from the northern Gulf of Mexico in 

2008 and 2009 indicate Gs. ruber (white) is a minor component of the annual assemblage, comprising 

only 1-5 percent of the total assemblage. Furthermore, the pink variety of Gs. ruber, typically 

comprising 8-10 percent of the assemblage, occurs in greater abundance than the white variety. 

Both varieties of Gs. ruber showed considerable increase in winter flux and percent abundance between 

2008 and 2009 (fig. 5). Globigerinoides ruber (white) flux increased to 55 tests m-2 day-1 by the 

beginning of March, an increase of 4 orders of magnitude compared to peak fluxes of 2008. Percent 

abundance for the white variety was highest in early October, at 30 percent. Globigerinoides ruber

(pink) winter flux peaks at >100 tests m-2 day-1

, which, in total, exceeds the 2008 interval of highest flux 

for this species (that is, summer). Percent abundance for the pink variety was highest in late May, at 39 

percent. Both varieties comprise the bulk (~60 percent) of the total planktic foraminifer population in 

October. 
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Figure 4. Average daily flux for all planktic foraminifers (tests m-2 day-1) (top panel) and weekly percent abundance of 

the 10 most common species/groups of planktic foraminifers during 2009. Note scale change in the y-axes. The 

break in the x-axis represents a gap in sampling from late May to late September. 

Figure 5. Average daily flux (tests per meter square per day, m-2 day-1) of 7- to 14-day long sampling intervals of 

Globigerinoides (Gs.) ruber (pink) (top panel) and Gs. ruber (white) (bottom panel) during 2008 and 2009. The 

break in the x-axis in 2009 represents a gap in sampling from late May to late September 2009. Flux of Gs. ruber

(white ) was substantially higher in 2009 than 2008. A comparison of pink and white Gs. ruber flux during winter 

2008 and 2009 (gray shading) shows both species increased in abundance by several orders of magnitude. 
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Conclusions 

Sediment-trap material from January to December of 2009 shows more than 25 species of 

planktic foraminifers were present in our sediment-trap samples. Of that, 10 species/groups comprise 

>90 percent of the total flux. A gap in sampling from late May to late September makes a comparison 

of 2008 and 2009 difficult. Nonetheless, Gt. truncatulinoides data continue to indicate that this species 

supplies the greatest number of tests, almost exlusively in winter (particularly January and February). 

Winter fluxes for Gs. ruber (white) and Gs. ruber (pink) were approximately 3 and 5 orders of 

magnitude greater, respectively. Percent abundance of Gs. ruber (white), although approximately 3 

orders of magnitude higher in 2009 than 2008, remains anomalously low compared to assemblage 

records from nearby sediments. 

Acknowledgments 

We thank Eric Tappa, Don Hickey, Chris Reich, Joe Malbrough, and the crew of the R/V 

Pelican for assistance in deploying the sediment-trap mooring; Bob Thunell for technical support and 

advice; Elizabeth Gordon for field support; and Caitlin Reynolds, Emily Wallace, and Adis Muslic for 

laboratory support. 
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