Regenberg, Marcus, Regenberg, Anke, Garbe-Schönberg, Dieter and Lea, David W. (2014) Global dissolution effects on planktonic foraminiferal Mg/Ca ratios controlled by the calcite-saturation state of bottom waters. Paleoceanography, 29 (3). pp. 127-142. DOI 10.1002/2013pa002492.

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Abstract

Mg/Ca ratios of planktonic foraminiferal tests are important tools for reconstructing past ocean temperatures at different levels of the upper water column. Yet numerous studies suggest a significant influence of calcite dissolution on Mg/Ca ratios lowering their initial signal recorded within a planktonic foraminiferal habitat. To determine the effect of dissolution, this study presents Mg/Ca ratios of eight planktonic foraminiferal species from the South China Sea sediment surface. Continuously decreasing with increasing water depth, the Mg/Ca ratios also decrease with calcite-saturation states close to and below saturation (bottom water Delta[CO32-] <30 mu mol kg(-1)) but are stable in well calcite-supersaturated bottom waters (>40 mu mol kg(-1)). This preservation pattern compares well with examples of Mg/Ca dissolution from the tropical Atlantic Ocean and is independent of the foraminiferal species. Merging a global data set by separate normalization of 79 Mg/Ca data sets from the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, which removes thermal differences between the ocean regions and foraminiferal species, enabled us to quantify a global decrease in planktonic foraminiferal Mg/Ca ratios of 0.054 +/- 0.019 mu mol mol(-1) per mol kg(-1) below a critical threshold for dissolution of 21.3 +/- 6.6 mu mol kg(-1). The absolute decline in Mg/Ca ratios, which is similar for all species, affects temperature estimates from (sub-)thermocline species more strongly than those from shallow dwellers. The water depth of this critical threshold in the global oceans shoals from >3.5 km in the North Atlantic to <0.5 km in the North Pacific based on calculations of the global calcite-saturation state from 6321 hydrographic stations. Above this critical threshold Mg/Ca ratios are well preserved, and paleotemperature estimates are broadly unaffected by dissolution.

Document Type:	Article
Keywords:	planktonic foraminifera Mg/Ca bottom‐water calcite‐saturation state calcite dissolution paleotemperature estimates
Research affiliation:	OceanRep > The Future Ocean - Cluster of Excellence > FO-R09 Kiel University Kiel University > Kiel Marine Science OceanRep > The Future Ocean - Cluster of Excellence
Refereed:	Yes
Open Access Journal?:	No
Publisher:	American Medical Association
Projects:	Future Ocean
Date Deposited:	30 Mar 2015 12:41
Last Modified:	23 Sep 2019 22:13
URI:	https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/28153

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