Development of a Deep-Water Carbonate Ion Concentration Proxy Based on Preservation of Planktonic Foraminifera Shells Quantified by X-Ray CT Scanning

Abstract

The quantitative and objective characterization of dissolution intensity in fossil planktonic foraminiferal shells could be used to reconstruct past changes in bottom water carbonate ion concentration. Among proxies measuring the degree of dissolution of planktonic foraminiferal shells, X-ray micro-Computed Tomography (CT) based characterization of apparent shell density appears to have good potential to facilitate quantitative reconstruction of carbonate chemistry. However, unlike the well-established benthic foraminiferal B/Ca ratio-based proxy, only a regional calibration of the CT-based proxy exists based on a limited number of data points covering mainly low-saturation state waters. Here we determined by CT-based proxy the shell dissolution intensity of planktonic foraminifera Globigerina bulloides, Globorotalia inflata, Globigerinoides ruber, and Trilobatus sacculifer from a collection of core top samples in the Southern Atlantic covering higher saturation states and assessed the reliability of CT-based proxy. We observed that the CT-based proxy is generally controlled by deep-water Δ[(Figure presented.)] like the B/Ca proxy, but its effective range of Δ[(Figure presented.)] is between −20 and 10 µmolkg−1. In this range, the CT-based proxy appears directly and strongly related to deep-water Δ[(Figure presented.)], whereas we note that in some settings, there appears to be a secondary influence on B/Ca which we suggest may be due to elevated alkalinity from carbonate dissolution in sediments. On the other hand, the CT-based proxy is affected by supralysoclinal dissolution in areas with high productivity. Like the B/Ca proxy, the CT-based proxy requires species-specific calibration, but the effect of species-specific shell difference in susceptibility to dissolution on the proxy is small.