Ba incorporation in benthic foraminifera

20Citations
Citations of this article
49Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

Barium (Ba) incorporated in the calcite of many foraminiferal species is proportional to the concentration of Ba in seawater. Since the open ocean concentration of Ba closely follows seawater alkalinity, foraminiferal Ba Ca can be used to reconstruct the latter. Alternatively, Ba Ca from foraminiferal shells can also be used to reconstruct salinity in coastal settings in which seawater Ba concentration corresponds to salinity as rivers contain much more Ba than seawater. Incorporation of a number of minor and trace elements is known to vary (greatly) between foraminiferal species, and application of element Ca ratios thus requires the use of species-specific calibrations. Here we show that calcite Ba Ca correlates positively and linearly with seawater Ba Ca in cultured specimens of two species of benthic foraminifera: Heterostegina depressa and Amphistegina lessonii. The slopes of the regression, however, vary two- to threefold between these two species (0.33 and 0.78, respectively). This difference in Ba partitioning resembles the difference in partitioning of other elements (Mg, Sr, B, Li and Na) in these foraminiferal taxa. A general trend across element partitioning for different species is described, which may help develop new applications of trace elements in foraminiferal calcite in reconstructing past seawater chemistry.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

De Nooijer, L. J., Brombacher, A., Mewes, A., Langer, G., Nehrke, G., Bijma, J., & Reichart, G. J. (2017). Ba incorporation in benthic foraminifera. Biogeosciences, 14(14), 3387–3400. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-3387-2017

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free