Non-destructive foraminiferal paleoclimatic proxies: A brief insight

Abstract

The knowledge of past climate can help us to understand imminent climatic changes. Oceans are the vast archives of past climate. Various indirect techniques termed as proxies are used to infer key components of the past climate from the marine sediments. The fossil remains of marine microorganism foraminifera, are widely used to reconstruct past climate from marine archives, as foraminifera are highly abundant and extensively present in almost all marine realms. Foraminiferal paleoclimatic proxies can be classified in two broad categories, viz. A) destructive (the stable isotopic and trace element composition of foraminifera), those wherein the foraminiferal remains are analyzed to measure its chemical composition and it leads to destruction of the foraminiferal test, and B) non-destructive, wherein changes in the abundance and morphology of foraminifera are used to reconstruct past climate. Here the non-destructive foraminiferal paleoclimatic proxies have been discussed with its recent developments as well as applications. Despite the extensive application of the stable isotopic and trace element composition of foraminifera to infer past climate, non-destructive techniques are still quite helpful to reconstruct past climate as well as to substantiate inferences drawn from destructive techniques.