Stable isotopic composition of bottom water and benthic foraminifera from Hakon Mosby Mud Vulcano ...

• Main Authors: Mackensen, Andreas, Wollenburg, Jutta Erika, Licari, Laetitia
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2006
• Subjects: Paleoenvironmental Reconstructions from Marine Sediments @ AWI AWI_Paleo; Barents Sea; Northern Norway
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.834860; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.834860

To investigate the use of benthic foraminifera as a means to document ancient methane release, we determined the stable isotopic composition of tests of live (Rose Bengal stained) and dead specimens of epibenthic Fontbotia wuellerstorfi, preferentially used in paleoceanographic reconstructions, and of endobenthic high-latitude Cassidulina neoteretis and Cassidulina reniforme from a cold methane-venting seep off northern Norway. We collected foraminiferal tests from three push cores and nine multiple cores obtained with a remotely operated vehicle and a video-guided multiple corer, respectively. All sampled sites except one control site are situated at the Håkon Mosby mud volcano (HMMV) on the Barents Sea continental slope in 1250 m water depth. At the HMMV in areas densely populated by pogonophoran tube worms, d13C values of cytoplasm-containing epibenthic F. wuellerstorfi are by up to 4.4 per mil lower than at control site, thus representing the lowest values hitherto reported for this species. Live C. ... : Supplement to: Mackensen, Andreas; Wollenburg, Jutta Erika; Licari, Laetitia (2006): Low d13C in tests of live epibenthic and endobenthic foraminifera at a site of active methane seepage. Paleoceanography, 21(2), PA2022 ...