Living coccolith assemblages of surface sediment samples from the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean ...

• Main Authors: Saavedra-Pellitero, Mariem, Baumann, Karl-Heinz
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2015
• Subjects: Event label; Latitude of event; Longitude of event; Elevation of event; DEPTH, sediment/rock; Coccoliths; Calcidiscus leptoporus; Emiliania huxleyi; Gephyrocapsa oceanica; Gephyrocapsa muellerae; Gephyrocapsa ericsonii; Gephyrocapsa spp.; Umbellosphaera tenuis; Helicosphaera carteri; Coccolithus braarudii; Syracosphaera spp.; Florisphaera profunda; Umbilicosphaera sp.; Acanthoica sp.; MultiCorer; ANT-XXVI/2; Polarstern; Center for Marine Environmental Sciences MARUM; Priority Programme 1158 Antarctic Research with Comparable Investigations in Arctic Sea Ice Areas SPP1158; Antarctic; Arctic; New Zealand; Pacific; Southern Ocean; Antarc*; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.867497; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.867497

This study examined recent coccolith surface sediment assemblages across the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean (from Punta Arenas, Chile toWellington, New Zealand). Twenty five stations located within 44.4°S to 65.4°S and 80.1°W to 174.5°E were selected in order to assess if and how the surface sediment assemblages reflect the present-day coccolithophore community and surface-water oceanographic conditions. The highest numbers of coccoliths in the surface sediments are reached near the East Pacific Rise and close to the Subtropical Front, at the New Zealand Margin (>6x109 coccoliths/g of sediment). The dominant taxa are Emiliania huxleyi (including types A, B, B/C and C), Calcidiscus leptoporus, Gephyrocapsa spp. (including G. muellerae, G. oceanica and G. ericsonii), Umbellosphaera tenuis and Coccolithus braarudii. Despite the recognition of species morphotypes being hampered by carbonate dissolution at some locations, we observed that numbers generally decrease southward until almost a monospecific ... : This work was funded by DFG Fellowship SA 2593/1-1. ...