Seawater pH reconstruction using boron isotopes in multiple planktonic foraminifera species with different depth habitats and their potential to constrain pH and pCO(2) gradients

• Published in: Biogeosciences
• Main Authors: Guillermic, Maxence, Misra, Sambuddha, Eagle, Robert A., Villa, Alexandra, Chang, Fengming, Tripati, Aradhna
• Other Authors: Domaines Océaniques (LDO), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers-Institut d'écologie et environnement-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Indian Inst Sci, Dept Mat Engn, Bangalore, Karnataka, India, University of Cambridge UK (CAM), University of Wisconsin-Madison, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing (CAS), Laboratoire Géosciences Océan (LGO), Université de Bretagne Sud (UBS)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), DOE BES grantUnited States Department of Energy (DOE) DE-FG02-13ER16402, LabexMer ANR-10-LABX-19-01, IAGC
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: [SDV.MP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology; Planktonic foraminifera
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02933374; https://hal.science/hal-02933374/document; https://hal.science/hal-02933374/file/bg-17-3487-2020.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-3487-2020

International audience Boron isotope systematics of planktonic foraminifera from core-top sediments and culture experiments have been studied to investigate the sensitivity of delta B-11 of calcite tests to seawater pH. However, our knowledge of the relationship between delta B-11 and pH remains incomplete for many taxa. Thus, to expand the potential scope of application of this proxy, we report delta B-11 data for seven different species of planktonic foraminifera from sediment core tops. We utilize a method for the measurement of small samples of foraminifera and calculate the delta B-11-calcite sensitivity to pH for Globigerinoides ruber, Trilobus sacculifer (sacc or without sacc), Orbulina universa, Pulleniatina obliquiloculata, Neogloboquadrina dutertrei, Globorotalia menardii, and Globorotalia tumida, including for unstudied core tops and species. These taxa have diverse ecological preferences and are from sites that span a range of oceanographic regimes, including some that are in regions of air-sea equilibrium and others that are out of equilibrium with the atmosphere. The sensitivity of delta(11)B(carbonate )to delta B-11(borate) (e.g., Delta delta B-11(carbonate)/Delta delta B-11(borate)) in core tops is consistent with previous studies for T. sacculifer and G. ruber and close to unity for N. dutertrei, O. universa, and combined deep-dwelling species. Deep-dwelling species closely follow the core-top calibration for O. universa, which is attributed to respiration-driven microenvironments likely caused by light limitation and/or symbiont-host interactions. Our data support the premise that utilizing boron isotope measurements of multiple species within a sediment core can be utilized to constrain vertical profiles of pH and pCO(2) at sites spanning different oceanic regimes, thereby constraining changes in vertical pH gradients and yielding insights into the past behavior of the oceanic carbon pumps.