Oxygen and carbon isotope fractionation of marine ostracod calcite from the eastern Mediterranean Sea

• Published in: Chemical Geology
• Main Authors: Bornemann, André, Pirkenseer, Claudius, De Deckker, Patrick, Speijer, Robert
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2012
• Subjects: marine ostracodes; stable isotopes; late quaternary; paleoceanography; stable-isotope; benthic foraminifera; biological carbonates; late-quaternary; synthetic aragonite; valve geochemistry; latest pleistocene; water temperature; north-atlantic; bottom water; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/355117; http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=DOISource&SrcApp=PRODUCT_NAME&KeyAID=10.1016%2Fj.chemgeo.2012.03.028&DestApp=DOI&SrcAppSID=APP_SID&SrcJTitle=WURS_TITLE; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2012.03.028; https://lirias.kuleuven.be/bitstream/123456789/355117/4//Bornemann_et_al_2012%28Ostracod-fractionation_CG%29.pdf; https://lirias.kuleuven.be/bitstream/123456789/355117/3//Bornemann_et_al_2012_p1%28Ostracod-fractionation_CG%29.pdf

Over the last two decades, non-marine ostracods have been intensively studied with respect to the stable isotopic composition (delta C-13, delta O-18) of their calcified valves, however, few data for marine taxa have been published so far. Here, we provide new data from recent and Pleistocene near-surface sediments of the Gulf of Taranto (recent) and the southern Aegean Sea (15 ka, both in the Mediterranean Sea) helping to improve our understanding of ostracod stable isotopes in palaeoceanography. Results are compared to those of certain benthic foraminiferal taxa for which the living habitat and the isotopic disequilibrium from ambient sea-water are known. In addition, monospecific size fractions of three common ostracod species (Bairdia conform is, Bosquetina tarentina, Henryhowella sarsii) have been studied from the Gulf of Taranto in order to test the existence of a size-dependent change in the delta C-13 and delta O-18 composition of the valve calcite. Our results reveal positive average species-specific deviations from the delta O-18 of calcite equilibrium for two ostracod taxa (B. conformis 0.31 parts per thousand., H. sarsii 0.33 parts per thousand.), while B. tarentina shows a negative off-set of 0.41 parts per thousand. These values are substantially lower than those reported for most non-marine ostracods, which usually yield positive "vital effects" for delta O-18 of more than 2 parts per thousand. Furthermore, B. tare ntina is thereby the only ostracod taxon so far for which a negative "vital effect" has been reported, apart from the non-marine Eucypris mareotica. delta C-13 values cover a much larger range than delta O-18 with a negative off-set from sea-water by -1.8 to -5 parts per thousand. Size-fraction data show no systematic change, although a statistically-significant positive covariance between delta C-13 and delta O-18 has been observed, consisting of a slope similar to a kinetically controlled fractionation effect as has previously been documented for asymbiotic planktic foraminifera and corals. The documented interspecific offsets can be primarily attributed to differences in diet for delta C-13 and for both delta C-13 and delta O-18 to fractionation processes related to different modes of calcification. status: published