Benthic Foraminifera in Arctic Methane Hydrate Bearing Sediments
Benthic foraminifera have been widely used as proxy for paleo-methane emissions, mainly based on their stable isotopic signature. In cold seeps, the ecology of these organisms remains uncertain, in particular their ability to thrive during active phases of seepage. In this study, we evaluate the ben...
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/16889 2023-05-15T14:23:16+02:00 Benthic Foraminifera in Arctic Methane Hydrate Bearing Sediments Dessandier, Pierre-Antoine Borrelli, Chiara Kalenitchenko, Dimitri Panieri, Giuliana 2019-12-10 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/16889 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00765 eng eng Frontiers Media Frontiers in Marine Science Norges forskningsråd: 225150 Norges forskningsråd: 223259 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/RCN/SFF/223259/Norway/Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate/CAGE/ info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/RCN/?/225150/?/?/?/ Dessandier P, Borrelli C, Kalenitchenko D, Panieri G. Benthic Foraminifera in Arctic Methane Hydrate Bearing Sediments. Frontiers in Marine Science. 2019;6 FRIDAID 1758977 doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00765 2296-7745 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/16889 openAccess VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed publishedVersion 2019 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00765 2021-06-25T17:56:59Z Benthic foraminifera have been widely used as proxy for paleo-methane emissions, mainly based on their stable isotopic signature. In cold seeps, the ecology of these organisms remains uncertain, in particular their ability to thrive during active phases of seepage. In this study, we evaluate the benthic foraminiferal response to methane seepage in Arctic sediments. We do so by examining living and dead benthic foraminiferal assemblages (>63 µm) of 11 push cores collected in two of the most active pockmarks (Lunde and Lomvi) along Vestnesa Ridge, offshore western Svalbard. Benthic foraminiferal assemblages are interpreted in the context of sediment geochemistry, seafloor images, and pore water analyses, which are used to characterize the different microhabitats. At the sampling locations, methane is currently being released making these the ideal sites to investigate the connection between the benthic foraminiferal distribution and methane seepage in the Arctic Ocean. Our results show that benthic calcareous foraminifera live in methane charged sediments, even if the faunal density and diversity is low. We note that the eutrophic-tolerant species Melonis barleeanus withstand the methane-induced hostile geochemical conditions and that it seems to prosper on the additional food availability represented by microbial mats growing at methane seeps. We also observe that the methane transport mechanisms affect different species differently. For example, sediments characterized by advectivelike conditions are distinguished by a high density of living individuals, dominated by Cassidulina neoteretis, whereas sediments characterized by methane diffusion exhibit a very low faunal density. Agglutinated foraminifera are less abundant in sediments influenced by methane seepage, suggesting that this group of foraminifera does not tolerate the geochemical conditions at seeps. A comparison between the size fractions >63 and >125 µm highlights the importance of studying the finer size fraction for ecological studies in the Arctic Ocean. In the light of our results, we conclude that benthic foraminiferal can thrive at active methane seeps, where assemblages are clearly affected by methane flux. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic arctic methane Arctic Arctic Ocean Foraminifera* Lomvi Methane hydrate Svalbard Lunde University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Arctic Arctic Ocean Lunde ENVELOPE(50.467,50.467,-66.967,-66.967) Svalbard Frontiers in Marine Science 6 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450 Dessandier, Pierre-Antoine Borrelli, Chiara Kalenitchenko, Dimitri Panieri, Giuliana Benthic Foraminifera in Arctic Methane Hydrate Bearing Sediments |
topic_facet |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450 |
description |
Benthic foraminifera have been widely used as proxy for paleo-methane emissions, mainly based on their stable isotopic signature. In cold seeps, the ecology of these organisms remains uncertain, in particular their ability to thrive during active phases of seepage. In this study, we evaluate the benthic foraminiferal response to methane seepage in Arctic sediments. We do so by examining living and dead benthic foraminiferal assemblages (>63 µm) of 11 push cores collected in two of the most active pockmarks (Lunde and Lomvi) along Vestnesa Ridge, offshore western Svalbard. Benthic foraminiferal assemblages are interpreted in the context of sediment geochemistry, seafloor images, and pore water analyses, which are used to characterize the different microhabitats. At the sampling locations, methane is currently being released making these the ideal sites to investigate the connection between the benthic foraminiferal distribution and methane seepage in the Arctic Ocean. Our results show that benthic calcareous foraminifera live in methane charged sediments, even if the faunal density and diversity is low. We note that the eutrophic-tolerant species Melonis barleeanus withstand the methane-induced hostile geochemical conditions and that it seems to prosper on the additional food availability represented by microbial mats growing at methane seeps. We also observe that the methane transport mechanisms affect different species differently. For example, sediments characterized by advectivelike conditions are distinguished by a high density of living individuals, dominated by Cassidulina neoteretis, whereas sediments characterized by methane diffusion exhibit a very low faunal density. Agglutinated foraminifera are less abundant in sediments influenced by methane seepage, suggesting that this group of foraminifera does not tolerate the geochemical conditions at seeps. A comparison between the size fractions >63 and >125 µm highlights the importance of studying the finer size fraction for ecological studies in the Arctic Ocean. In the light of our results, we conclude that benthic foraminiferal can thrive at active methane seeps, where assemblages are clearly affected by methane flux. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dessandier, Pierre-Antoine Borrelli, Chiara Kalenitchenko, Dimitri Panieri, Giuliana |
author_facet |
Dessandier, Pierre-Antoine Borrelli, Chiara Kalenitchenko, Dimitri Panieri, Giuliana |
author_sort |
Dessandier, Pierre-Antoine |
title |
Benthic Foraminifera in Arctic Methane Hydrate Bearing Sediments |
title_short |
Benthic Foraminifera in Arctic Methane Hydrate Bearing Sediments |
title_full |
Benthic Foraminifera in Arctic Methane Hydrate Bearing Sediments |
title_fullStr |
Benthic Foraminifera in Arctic Methane Hydrate Bearing Sediments |
title_full_unstemmed |
Benthic Foraminifera in Arctic Methane Hydrate Bearing Sediments |
title_sort |
benthic foraminifera in arctic methane hydrate bearing sediments |
publisher |
Frontiers Media |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/16889 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00765 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(50.467,50.467,-66.967,-66.967) |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Lunde Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Lunde Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic arctic methane Arctic Arctic Ocean Foraminifera* Lomvi Methane hydrate Svalbard Lunde |
genre_facet |
Arctic arctic methane Arctic Arctic Ocean Foraminifera* Lomvi Methane hydrate Svalbard Lunde |
op_relation |
Frontiers in Marine Science Norges forskningsråd: 225150 Norges forskningsråd: 223259 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/RCN/SFF/223259/Norway/Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate/CAGE/ info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/RCN/?/225150/?/?/?/ Dessandier P, Borrelli C, Kalenitchenko D, Panieri G. Benthic Foraminifera in Arctic Methane Hydrate Bearing Sediments. Frontiers in Marine Science. 2019;6 FRIDAID 1758977 doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00765 2296-7745 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/16889 |
op_rights |
openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00765 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
6 |
_version_ |
1766295841675411456 |