ORCID

0000-0001-6362-7845 (Schmidt)

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2022

DOI

10.3389/fmars.2022.864801

Publication Title

Frontiers in Marine Science

Volume

9

Pages

864801 (1-21)

Abstract

The mass of well-preserved calcite in planktonic foraminifera shells provides an indication of the calcification potential of the surface ocean. Here we report the shell weight of 8 different abundant planktonic foraminifera species from a set of core-top sediments along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The analyses showed that near the equator, foraminifera shells of equivalent size weigh on average 1/3 less than those from the middle latitudes. The carbonate preservation state of the samples was assessed by high resolution X-ray microcomputed tomographic analyses of Globigerinoides ruber and Globorotalia truncatulinoides specimens. The specimen preservation was deemed good and does not overall explain the observed shell mass variations. However, G. ruber shell weights might be to some extent compromised by residual fine debris internal contamination. Deep dwelling species possess heavier tests than their surface-dwelling counterparts, suggesting that the weight of the foraminifera shells changes as a function of the depth habitat. Ambient seawater carbonate chemistry of declining carbonate ion concentration with depth cannot account for this interspecies difference. The results suggest a depth regulating function for plankton calcification, which is not dictated by water column acidity.

Rights

© 2022 Zarkogiannis, Iwasaki, Rae, Schmidt, Mortyn, Kontakiotis, Hertzberg and Rickaby.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Data Availability

Article states: "The high resolution microcomputed tomographic datasets generated and analysed for this study can be found in the FIGSHARE data repository at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.17088860.v1 for G. ruber and at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19747198.v2 for G. truncatulinoides."

Original Publication Citation

Zarkogiannis, S. D., Iwasaki, S., Rae, J. W. B., Schmidt, M. W., Mortyn, P. G., Kontakiotis, G., Hertzberg, J. E., & Rickaby, R. E. M. (2022). Calcification, dissolution and test properties of modern planktonic foraminifera from the central Atlantic Ocean. Frontiers in Marine Science, 9, 1-21, Article 864801. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.864801

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