Towards reconstructing ancient seawater Mg/Ca by combining porcelaneous and hyaline foraminiferal Mg/Ca-temperature calibrations
Wit, J.C.; de Nooijer, L.J.; Haig, J.; Jorissen, F.J.; Thomas, E.; Reichart, G.-J. (2017). Towards reconstructing ancient seawater Mg/Ca by combining porcelaneous and hyaline foraminiferal Mg/Ca-temperature calibrations. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 211: 341-354. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2017.05.036 In: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. Elsevier: Oxford,New York etc.. ISSN 0016-7037; e-ISSN 1872-9533, more |  |
| Keyword | | | Author keywords | Mg/Ca seawater; Benthic foraminifera; Temperature reconstructions; Proxy calibration |
| Authors | | Top | - Wit, J.C.
- de Nooijer, L.J., more
- Haig, J.
| - Jorissen, F.J.
- Thomas, E.
- Reichart, G.-J., more
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| Abstract | The temperature of the deep ocean plays a vital role in the Earth’s climate system. Paleo-reconstructions of deep-sea temperatures have traditionally been based on the oxygen isotope composition of deep-sea benthic foraminiferal calcite shells, although this parameter depends upon polar ice volume as well as temperature. More recent reconstructions use Mg/Ca in these shells, with temperature calibrations based on empirical relationships observed in present-day oceans. Incorporation of Mg (DMg) into foraminiferal calcite is, however, not solely dependent on temperature, but also on seawater Mg/Ca. Due to its long oceanic residence time, Mg concentrations remained relatively constant over time scales of a few hundred thousand years, but varied significantly over longer geological time scales. Accurate reconstruction of past temperatures using foraminiferal Mg/Ca, therefore, hinges on our understanding of Mg/Ca seawater changes on geological timescales. We explore a novel, independent approach to reconstructing past seawater Mg/Ca using the temperature-dependent offset in DMg between porcelaneous (secreting intermediate- or high-Mg calcite, abbreviated as IMC or HMC, respectively) and hyaline (producing low-Mg calcite, abbreviated as LMC) benthic foraminifera. We calibrated the Mg/Ca-temperature dependence for Pyrgo spp. (one of the few common, large-sized porcelaneous taxa present in the deep-sea since the middle Miocene), and combined this with an existing calibration of hyaline Cibicidoides spp. to mathematically solve for changes in Mg/Ca seawater through time. We show that changes in Mg/Ca seawater can be reconstructed using the offset between porcelaneous and hyaline foraminifera, but absolute values are highly dependent on the species-specific offset between Mg/Ca seawater and Mg-partition coefficients. |
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