Benthic foraminiferal assemblages in the Arctic ocean : indicators for water mass distribution, productivity, and sea ice drift PDF Download

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : de
Pages : 227

View

Book Description

Author: Kelly Best Lazar
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

View

Book Description
As global climate continues to warm, the Arctic Ocean is becoming increasingly vulnerable, largely due to a fast retreat of sea ice. Knowledge of paleo-sea-ice conditions is essential for comprehending the changing Arctic system. This study combines micropaleontological (foraminiferal) data with existing litho- and chronostratigraphic results to construct a more resolved stratigraphic record and history of sea-ice change during the Quaternary in the western Arctic Ocean. Benthic foraminiferal assemblages were investigated in four sediment cores from the Northwind, Mendeleev, and Lomonosov Ridges (western Arctic Ocean). A uniquely-preserved sediment core from the Northwind Ridge was found to contain the longest calcareous foraminiferal record in the Arctic Ocean, estimated to extend to the early Pleistocene, ca. 1.5 Ma. This record was divided into two assemblage zones, representing distinct changes in foraminiferal composition with respect to ecological groups (polar vs. phytodetrital species) and extinct taxa. The distribution of polar and phytodetrital species yields significant information related to sea ice (perennial vs. seasonal) and associated climatic conditions. A principal faunal and sedimentary turnover occurred near the early-middle Pleistocene boundary (estimated ca 0.7-0.8 Ma), indicating an advance of perennial sea ice along with an increase in glacial inputs from the Laurentide ice sheet at the end of the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT).

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Polar regions
Languages : en
Pages : 702

View

Book Description

Author: Anastasia Kyrmanidou
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Antarctic Peninsula (Antarctica)
Languages : en
Pages : 290

View

Book Description
The overall objective of this dissertation was to investigate the benthic foraminiferal assemblage dynamics of the northwestern part of the Weddell Sea and to utilize them as oceanographic proxies. Spatial and temporal patterns of foraminiferal assemblages are correlated with other proxies in order to reconstruct and better understand Antarctic Peninsula (AP) paleoenvironmental changes, particularly those pertaining to bottom-water circulation, glacial fluctuations, and biological productivity on the eastern margin of the AP (EAP). This area in the northeast Antarctic Peninsula has experienced significant environmental change evidenced by the collapse of both Larsen-A and Larsen -B ice shelves, involving various preconditioned and sequential transitions in cryosphere and ecosystem dynamics. The first project (Chapter 3) presents an expanded foraminiferal and diatom record from Perseverance Drift, northeastern AP. Using benthic foraminifera and diatoms as paleoenvironmental proxies for paleoproductivity and sea ice conditions in the area, a record extending back to 3400 yr BP, constrained via radiocarbon dating of biogenic calcite was produced. The variability of the recor was compared with existing paleoenvironmental marine records of the AP, which recognize Holocene hypsithermal and cooling events, such as the Mid-Holocene Climatic Optimum and the Neoglacial period. Overall, Holocene climatic variability is complex, with warm and cool phasing occurring at different rates and at different times across the AP (Bentley et al., 2009). Based on the foraminiferal and diatom record of Perseverance Drift, this study recognizes two main intervals of climatic variability. The basal unit of the composite core, characterized by high abundances of Globocassidulina spp. Foraminiferal Assemblage (FA), indicates incursions of Weddell Sea Transitional Water over the drift site. This interval implies a period of 'freshening' of the water column, coinciding with an open-marine or seasonally open-marine environment during the middle-to-late Holocene Climatic Optimum. The upper unit of the composite core displays characteristics of slightly colder climatic conditions as indicated by the absence of calcareous foraminifera Globocassiulina spp. FA and the pronounced presence of agglutinated FAs that are indicative of the presence of heavy sea ice. Therefore, this interval is interpreted to represent the onset of Neoglaciation at the northeastern tip of the AP. The main objective of the second project (Chapter 4) was to understand modern trends in the foraminiferal-environmental relationship in order to be able to accurately interpret the environmental conditions represented in paleo-records from the eastern part of the AP (EAP), and more specifically the formerly ice shelf-covered Larsen A embayment. This project compared already published data reporting on modern foraminiferal assemblage distributions from the Larsen A embayment (collected in March 2000) with new data reporting on modern foraminiferal assemblage distributions (collected in March 2012) from approximately the same sampling locations that follow an inshore to offshore transect designed to serve as a spatial approximation for temporal differences in ice shelf coverage over the past several decades. Additionally, down-core (2012) samples were analyzed and compared with the modern datasets in an attempt to obtain longer-term information regarding the foraminiferal communities' status pre-collapse. The main difference within the span of 12 years separating the sampling efforts is the removal of the calcareous component from the foraminiferal dataset in stations from the inner part of the embayment, situated closer to the ice shelf edge. The down-core foraminiferal data, seem to be following the same pattern as observed in the modern datasets, therefore, providing proof of the concept that distance from the ice shelf edge, in combination with the effects of taphonomical dissolution and locally increased food availability, is a factor that can structure the benthic foraminiferal community composition in environments characterized by ice shelf collapse, such as the Larsen A embayment. The third project (Chapter 5) provides an analysis of foraminiferal assemblages collected from sediment core GC16B near the northern margin of Larsen C ice shelf. Foraminiferal analysis of samples collected from this core revealed a diverse assemblage of calcareous benthic foraminiferal taxa in the upper 20 cm of the core, with very low contribution from agglutinated forms. Owing to the very low absolute diatom abundance values that characterize the core, the high abundance of planktonic foraminiferal taxa relative to benthic foraminiferal taxa, and the dominance patterns of the benthic foraminiferal taxa, different hypothesis pertaining to the source of productivity in this sub-ice shelf environment have been employed involving the transport of advected food supply from the open Weddell Sea and the response of the foraminiferal fauna to less productive (than labile) organic matter as their food source.

Author: Fatima Abrantes
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461541972
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 458

View

Book Description
This volume is one outcome of the 6th International Conference on Paleoceano graphy (ICP VI). The conference was held August 23-28, 1998 in Lisbon, Portugal. The meeting followed the traditional format of a small number of invited oral presentations complemented by a large number ofcontributed posters. Over 550 participants attended, representing thirty countries and nearly 450 posters were presented. The invited speakers addressed the main themes of the 5oral sessions. The session topics were: Polar-Tropical and Interhemisphere Linkages; Does the Ocean Cause, or Respond to, Abrupt Climatic Changes?; Biotic Responses to Major Paleoceanographic Changes; Past Warm Climates; and Innovations In Monitoring Ocean History. This is the first time in ICP history that the Conference Proceedings are published. The aim of the organisers with the publication of this book is two-fold: to provide a useful review of the field and to document the ideas/controversies raised during the con ference that may stimulate future work. The book reflects the initial intentions of the conference, but it is not a conven tional conference proceedings, given that the papers have been reviewed by formal exter nal referees. Each of the conference topics is introduced by a review article designed to summarize the state of the art in each theme followed by articles prepared by the invited speakers. As with most conference proceedings, each theme is covered heterogenously. Some topics have all the expected contributions, others are less well covered.

Author: Lisa E. Osterman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Arctic regions
Languages : en
Pages : 36

View

Book Description

Author: Ann Holbourn
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118452526
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1115

View

Book Description
An up-to-date atlas of an important fossil and living group, with the Natural History Museum. Deep-sea benthic foraminifera have played a central role in biostratigraphic, paleoecological, and paleoceanographical research for over a century. These single–celled marine protists are important because of their geographic ubiquity, distinction morphologies and rapid evolutionary rates, their abundance and diversity deep–sea sediments, and because of their utility as indicators of environmental conditions both at and below the sediment–water interface. In addition, stable isotopic data obtained from deep–sea benthic foraminiferal tests provide paleoceanographers with environmental information that is proving to be of major significance in studies of global climatic change. This work collects together, for the first time, new morphological descriptions, taxonomic placements, stratigraphic occurrence data, geographical distribution summaries, and palaeoecological information, along with state-of-the-art colour photomicrographs (most taken in reflected light, just as you would see them using light microscopy), of 300 common deep-sea benthic foraminifera species spanning the interval from Jurassic - Recent. This volume is intended as a reference and research resource for post-graduate students in micropalaeontology, geological professionals (stratigraphers, paleontologists, paleoecologists, palaeoceanographers), taxonomists, and evolutionary (paleo)biologists.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 868

View

Book Description

Author: Laura Bordelon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 221

View

Book Description
The Southern Ocean has unique seasonal qualities due to the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) thermo-isolating the Antarctic continent. During summer months, surface primary productivity from algal blooms is very high. In the winter months, limited daylight hours (4 in winter) and formation of sea ice prevents sun light from reaching surface waters, therefore limiting productivity. The short seasons of productivity and long winters in Antarctica combined with seasonal changes in deep ocean temperatures, salinity, and fluxes of organic matter impact foraminiferal population dynamics. Fluctuations in surface primary productivity, as well as living foraminiferal assemblages have been documented around the Antarctica Peninsula, but the impact on benthic foraminiferal assemblages is poorly understood. This is a study of seasonal affects on benthic foraminiferal assemblages in the southern Bransfield-northern Gerlache Straits of the Southern Ocean. Surface sediment samples from 600 meters and 1200 meters water depth were collected during two seasonal cruises: early April to record the productivity of the end-of-summer bloom and late June to sample the less-productive winter period. Three hundred and sixty samples were collected from 7 sites and processed using standard techniques. To identify living foraminifera, samples were treated with Rose Bengal, and CellTracker Green on a select set of samples for comparison. Ninety total species were identified; seventy species from June and seventy-one from April, fifteen species of foraminifera unique to April, thirteen to June and two unique species in the CellTracker Green samples. The abundance of total living (stained tests) opportunistic benthic foraminiferal species from the 7 sampled sites show distinct temporal differences related to seasonality. An assemblage of deep water species was also found, as well as an assemblage of shallow water species. ANOVA and post hoc Tukey tests showed that the full cores must be analyzed to determine seasonal species assemblage changes. Cluster analysis and species abundances in CellTracker Green samples showed a marked difference from the Rose Bengal samples, consistent with literature that suggests the two methods differ. Fluctuating populations of foraminifera in fossil samples can be interpreted as changes in local or global climate. This study stands as a modern analog for fossil foraminiferal assemblages, and provides important information to help interpret paleoenvironmental conditions related to seasonality by defining seasonally and geographically distinct species assemblages.

Author: Priska Schäfer
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9783540672319
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 520

View

Book Description
The northern North Atlantic is one of the regions most sensitive to past and present global changes. This book integrates the results of an interdisciplinary project studying the properties of the Greenland-Iceland-Norwegian Seas and the processes of pelagic and benthic particle formation, particle transport, and deposition in the deep-sea sediments. Ice-related and biogeochemical processes have been investigated to decipher the spatial and temporal variability of the production and fate of organic carbon in this region. Isotopic stratigraphy, microfossil assemblages and paleotemperatures are combined to reconstruct paleoceanographic conditions and to model past climatic changes in the Late Quaternary. The Greenland-Iceland-Norwegian Seas can now be considered one of the best studied subbasins of the world`s oceans.