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Projekt Druckansicht

Simultaneous measurement of boron isotopes and the boron/calcium ratio in biogenic marine carbonates as a tool to reconstruct the marine carbonate system

Fachliche Zuordnung Mineralogie, Petrologie und Geochemie
Förderung Förderung von 2010 bis 2014
Projektkennung Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 163418997
 
Erstellungsjahr 2014

Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse

Eventhough we could not carry out all of the work originally proposed, the project turned out to be a great success. This project will greatly advance our understanding of natural global carbon cycling and the role of the oceans (via carbonate chemistry reconstructions) and the impact of abrupt carbon cycle pertubations that are at the basis of ocean acidification. We have addressed some major unknowns with regard to the boron isotope and the B/Ca proxies and developed a new method that will greatly advance the field. In more detail, we have: 1) Developed a new in situ method for the simultaneous determination of δ11B and B/Ca at the nano gram level. This is an important development because this will allow to analyse single tests of foraminifera from cores with the certainty of being time synchronous. Hence, we are now able to investigate natural variability, “seasonality” or monsoon intensity. 2) Used controlled culture experiments with benthic and planktonic foraminifera, to confirm that δ11B, as expected, is controlled by pH and demonstrated, for the first time, that B/Ca is controlled by the bicarbonate (HCO3-) concentration. This will allow us to fully reconstruct the carbonate chemistry. 3) Demonstrated for the inorganic system that temperature and precipitation rate exert a major influence on δ11B and B/Ca and recommend that this should be investigated in living foraminifera. 4) Shown that the coordination of boron in foraminiferal calcite is trigonal planar and that boron is nor distributed homogeneously but in high and low concentration bands similar to the Mg. The Mg and B band are closely correlated but not associated at the atomic scale. We will definitely continue these successful collaborations.

Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)

 
 

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