Culture experiments on the environmental controls of trace metal ratios (Mg/Ca, B/Ca, U/Ca) recorded in calcareous tests of bipolar deep-sea benthic foraminifera

• Applicant: Dr. Jutta Wollenburg
• Subject Area: Oceanography
• Term: from 2011 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 200155922

The Polar Oceans are our most important climate amplifiers: First, the production of polar deep waters drives the Global Thermohaline Conveyer Belt, and thus, climate. Second, the Antarctic deep water during glacial time was, disputably still is, the largest marine sink of atmospheric CO2. Employment of effective and fossilisable proxies on changes in the physical and geochemical properties is essential to assess glacial-interglacial variabilities, modern and future changes in bipolar deep-waters. In this respect, analyses on trace metal (Mg/Ca, U/Ca, B/Ca) ratios recorded in tests of foraminifers to estimate calcification temperatures, alkalinity, carbonate ion saturation, and pH are common methods. However, for the Arctic and Southern Ocean deep-sea benthic foraminifera calibration curves constrained by either core-top samples or culture experiments are lacking. Newly developed high-pressure aquaria have recently facilitated the first efficient cultivation (producing offspring) of our most trusted palaeodeep-water recorders Fontbotia wuellerstorfi and Uvigerina peregrina. In different experimental set-ups the same facilities will be used to cultivate these foraminifera and associated species at different temperatures and in waters with different carbonate chemistries to establish the first species-specific trace metal calibration curves for both Polar Oceans. Core top analyses on more than 150 core sites from both oceans will verify the experimental results.

• DFG Programme: Infrastructure Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1158: Infrastructure area - Antarctic Research with Comparative Investigations in Arctic Sea Ice Areas
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Jeroen Groeneveld