Preliminary study for the project:The Mid Pleistocene transition: did marine biological productivity lead to pCO2 changes?

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Liselotte Diester-Haass
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2012 to 2013
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 237930779

• Final Report Year: 2013

Final Report Abstract

The two questions that have been asked at the beginning of these preliminary investigations, can be answered in the following way: 1. The method of paleoproductivity reconstruction by means of benthic foraminiferal accumulation rates yielded results that correspond very well to paleoproductivity reconstructions based on alkenones and nutrient supply (dust sedimentation). 2. Existing carbon isotope and paleoproductivity data from samples that have not been taken in the same intervals cannot be compared. A correct interpretation of changes in the global carbon budget in relation to changes in marine biological productivity is not possible with the available isotope data from Raymo et al. (1997).