Stable oxygen isotope data of Thoracosphaera heimii in surface sediment samples of the equatorial Atlantic and South Atlantic

DOI

To investigate the potential use of the stable isotope composition of the vegetative cysts of the photosynthetic dinoflagellate Thoracosphaera heimii for quantitative palaeotemperature reconstructions a method has been developed to purify T. heimii cysts from sediment samples. Stable oxygen and carbon isotopes have been measured on T. heimii cysts from 21 surface sediment samples from the equatorial Atlantic and South Atlantic Oceans. Calculated temperatures based on the palaeotemperature equation for inorganic calcite precipitation generally reflect mean annual temperatures of the upper water column, notably of thermocline depths. Although the present results suggest that the isotopic composition of T. heimii shells might be formed in equilibrium with the seawater in which the shells are being formed, future investigations are required to determine possible effects of metabolic and kinetic processes on the fractionation process. This pilot study therefore forms the basis for future investigations on the development of this tool and the determination of a species-specific palaeotemperature equation. The wide geographic and stratigraphic distribution of T. heimii cysts in sediments, the stable position of T. heimii within the water column and the high resistance of its cysts against calcite dissolution underline its potential for a wide usability in palaeotemperature reconstructions.

Supplement to: Zonneveld, Karin A F (2004): Potential use of stable oxygen isotope composition of Thoracasphaera heimii for upper water column (thermocline) temperature reconstruction. Marine Micropaleontology, 50(3-4), 307-317

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.602235
Related Identifier IsSupplementTo https://doi.org/10.1016/S0377-8398(03)00097-5
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.602235
Provenance
Creator Zonneveld, Karin A F ORCID logo
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 2004
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
OpenAccess true
Representation
Resource Type Supplementary Dataset; Dataset
Format text/tab-separated-values
Size 108 data points
Discipline Earth System Research
Spatial Coverage (-59.388W, -35.122S, 17.533E, 16.990N); Southern Cape Basin; Northern Cape Basin; Mid Atlantic Ridge; Continental slope off Brazil; Northeast Brasilian Margin; Amazon Shelf/Fan; Atlantic Caribbean Margin; Midatlantic Ridge; Ceara Rise; off Gabun; Mid-Atlantic Ridge; Angola Basin; Brazil Basin; Northern Brazil Basin
Temporal Coverage Begin 1996-01-04T00:00:00Z
Temporal Coverage End 1998-05-25T14:54:00Z