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The geochemistry of Upper Quaternary organic-rich (C 3.7-10.0%) sediments recovered by the 40-m-long Core MD02-2508 from the upper continental slope of Baja California is compared to the chemical composition of sedimentary rocks from the Miocene Monterey Formation, California. It is ascertained that concentrations of most macroelements (Al, Ti, Mg, K, Fe, M, S, C) and many microelements, including chalcophiles Ag, As, Mo, Sb, Se, Zn, along with some others (U, Co, Ni, Y, and REE) are nearly equal in both types of sediments. In addition, concentrations of most microelements in both types of sediments are close, to the average values common for the worldwide carbonaceous black shales irrespective of their lithology and age, indicating a stable influence of organic matter on their concentration during sedimentation and early digenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coccolithophores are calcifying marine phytoplankton of the class Prymnesiophyceae. They are considered to play an import role in the global carbon cycle through the production and export of organic carbon and calcite. We have compiled observations of global coccolithophore abundance from several existing databases as well as individual contributions of published and unpublished datasets. We make conservative estimates of carbon biomass using standardised conversion methods and provide estimates of uncertainty associated with these values. The quality-controlled database contains 57 321 individual observations at various taxonomic levels. This corresponds to 11 503 observations of total coccolithophore abundance and biomass. The data span a time period of 1929-2008, with observations from all ocean basins and all seasons, and at depths ranging from the surface to 500 m. Highest biomass values are reported in the North Atlantic, with a maximum of 127.2 μgCL-1. Lower values are reported for the Pacific (maximum of 20.0 μgCL-1) and Indian Ocean (up to 45.2 μgCL-1). Maximum biomass values show peaks around 60° N and between 40 and 20° S, with declines towards both the equator and the poles. Biomass estimates between the equator and 40° N are below 5 μgCL-1. Biomass values show a clear seasonal cycle in the Northern Hemisphere, reaching a maximum in the summer months (June-July). In the Southern Hemisphere the seasonal cycle is less evident, possibly due to a greater proportion of low-latitude data. The original and gridded datasets can be downloaded from Pangaea doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.785092). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coccolithophores, a key phytoplankton group, are one of the most studied organisms regarding their physiological response to ocean acidification/carbonation. The biogenic production of calcareous coccoliths has made coccolithophores a promising group for paleoceanographic research aiming to reconstruct past environmental conditions. Recently, geochemical and morphological analyses of fossil coccoliths have gained increased interest in regard to changes in seawater carbonate chemistry. The cosmopolitan coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi (Lohm.) Hay and Mohler was cultured over a range of pCO2 levels in controlled laboratory experiments under nutrient replete and nitrogen limited conditions. Measurements of photosynthesis and calcification revealed, as previously published, an increase in particulate organic carbon production and a moderate decrease in calcification from ambient to elevated pCO2. The enhancement in particulate organic carbon production was accompanied by an increase in cell diameter. Changes in coccolith volume were best correlated with the coccosphere/cell diameter and no significant correlation was found between the coccolith volume and the particulate inorganic carbon production. The conducted experiments revealed that the coccolith volume of E. huxleyi is variable with aquatic CO2 concentration but its sensitivity is rather small in comparison with its sensitivity to nitrogen limitation. Comparing coccolith morphological and geometrical parameters like volume, mass and size to physiological parameters under controlled laboratory conditions is an important step to understand variations in fossil coccolith geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which estimates the carbon biomass distributions of the global marine plankton know as coccolithophores. The study used remote sensing approaches, a quality control procedure, and statistical analyses. Results show that biomass distributions in North Atlantic were the highest biomass values, and all planktons were seen across the latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.

Coccolithophores, a key phytoplankton group, are one of the best studied organisms with regard to the response to ocean acidification/carbonation. The biogenic production of calcareous coccoliths has made coccolithophores a promising group for paleoceanographic research aiming to reconstruct past environmental conditions. Recently, geochemical and morphological analyses of fossil coccoliths have gained increased interest in regard to changes in seawater carbonate chemistry. The cosmopolitan coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi (Lohm.) Hay and Mohler was cultured over a range of pCO2 levels in controlled laboratory experiments under nutrient replete and nitrogen limited conditions. Measurements of photosynthetic activity and calcification revealed, as previously published, an increase in organic carbon production and a moderate decrease in calcification from ambient to elevated pCO2. The enhancement in particulate organic carbon production was accompanied by an increase in cell diameter. Coccolith volume was best correlated with the coccosphere/cell diameter and no significant correlation was found between coccolith volume and particulate inorganic carbon production rate. The conducted experiments revealed that the coccolith volume of E. huxleyi is variable with aquatic CO2 concentration within the tested range but appears to be a primary function of the coccosphere/cell diameter both under nitrogen limited and nutrient replete conditions. Comparing coccolith morphological and geometrical parameters like volume, mass and size to physiological parameters under controlled laboratory conditions is an important step to understand variations in fossil coccolith geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

About one-third of the carbon dioxide (CO2) released into the atmosphere as a result of human activity has been absorbed by the oceans, where it partitions into the constituent ions of carbonic acid. This leads to ocean acidification, one of the major threats to marine ecosystems and particularly to calcifying organisms such as corals, foraminifera and coccolithophores. Coccolithophores are abundant phytoplankton that are responsible for a large part of modern oceanic carbonate production. Culture experiments investigating the physiological response of coccolithophore calcification to increased CO2 have yielded contradictory results between and even within species. Here we quantified the calcite mass of dominant coccolithophores in the present ocean and over the past forty thousand years, and found a marked pattern of decreasing calcification with increasing partial pressure of CO2 and concomitant decreasing concentrations of CO32?. Our analyses revealed that differentially calcified species and morphotypes are distributed in the ocean according to carbonate chemistry. A substantial impact on the marine carbon cycle might be expected upon extrapolation of this correlation to predicted ocean acidification in the future. However, our discovery of a heavily calcified Emiliania huxleyi morphotype in modern waters with low pH highlights the complexity of assemblage-level responses to environmental forcing factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stable isotope records of benthic foraminifera from ODP Site 1264 in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean are presented which resolve the latest Oligocene to early Miocene (~24-19 Ma) climate changes at high temporal resolution (<3 kyr). Using an inverse modelling technique, we decomposed the oxygen isotope record into temperature and ice volume and found that the Antarctic ice sheet expanded episodically during the declining phase of the longterm (~400 kyr) eccentricity cycle and subsequent low shortterm (~100 kyr) eccentricity cycle. The largest glaciations are separated by multiple long-term eccentricity cycles, indicating the involvement of a non-linear response mechanism. Our modelling results suggest that during the largest (Mi-1) event, Antarctic ice sheet volume expanded up to its present-day configuration. In addition, we found that distinct ~100 kyr variability occurs during the termination phases of the major Antarctic glaciations, suggesting that climate and ice-sheet response was more susceptible to short-term eccentricity forcing at these times. During two of these termination-phases, δ18O bottom water gradients in the Atlantic ceased to exist, indicating a direct link between global climate, enhanced ice-sheet instability and major oceanographic reorganisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past variations in the dynamics of the Australian monsoon have been estimated from multi-proxy analysis of a core retrieved in the Eastern Banda Sea. Records of coccolith and pollen assemblages, spanning the last 150 000 years, allow reconstruction of past primary production in the Banda Sea, summer moisture availability, and the length of the dry season in northern Australia and southeastern Indonesia. The amount of moisture available during the summer monsoon follows typical glacial/interglacial dynamics with a broad asymmetrical 100-kyr cycle. Primary production and length of the dry season appear to be closely related, given that they follow the precessional cycle with the same phase. This indicates their independence from ice-volume variations. The present inter-annual variability of both parameters is related to El Nîno Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which modulates the Australian Winter Monsoon (AWM). The precessional pattern observed in the past dynamics of the AWM is found in ENSO and monsoon records of other regions. A marked shift in the monsoon intensity occurring during the mid Holocene during a period of constant ice volume, suggests that low latitude climatic variation precedes increases in global ice volume. This precessional pattern suggests that a common forcing mechanism underlies low latitude climate dynamics, acting specifically and synchronously on the different monsoon systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past variations in the dynamics of the Australian monsoon have been estimated from multi-proxy analysis of a core retrieved in the Eastern Banda Sea. Records of coccolith and pollen assemblages, spanning the last 150,000 years, allow reconstruction of past primary production in the Banda Sea, summer moisture availability, and the length of the dry season in Northern Australia and Southeastern Indonesia. The amount of moisture available during the summer monsoon follows typical glacial/interglacial dynamics with a broad asymmetrical 100-kyr cycle. Primary production and length of the dry season appear to be closely related, given that they follow the precessional cycle with the same phase (August insolation). This indicates their independence from ice-volume variations. The present inter-annual variability of both parameters is related to El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which modulates the Australian Winter Monsoon (AWM). The precessional pattern observed in the past dynamics of the AWM is found in ENSO and monsoon records of other regions. A marked shift in the monsoon intensity occurring during the mid Holocene during a period of constant ice volume, suggest that low latitude climatic variation precedes global ice volume. This precessional pattern suggests that a common forcing mechanism underlies low latitude climate dynamics, acting specifically and synchronically on the different monsoon systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Core MD02-2508 retrieved from the plateau of the continental slope off Baja California recovered a 40-m-thick section of sapropel (up to 15% Corg), calcareous clay, and diatom ooze with the age of 120 ka at the core bottom. The section is subdivided into three units: Unit I (Holocene) consists of the laminated sapropel; Unit II comprising oxygen isotope stages (MIS) 2, 3, and 4 is represented by homogeneous calcareous clay with interbeds of slightly siliceous sapropelic mud; and Unit III (MIS-5) is composed of laminated sapropelic diatom ooze. Laminated intervals are characterized by the intercalation of two lamina types: (1) dark-colored organic-rich laminae containing multi-species “oceanic” diatom assemblages, as well as radiolarians, coccoliths, planktonic and benthic foraminifera; (2) lighter-colored laminae consisting of diatom ooze with the neritic colonial diatom assemblages commonly composed of one to three species of a single genera. The dark laminae are assumed to be generated within a high productivity zone over the slope, whereas light ones likely represent diatom mats produced by short-term boisterous phytoplankton blooms, possibly in the coastal upwelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The varved sedimentary AD 1917-2004 record from the depositional center of the Santa Barbara Basin (SBB, California) was analyzed with monthly to triannual resolution to yield relative abundances of six coccolithophore species representing at least 96% of the coccolithophore assemblage. Seasonal/annual relative abundances respond to climatic and surface hydrographic conditions in the SBB, whereby (i) the three species G. oceanica, H. carteri and F. profunda are characteristic of the strength of the northward flowing warm California Counter Current, (ii) the two species G. ericsonii and G. muellerae are associated with the cold equatorward flowing California Current, (iii) and E. huxleyi appears to be endemic to the SBB. Spectral analyses on relative abundances of these species show that all are influenced by the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and/or by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). Increased relative abundances of G. oceanica and H. carteri are associated with warm ENSO events, G. muellerae responds to warm PDO events and the abundance of G. ericsonii increases during cold PDO events. Morphometric parameters measured on E. huxleyi, G. muellerae and G. oceanica indicate increasing coccolithophore shell carbonate mass from ∼ 1917 until 2004 concomitant with rising pCO2 and sea surface temperature in the region of the SBB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BIOSOPE cruise covered an oceanographic transect through the centre of the South Pacific Gyre (SPG) from the Marquesas archipelago to the Peru-Chile upwelling (PCU). Water samples from 6 depths in the euphotic zone were collected at 20 stations. The concentrations of suspended calcite particles, coccolithophores cells and detached coccoliths were estimated together with size and weight using an automatic polarizing microscope, a digital camera, and a collection of softwares performing morphometry and pattern recognition. Some of these softwares are new and described here for the first time. The coccolithophores standing stocks were usually low and reached maxima west of the PCU. The coccoliths of Emiliania huxleyi, Gephyrocapsa spp. and Crenalithus spp. (Order Isochrysidales) represented more than 30% of all the suspended calcite particles detected in the size range 0.1-46 µm (22% of PIC in term of calcite weight). These species grew preferentially in the Chlorophyll maximum zone. In the SPG their maximum cell concentrations were recorded between depth of 150 and 200 m, which is unusually deep for these taxa. The weight of coccoliths and coccospheres were correlated to their size. Large and heavy coccoliths and coccospheres were found in regions with relatively high fertility in the Marquises Island and in the PCU. Small and light coccoliths and coccospheres were found west of the PCU. This distribution is strongly related to ocean chemistry in particular to alkalinity and to carbonate ions concentration. The biotic (coccolithophores production) influence on calcification is mainly driven at the local scale (depth) whereas the abiotic (carbonate chemistry) plays its most important role at the regional (horizontal) level. Here 94% of the variability of coccolith and coccosphere weight can be explained by a change in 7 environmental variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BIOSOPE cruise achieved an oceanographic transect from the Marquise Islands to the Peru-Chili upwelling (PCU) via the centre of the South Pacific Gyre (SPG). Water samples from 6 depths in the euphotic zone were collected at 20 stations. The concentrations of suspended calcite particles, coccolithophores cells and detached coccoliths were estimated together with size and weight using an automatic polarizing microscope, a digital camera, and a collection of softwares performing morphometry and pattern recognition. Some of these softwares are new and described here for the first time. The coccolithophores standing stocks are usually low and reach maxima west of the PCU. The coccoliths of Emiliania huxleyi, Gephyrocapsa spp. and Crenalithus spp. (Order Isochrysidales) represent 50% of all the suspended calcite particles detected in the size range 0.1-46 µm (21% of PIC in term of the calcite weight). The latter species are found to grow preferentially in the Chlorophyll maximum zone. In the SPG their maximum concentrations was found to occur between 150 and 200 m, which is very deep for these taxa. The weight and size of coccoliths and coccospheres are correlated. Large and heavy coccoliths and coccospheres are found in the regions with relative higher fertility in the Marquises Island and in the PCU. Small and light coccoliths and coccospheres are found west of the PCU. This distribution may correspond to that of the concentration of calcium and carbonate ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine hydrocarbon seepage emits oil and gas, including methane (≈30 Tg of CH4 per year), to the ocean and atmosphere. Sediments from the California margin contain preserved tar, primarily formed through hydrocarbon weathering at the sea surface. We present a record of variation in the abundance of tar in sediments for the past 32,000 years, providing evidence for increases in hydrocarbon emissions before and during Termination IA [16,000 years ago (16 ka) to 14 ka] and again over Termination IB (11–10 ka). Our study provides direct evidence for increased hydrocarbon seepage associated with deglacial warming through tar abundance in marine sediments, independent of previous geochemical proxies. Climate-sensitive gas hydrates may modulate thermogenic hydrocarbon seepage during deglaciation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Coccolithophores of the Noëlaerhabdaceae family are covered by imbricated coccoliths, each composed of multiple calcite crystals radially distributed around the periphery of a grid. The factors that determine coccolith size remain obscure. Here, we used synchrotron-based three-dimensional Coherent X-ray Diffraction Imaging to study coccoliths of 7 species of Gephyrocapsa, Emiliania and Reticulofenestra with a resolution close to 30 nm. Segmentation of 45 coccoliths revealed remarkable size, mass and segment number variations, even within single coccospheres. In particular, we observed that coccolith mass correlates with grid perimeter which scales linearly with crystal number. Our results indirectly support the idea that coccolith mass is determined in the coccolith vesicle by the size of the organic base plate scale (OBPS) around which R-unit nucleation occurs every 110-120 nm. The curvation of coccoliths allows inference of a positive correlation between cell nucleus, OBPS and coccolith sizes. Coccolithophores are one of the most abundant phytoplankton and calcifying organisms, well-known to produce intricate calcareous exoskeletons made of coccoliths. Here the authors show, by using X-ray nanotomography, the dependence of the grid size on the calcite nucleation site number and on the mass of coccoliths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]