Foraminiferal Calcification Response to Glacial-Interglacial Changes in Atmospheric CO2
Stephen Barker,*
Henry Elderfield
A record of foraminiferal shell weight across
glacial-interglacial Termination I shows a response related to seawater
carbonate ion concentration and allows reconstruction of a record of
carbon dioxide in surface seawater that matches the atmospheric record. The results support suggestions that higher atmospheric carbon dioxide
directly affects marine calcification, an effect that may be of global
importance to past and future changes in atmospheric CO2.
The process provides negative feedback to the influence of marine
calcification on atmospheric carbon dioxide and is of practical importance to the application of paleoceanographic proxies.
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge
CB2 3EQ, UK.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
sbar98{at}esc.cam.ac.uk
