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Science 11 September 1981:
Vol. 213. no. 4513, pp. 1247 - 1250
DOI: 10.1126/science.213.4513.1247
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Articles

Oxygen-18 Enrichment of Planktonic Foraminifera Due to Gametogenic Calcification Below the Euphotic Zone

PAUL-LOUIS BLANC 1 and ALLAN W. H. BÉ 2

1 Centre des Faibles Radioactivités, Laboratoire mixte Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique- Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
2 Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964

Empty shells of spinose planktonic foraminifera on the seabed are significantly enriched in oxygen-18 as compared with the shells of their living counterparts in surface waters. This enrichment is due to gametogenic calcification, which extracts calcium carbonate from deeper and colder waters as the shell sinks below the euphotic zone. JEAN-CLAUDE DUPLESSY

Submitted on March 17, 1981


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Periodical breakdown of the Arabian Sea oxygen minimum zone caused by deep convective mixing.
G. J. Reichart, J. Nortier, G. Versteegh, and W. J. Zachariasse (2002)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 195, 407-419
   Abstract »    PDF »
The seasonal and vertical distribution of living planktic foraminifera in the NW Arabian Sea.
F. J. C. Peeters and G.-J. A. Brummer (2002)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 195, 463-497
   Abstract »    PDF »


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