Trends in element incorporation in hyaline and porcelaneous foraminifera as a function of pCO2

Abstract

In this study we analyzed the impact of seawater carbonate chemistry on the incorporation of elements in both hyaline and porcelaneous larger benthic foraminifera. We observed a higher incorporation of Zn and Ba when pCO2 increases from 350 to 1200 ppm. Modeling the activity of free ions as a function of pCO2 shows that speciation of some elements (like Zn and Ba) is mainly influenced by the formation of carbonate complexes in seawater. Hence, differences in foraminiferal uptake of these might be related primarily by the speciation of these elements in seawater. We investigated differences in trends in element incorporation between hyaline (perforate) and porcelaneous (imperforate) foraminifera in order to unravel processes involved in element uptake and subsequent foraminiferal calcification. In hyaline foraminifera we observed a correlation of element incorporation of different elements between species, reflected by a general higher incorporation of elements in species with higher Mg content. Between porcelaneous species, inter-element differences are much smaller. Besides these contrasting trends in element incorporation, however, similar trends are observed in element incorporation as a function of seawater carbonate chemistry in both hyaline and porcelaneous species. This suggests similar mechanisms responsible for the transportation of ions to the site of calcification for these groups of foraminifera, although the contribution of these processes might differ across species.