Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research

NESSC_New generation of foraminiferal proxies (WP1)

This is part of Work Package 1 of NESSC (Netherlands Earth System Science Centre)

Proxies for inorganic carbon system

The isotope and elemental composition of foraminiferal calcite is frequently used to reconstruct past seawater conditions. Past temperatures can be reconstructed with relatively great confidence using oxygen isotopes and Mg incorporation, but for the inorganic carbon system (pH, [CO32-], alkalinity, etc.) proxies available are limited and associated with relatively large uncertainties.

Foraminifera (photo: Lennart de Nooijer)

Precise and accurate reconstructions of these parameters are, however, essential for reconstructing past atmospheric CO2 concentrations and in combination with temperature reconstructions climate sensitivity.  For several trace metals it is known that their speciation in sea water mainly depends on the inorganic carbon system, but impact on foraminiferal incorporation of these elements in their tests is still unknown. Calibrating these parameters and impact on trace element incorporation requires a large number of calibrations in which the different parameters of the carbonate system are independently varied.

A novel system to culture foraminifera

This project uses a novel system for manipulating the inorganic carbon system of seawater to culture (a.o.) benthic foraminifera. First culturing experiments focus on incorporation of Co, Zn, Li and Ni, since their activity in seawater is known to vary primarily with pH or other marine carbon cycle parameters. Although the concentration of these elements themselves heavily depends on biogeochemical cycling, isolating the impact of [DIC], pH, saturation state, etc. for the individual elements will set the stage for a suitable proxy for reconstructing past CO2 concentrations, and will therefore be a valuable tool and improve our understanding of previous ocean acidification events and climate change.

In addition to culture experiments with local, benthic Wadden Sea species such as Ammonia tepida or tropic benthic species such as Amphistegina lessonii, planktic foraminifera sampled during cruises will be analysed and compared with specimens grown under controlled conditions in the laboratory.

Project information
Linked department:
Funder:
NA
Duration:
1 Jan 2014 - 31 Dec 2023
Partners
  • Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
  • Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA), The Netherlands
  • Utrecht University, The Netherlands
  • VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • Wageningen University & Research Centre (WUR), The Netherlands

Meet the team

 
Reichart, Gert-Jan
Head of Scientific Department

Linked projects

Reconstructing sea surface temperatures in deep time
Supervisor
Stefan Schouten
Funder
Ministerie van OCW
Project duration
1 Jan 2019 - 31 Dec 2023
NESSC_High-resolution organic geochemical proxy records of critical time intervals III (WP2)
Supervisor
Stefan Schouten
Funder
Ministerie van OCW
Project duration
6 Dec 2015 - 10 Jul 2025
NESSC_A salinity proxy based on specific algal biomarkers δD values (WP1)
Supervisor
Stefan Schouten
Funder
Ministerie van OCW
Project duration
6 Nov 2015 - 28 Feb 2021
NESSC-WP2_High-resolution organic geochemical proxy records of critical time intervals I
Supervisor
Stefan Schouten
Funder
Ministerie van OCW
Project duration
11 Jul 2015 - 5 Mar 2022
NESSC_Towards reconstructing past atmospheric methane concentrations using organic biomarkers (WP1)
Supervisor
Stefan Schouten
Funder
Ministerie van OCW
Project duration
10 Jul 2015 - 5 Nov 2025
NESSC_Foraminiferal salinity proxy (WP1)
Supervisor
Gert-Jan Reichart
Funder
Ministerie van OCW
Project duration
1 Jan 2014 - 31 Aug 2018
NESSC_Improving past climate records (WP2)
Supervisor
Gert-Jan Reichart
Funder
Ministerie van OCW
Project duration
1 Jan 2014 - 31 Dec 2023
NESSC_High Resolution Organic Geochemical Records (WP2)
Supervisor
Stefan Schouten
Funder
Ministerie van OCW
Project duration
31 Dec 2013 - 11 Jul 2025
NESSC_Developing biomarker proxies for aerobic and anaerobic methane oxidation (WP1)
Supervisor
Stefan Schouten
Funder
Ministerie van OCW
Project duration
31 Dec 2013 - 11 Jul 2025

Linked publications

  • 2017
    Frieling, J.; Gebhardt, H.; Huber, M.; Adekeye, O.A.; Akande, S.O.; Reichart, G.-J.; Middelburg, J.J.; Schouten, S.; Sluijs, A. (2017). Extreme warmth and heat-stressed plankton in the tropics during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Science Advances 3(3): e1600891. https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1600891
    Loomis, S.E.; Russell, J.M.; Verschuren, D.; Morrill, C.; De Cort, G.; Sinninghe Damsté, J.S.; Olago, D.; Eggermont, H.; Street-Perrott, F.A.; Kelly, M.A. (2017). The tropical lapse rate steepened during the Last Glacial Maximum. Science Advances 3(1): e1600815. https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1600815
    O'Brien, C.L.; Robinson, S.A.; Pancost, R.D.; Sinninghe Damsté, J.S.; Schouten, S.; Lunt, D.J.; Alsenz, H.; Bornemann, A.; Bottini, C.; Brassell, S.C.; Farnsworth, A.; Forster, A.; Huber, B.T.; Inglis, G.N.; Jenkyns, H.C.; Linnert, C.; Littler, K.; Markwick, P.; McAnena, A.; Mutterlose, J.; Naafs, B.D.A.; Püttmann, W.; Sluijs, A.; van Helmond, N.A.G.M.; Vellekoop, J.; Wagner, T.; Wrobel, N.E. (2017). Cretaceous sea-surface temperature evolution: Constraints from TEX86 and planktonic foraminiferal oxygen isotopes. Earth-Sci. Rev. 172: 224-247. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.07.012
    Rush, D.; Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (2017). Lipids as paleomarkers to constrain the marine nitrogen cycle. Environ. Microbiol. 19(6): 2119–2132,. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.13682
  • 2016
    Johnson, T.C.; Werne, J.P.; Brown, E.T.; Abbott, A.; Berke, M.; Steinman, B.E.; Halbur, J.; Contreras, S.; Grosshuesch, S.; Deino, A.; Lyons, R.P.; Scholz, C.A.; Schouten, S.; Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. (2016). A progressively wetter climate in southern East Africa over the past 1.3 million years. Nature (Lond.) 537(7619): 220-224. dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature19065