Distribution of coccoliths in surface sediments across the Drake Passage and calcification of <i>Emiliania huxleyi</i> morphotypes

Vollmar, Nele Manon; Baumann, Karl-Heinz; Saavedra-Pellitero, Mariem; Hernández-Almeida, Iván

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-585-2022

Articles | Volume 19, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-585-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-585-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 3

Research article

|

02 Feb 2022

Research article |

| 02 Feb 2022

Distribution of coccoliths in surface sediments across the Drake Passage and calcification of Emiliania huxleyi morphotypes

Nele Manon Vollmar, Karl-Heinz Baumann, Mariem Saavedra-Pellitero, and Iván Hernández-Almeida

Data sets

Relative abundances of coccolith species in surface sediment samples from Polarstern expedition PS97 Nele Manon Vollmar, Karl-Heinz Baumann, Mariem Saavedra-Pellitero, and Iván Hernández-Almeida https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.932831

Morphotype counts, morphometrical measurements and mass estimations on Emiliania huxleyi coccoliths from surface sediment samples in the Drake Passage based on SEM images Nele Manon Vollmar, Karl-Heinz Baumann, Mariem Saavedra-Pellitero, and Iván Hernández-Almeida https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.938165

Short summary

We studied recent (sub-)fossil remains of a type of algae (coccolithophores) off southernmost Chile and across the Drake Passage, adding to the scarce knowledge that exists in the Southern Ocean, a rapidly changing environment. We found that those can be used to reconstruct the surface ocean conditions in the north but not in the south. We also found variations in shape in the dominant species Emiliania huxleyi depending on the location, indicating subtle adaptations to environmental conditions.