Articles | Volume 22, issue 23
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-7973-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-7973-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| Highlight paper
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12 Dec 2025
Research article | Highlight paper |
| 12 Dec 2025
| 12 Dec 2025
Orbital-scale variability in the contribution of foraminifera and coccolithophores to pelagic carbonate production
Pauline Cornuault
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
University of Bremen, MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Leobener Straße 8, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Luc Beaufort
Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IRD, INRAE, Coll France, CEREGE, Avenue Louis Philibert, 13090 Aix-en-Provence, France
Heiko Pälike
University of Bremen, MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Leobener Straße 8, 28359 Bremen, Germany
University of Bremen, Geoscience Department, Klagenfurter Straße, P.O. Box 330440, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Torsten Bickert
University of Bremen, MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Leobener Straße 8, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Karl-Heinz Baumann
University of Bremen, MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Leobener Straße 8, 28359 Bremen, Germany
University of Bremen, Geoscience Department, Klagenfurter Straße, P.O. Box 330440, 28359 Bremen, Germany
Michal Kucera
University of Bremen, MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Leobener Straße 8, 28359 Bremen, Germany
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Lukas Jonkers, Oliver Bothe, and Michal Kucera
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Julie Meilland, Michael Siccha, Maike Kaffenberger, Jelle Bijma, and Michal Kucera
Biogeosciences, 18, 5789–5809, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5789-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5789-2021, 2021
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Anna Joy Drury, Diederik Liebrand, Thomas Westerhold, Helen M. Beddow, David A. Hodell, Nina Rohlfs, Roy H. Wilkens, Mitchell Lyle, David B. Bell, Dick Kroon, Heiko Pälike, and Lucas J. Lourens
Clim. Past, 17, 2091–2117, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2091-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2091-2021, 2021
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Charlotte L. Spencer-Jones, Erin L. McClymont, Nicole J. Bale, Ellen C. Hopmans, Stefan Schouten, Juliane Müller, E. Povl Abrahamsen, Claire Allen, Torsten Bickert, Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand, Elaine Mawbey, Victoria Peck, Aleksandra Svalova, and James A. Smith
Biogeosciences, 18, 3485–3504, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3485-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3485-2021, 2021
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Long-term ocean temperature records are needed to fully understand the impact of West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse. Glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) are powerful tools for reconstructing ocean temperature but can be difficult to apply to the Southern Ocean. Our results show active GDGT synthesis in relatively warm depths of the ocean. This research improves the application of GDGT palaeoceanographic proxies in the Southern Ocean.
Martin Tetard, Laetitia Licari, Ekaterina Ovsepyan, Kazuyo Tachikawa, and Luc Beaufort
Biogeosciences, 18, 2827–2841, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2827-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2827-2021, 2021
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Oxygen minimum zones are oceanic regions almost devoid of dissolved oxygen and are currently expanding due to global warming. Investigation of their past behaviour will allow better understanding of these areas and better prediction of their future evolution. A new method to estimate past [O2] was developed based on morphometric measurements of benthic foraminifera. This method and two other approaches based on foraminifera assemblages and porosity were calibrated using 45 core tops worldwide.
Markus Raitzsch, Jelle Bijma, Torsten Bickert, Michael Schulz, Ann Holbourn, and Michal Kučera
Clim. Past, 17, 703–719, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-703-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-703-2021, 2021
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At approximately 14 Ma, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet expanded to almost its current extent, but the role of CO2 in this major climate transition is not entirely known. We show that atmospheric CO2 might have varied on 400 kyr cycles linked to the eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit. The resulting change in weathering and ocean carbon cycle affected atmospheric CO2 in a way that CO2 rose after Antarctica glaciated, helping to stabilize the climate system on its way to the “ice-house” world.
Luc Beaufort, Yves Gally, Baptiste Suchéras-Marx, Patrick Ferrand, and Julien Duboisset
Biogeosciences, 18, 775–785, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-775-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-775-2021, 2021
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The coccoliths are major contributors to the particulate inorganic carbon in the ocean. They are extremely difficult to weigh because they are too small to be manipulated. We propose a universal method to measure thickness and weight of fine calcite using polarizing microscopy that does not require fine-tuning of the light or a calibration process. This method named "bidirectional circular polarization" uses two images taken with two directions of a circular polarizer.
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Co-editor-in-chief
Understanding the role of calcifying organism communities (here: coccolithophores vs. foraminifera) in determining the long-term burial of carbonate is of fundamental importance to understanding the carbon cycle over geologic time scales. This study proposes that the amount of carbonate buried through time does not primarily depend on whether coccolithophores or foraminifera were the dominant calcifying marine organisms at the time of sediment deposition.
Understanding the role of calcifying organism communities (here: coccolithophores vs....
Short summary
We present new high-resolution data of the relative contribution of the two main pelagic carbonate producers (coccoliths and foraminifera) to the total pelagic carbonate production from the tropical Atlantic in past warm periods since the Miocene. Our findings suggests that the two groups responded differently to orbital forcing and oceanic changes in tropical ocean, but their proportion changes did not drive the changes in overall pelagic carbonate deposition.
We present new high-resolution data of the relative contribution of the two main pelagic...
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