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[1] The distribution of Mg/Ca within the tests of eight modern planktonic foraminifer species has been characterized using electron microprobe mapping. Species include several that are commonly used for estimation of past seawater temperatures (Globigerinoides ruber, G. sacculifer, Neogloboquadrina incompta (synonym of N. pachyderma dex.), N. dutertrei, and G. truncatulinoides). Each of the investigated species displays large variations in Mg/Ca composition within individual tests. However, the pattern of Mg/Ca variation is notably different between symbiont-bearing and symbiont-free species. In symbiotic species, cyclic Mg/Ca compositional banding occurs that is characterized by narrow (<1-3 mm), high-Mg/Ca (typically 8-11 mmol/mol) bands, intercalated between broader low Mg/Ca (typically 1-5 mmol/mol) bands. This factor of 2-3 difference equates to an apparent calcification temperature change of 10°C or more. Such temperature changes are considered highly improbable and suggest vital effects significantly modify the incorporation of Mg/Ca into the tests of symbiont-bearing species. These vital effects remain poorly understood and demand further careful evaluation as they may need to be accounted for when making reliable reconstructions of past oceanic temperatures. Symbiont-free species typically have fewer and broader compositional bands that may reflect more closely changes in calcification temperature as these species migrate within a water column.Components: 7725 words, 6 figures.

[1] The Sr/Ca ratio of coral aragonite is used to reconstruct past sea surface temperature (SST). Twentyone laboratories took part in an interlaboratory study of coral Sr/Ca measurements. Results show interlaboratory bias can be significant, and in the extreme case could result in a range in SST estimates of 7 C. However, most of the data fall within a narrower range and the Porites coral reference material JCp-1 is now characterized well enough to have a certified Sr/Ca value of 8.838 mmol/mol with an expanded uncertainty of 0.089 mmol/mol following International Association of Geoanalysts (IAG) guidelines. This uncertainty, at the 95% confidence level, equates to 1.5 C for SST estimates using Porites, so is approaching fitness for purpose. The comparable median within laboratory error is <0.5 C. This difference in uncertainties illustrates the interlaboratory bias component that should be reduced through the use of reference materials like the JCp-1. There are many potential sources contributing to biases in comparative methods but traces of Sr in Ca standards and uncertainties in reference solution composition can account for half of the combined uncertainty. Consensus values that fulfil the requirements to be certified values were also obtained for Mg/Ca in JCp-1 and for Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios in the JCt-1 giant clam reference material. Reference values with variable fitness for purpose have also been obtained for Li/Ca, B/Ca, Ba/Ca, and U/Ca in both reference materials. In future, studies reporting coral element/Ca data should also report the average value obtained for a reference material such as the JCp-1.

[1] Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry microanalysis of fossil and live Globigerinoides ruber from the eastern Indian Ocean reveals large variations of Mg/Ca composition both within and between individual tests from core top or plankton pump samples. Although the extent of intertest and intratest compositional variability exceeds that attributable to calcification temperature, the pooled mean Mg/Ca molar values obtained for core top samples between the equator and >30°S form a strong exponential correlation with mean annual sea surface temperature (Mg/Ca mmol/mol = 0.52 exp 0.076SST°C , r 2 = 0.99). The intertest Mg/Ca variability within these deep-sea core top samples is a source of significant uncertainty in Mg/Ca seawater temperature estimates and is notable for being site specific. Our results indicate that widely assumed uncertainties in Mg/Ca thermometry may be underestimated. We show that statistical power analysis can be used to evaluate the number of tests needed to achieve a target level of uncertainty on a sample by sample case. A varying bias also arises from the presence and varying mix of two morphotypes (G. ruber ruber and G. ruber pyramidalis), which have different mean Mg/Ca values. Estimated calcification temperature differences between these morphotypes range up to 5°C and are notable for correlating with the seasonal range in seawater temperature at different sites.

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is one of the most important components of the global climate system, but its potential response to an anthropogenic increase in atmospheric CO 2 remains largely unknown. One of the major limitations in ENSO prediction is our poor understanding of the relationship between ENSO variability and long-term changes in Tropical Pacific oceanography. Here we investigate this relationship using palaeorecords derived from the geochemistry of planktonic foraminifera. Our results indicate a strong negative correlation between ENSO variability and zonal gradient of sea-surface temperatures across the Tropical Pacific during the last 22 ky. This strong correlation implies a mechanistic link that tightly couples zonal sea-surface temperature gradient and ENSO variability during large climate changes and provides a unique insight into potential ENSO evolution in the future by suggesting enhanced ENSO variability under a global warming scenario.

[1] Laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry microanalyses of Mg/Ca across individual final chambers of three planktonic foraminifera species, Globigerinoides ruber, G. sacculifer, and Pulleniatina obliquiloculata, reveal significant interspecies differences in test Mg concentrations. Whereas these three species have similar Mg/Ca values at low sea surface temperatures ($22°C), they diverge markedly at high sea surface temperatures ($29°C). Explanations for these differences in species Mg/Ca values based on detailed comparison of species intratest Mg/Ca distributions suggest that compositional variability within tests cannot account for the observed deviation of species Mg/Ca values in warm-water equatorial regions. Multiple regression modeling and d 18O analysis of Globigerinoides sacculifer tests indicate that interspecies differences in Mg/Ca values result from different depth habitats. The average Mg/Ca values of G. ruber final chambers reflect the temperature of the surface mixed layer (0-25 m), whereas those of G. sacculifer and Pulleniatina obliquiloculata correlate best with subsurface temperatures at 50-75 m and 100-125 m water depths, respectively. Mg/Ca calibration to the temperatures at these depths reveals a similar temperature control on Mg test composition in all species. Combining our results with Mg/Ca values from published culturing experiments, we derive a generalized equation for the effect of temperature and seawater salinity on foraminiferal Mg/Ca. We also show that the Mg/Ca composition of specific calcite layers within foraminiferal tests, including the low-Mg/Ca layers of Globigerinoides ruber and G. sacculifer and the cortex layer of Pulleniatina obliquiloculata, correlates with seawater temperature and can be used as an additional proxy for seawater temperature.Citation: Sadekov, A., S. M. Eggins, P. De Deckker, U. Ninnemann, W. Kuhnt, and F. Bassinot (2009), Surface and subsurface seawater temperature reconstruction using Mg/Ca microanalysis of planktonic foraminifera Globigerinoides ruber, Globigerinoides sacculifer, and Pulleniatina obliquiloculata, Paleoceanography, 24, PA3201,

[1] The advent of new microanalytical techniques such as electron microprobe mapping (EMP) and laser ablation microsamplers coupled to mass spectrometers (LA-ICP-MS) provides a new array of possibilities to explore in great detail the trace elements distribution in foraminiferal carbonates. Here we apply these techniques to characterize diagenetic phases present in foraminiferal shells from Ocean Drilling Program Site 1240 in the Panama Basin, a region characterized by the presence of manganese-rich minerals in the sediments. The combined application of these techniques allows us to characterize the elemental and spatial distribution on the surface and across the foraminiferal shells. Results illustrate the presence of at least two different Mn-rich contaminant phases in the foraminiferal carbonates: Mn-rich carbonates and ferromanganese oxides. Elemental maps also highlight the relevance of the foraminifera shell texture and porosity in the distribution and formation of these contaminant phases. In the case of Neogloboquadrina dutertrei, Mn phases form a continuous thin layer in the inner part of the chambers, whereas for Globigerinoides ruber, Mn phases have a rather patchy distribution and are usually found within the pores. Significant high magnesium concentrations are always associated with these Mn-rich phases. These new findings support the need of removing these Mn-rich contaminant phases in order to measure accurately the Mg/Ca ratios in the foraminifera shell and therefore obtain reliable Mg/Ca paleotemperature reconstructions.

Droughts have had large impacts on past and present societies. High‐resolution paleoclimate data are essential to place recent droughts in a meaningful historical context and to predict regional future changes with greater accuracy. Such records, however, are very scarce in the Middle East in general, and the Fertile Crescent in particular. Here we present a 2400 year long speleothem‐based multiproxy record from Gejkar Cave in northern Iraq. Oxygen and carbon isotopes and magnesium are faithful recorders of effective moisture. The new Gejkar record not only shows that droughts in 1998–2000 and 2007–2010, which have been argued to be a contributing factor to Syrian civil war, were extreme compared to the current mean climate, but they were also superimposed on a long‐term aridification trend that already started around or before 950 C.E. (Common Era). This long‐term trend is not captured by tree ring records and climate models, emphasizing the importance of using various paleoclimate proxy data to evaluate and improve climate models and to correctly inform policy makers about future hydroclimatic changes in this drought‐prone region.