We performed a 9 day dissolution experiment with tests of the planktic foraminifer Globigerina bulloides at pH 6.7 ± 0.1 in water undersaturated with respect to calcite. The initial stage of the dissolution process, which is not recognizable from the surface structure of the tests, was quantitatively evaluated by X-ray microcomputed tomography (XMCT). XMCT revealed three distinct test structures: early-developed calcite formed during the juvenile stage of G. bulloides, an inner calcite layer, and an outer calcite layer. The test ultrastructure was observed by scanning electron microscopy, and CT number evaluated the density distribution in the test. The early-developed calcite and inner calcite layer had low CT numbers (500-1300; low density, porous) and were sensitive to dissolution, whereas the outer calcite layer had high CT numbers (<1300; high density) and resisted dissolution. Both the modes and the frequencies of the CT numbers decreased with progress of dissolution. Changes in the CT number histogram with progress of dissolution were quantified in terms of the percentage of calcite volume accounted for by low-density calcite (% Low-CT-number calcite). A clear linear relationship (R 2 = 0.87) between % Low-CT-number calcite and % Test weight loss was found. This relationship indicates that the amount of test dissolution can be estimated from the distribution of CT numbers. We propose that XMCT measurements will be useful for quantitatively estimating the amount of carbonate loss from foraminiferal tests by dissolution.

New trace-element, radiogenic isotopic, and geochronologic data from the Troodos ophiolite, considered in concert with the large body of previously published data, give new insight into the tectonic history of this storied ophiolite, as well as demonstrating the variability of suprasubduction-zone ophiolites, and differences between them and commonly used modern analogs. Similar to earlier studies, we fi nd that island-arc tholeiite of the lower pillow lava sequence erupted fi rst, followed by boninite. We further divide boninitic rocks into boninite making up the upper pillow lava sequence, and depleted boninites that we consider late infi ll lavas. We obtained an Ar-Ar age from arc tholeiite of 90.6 ± 1.2 Ma, comparable to U-Pb ages from ophiolite plagiogranites. New biostratigraphic data indicate that most of the basal pelagic sedimentary rocks that conformably overlie the boninitic rocks are ca. 75 Ma. This suggests that voluminous eruption of boninitic rocks persisted until ca. 75 Ma. Limited eruption of boninitic lavas may have continued until 55.5 ± 0.9 Ma, based on the Ar-Ar age we obtained. The duration of arc magmatism at Troodos (at least 16 m.y., with some activity perhaps extending 35 m.y.) without the development of a mature arc edifi ce greatly exceeds that of other well-studied suprasubduction-zone ophiolites. We propose that Troodos was formed over a newly formed subduction zone, similar to many proposed models, but that the extended period of magmatism (boninitic) resulted from a prolonged period of ridge subduction.

The anthropogenic CO 2 accumulating in the ocean is lowering seawater carbonate ion concentration and may reduce calcification rates of marine calcareous organisms. Several proxies based on test weights of planktic foraminifera have been used to evaluate the impact of ocean acidification on these organisms. Unfortunately, because of the absence of a method to evaluate the bulk density of a test, the impact of seawater carbonate chemistry on test calcification is still not fully understood. In this study, we measured bulk densities of living Globigerina bulloides (planktic foraminifera) tests with an X-ray micro-computed tomography (XMCT) scanner and compared them with ambient seawater characteristics. Results demonstrated that test bulk densities were controlled by ambient seawater carbonate ion concentrations and that changes of test bulk densities were accompanied by changes in micron to submicron scale porosity of internal ultrastructure. These results suggest that alteration of the bulk density of foraminiferal tests due to acidification of ambient seawater can be directly observed by XMCT scanning. A useful metric of calcification intensity would therefore be physical measurements of test densities with XMCT.

Living medusozoans and their Middle Cambrian ancestors are characterized fundamentally by four-fold symmetry. The symmetric pattern of their earlier antecedents during the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition, traditionally expected to be tetramerous, need to be reconsidered in the light of Cambrian pentamerous fossil medusozoans. Here we present a microanatomic analysis of three tiny tetramerous specimens from the Lower Cambrian Kuanchuanpu Formation in southern China; they display diagnostic characteristics of Cubomedusae, including paired but well-separated interradial tentacles deep in the subumbrellar cavity, interradial septa connected by claustra, coronal muscles at the subumbrella, and an annular velarium suspended by twelve frenula. These fossils likely represent three new taxa of a A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT3 monophyletic stem group of cubomedusans, which is further confirmed by our phylogenetic analysis based on the data matrix with 25 taxa and 107 characteristics.Among these fossil cubozoans and co-occurring pentamerous forms, the specimen ELISN31-31 is mostly close to the crown-group Cubomedusae with regard to its narrow vascular cavity and the endodermic perradial fusion. Diverse symmetrical patterns among different lineages of Cambrian medusozoan candidates might have been independently evolved in different classes of medusozoans.

No abstract