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Carbon Cycling in the Glacial Ocean: Constraints on the Ocean’s Role in Global Change pp 307–321Cite as

Variations in Sedimentary Organic δ13C as a Proxy for Past Changes in Ocean and Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations

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Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASII,volume 17))

Abstract

Theory, laboratory studies, and ocean observations indicate that the δ13C of marine plankton biomass and sedimentary remains thereof can be used as a proxy for ambient molecular CO2 concentration, [CO2(aq)] in ocean surface waters. A compilation of in situ ocean data suggests that about 89% of the global δ13Corg variation within bulk plankton or seston can be explained by a simple negative linear response to ambient [CO2(aq)] with the slope of the best-fit line = -0.6 ‰ µM-1. With this model the standard error of the estimate of surface ocean [CO2(aq)] is ±2.0 µM when δ13Corg is specified. This residual variability may be largely due to effects on plankton δ13Corg imparted by changes in phytoplankton CO2 demand that are independent of [CO2(aq)]. Within this variability and within the current range of ocean [CO2(aq)] there are slight differences between this model and various proposed nonlinear fits to observed global data. While an inverse relationship that can be influenced by both CO2 demand as well as concentration is theoretically expected, it does not provide an improved fit to observations over the negative linear model. When applied to the sedimentary δ13Corg record, the latter model predicts that the approximate 80 µatms increase in atmospheric pCO2 during the last glacial-interglacial transition (as documented by ice core analyses) should have resulted in a 1–2 ‰ decrease in plankton δ13C. Indeed, changes of this direction and magnitude are evident in most low-latitude Pleistocene/Holocene sediment core profiles of δ13Corg thus far reported. However, some geographic and temporal differences in past plankton isotopic response are present and expected due to i) regional non-equilibrium between ocean and atmospheric [CO2], and ii) changes in phytoplankton CO2 demand.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, 95064, USA

    Greg H. Rau

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  1. Greg H. Rau
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. GEOMAR Forschungszentrum für Marine Geowissenschaften, Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Wischhofstraße 1-3, D-24148, Kiel, Germany

    Rainer Zahn

  2. Department of Oceanography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V6T 1W5

    Thomas F. Pedersen

  3. Micropalaeontology Unit Department of Geological Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Michael A. Kaminski

  4. Laboratoire Mixte CNRS-CEA, Centre des Faibles Radioactivités, Avenue de la Terrasse, F-91190, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    Laurent Labeyrie

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© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Rau, G.H. (1994). Variations in Sedimentary Organic δ13C as a Proxy for Past Changes in Ocean and Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations. In: Zahn, R., Pedersen, T.F., Kaminski, M.A., Labeyrie, L. (eds) Carbon Cycling in the Glacial Ocean: Constraints on the Ocean’s Role in Global Change. NATO ASI Series, vol 17. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78737-9_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78737-9_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-78739-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-78737-9

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