Diatom silicon isotopes as a proxy for silicic acid utilisation: A Southern Ocean core top calibration

Despite a growing body of work that uses diatom δ 30Si to reconstruct past changes in silicic acid utilisation, few studies have focused on calibrating core top data with modern oceanographic conditions. In this study, a microfiltration technique is used to divide Southern Ocean core top silica into...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Egan, K, Rickaby, R, Leng, M, Hendry, K, Hermoso, M, Sloane, H, Bostock, H, Halliday, A
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2012
_version_ 1826270345359785984
author Egan, K
Rickaby, R
Leng, M
Hendry, K
Hermoso, M
Sloane, H
Bostock, H
Halliday, A
author_facet Egan, K
Rickaby, R
Leng, M
Hendry, K
Hermoso, M
Sloane, H
Bostock, H
Halliday, A
author_sort Egan, K
collection OXFORD
description Despite a growing body of work that uses diatom δ 30Si to reconstruct past changes in silicic acid utilisation, few studies have focused on calibrating core top data with modern oceanographic conditions. In this study, a microfiltration technique is used to divide Southern Ocean core top silica into narrow size ranges, separating components such as radiolaria, sponge spicules and clay minerals from diatoms. Silicon isotope analysis of these components demonstrates that inclusion of small amounts of non-diatom material can significantly offset the measured from the true diatom δ 30Si. Once the correct size fraction is selected (generally 2-20μm), diatom δ 30Si shows a strong negative correlation with surface water silicic acid concentration (R 2=0.92), highly supportive of the qualitative use of diatom δ 30Si as a proxy for silicic acid utilisation. The core top diatom δ 30Si matches well with mixed layer filtered diatom δ 30Si from published in situ studies, suggesting little to no effect of either dissolution on export through the water column, or early diagenesis, on diatom δ 30Si in sediments from the Southern Ocean. However, the core top diatom δ 30Si shows a poor fit to simple Rayleigh or steady state models of the Southern Ocean when a single source term is used. The data can instead be described by these models only when variations in the initial conditions of upwelled silicic acid concentration and δ 30Si are taken into account, a caveat which may introduce some error into quantitative reconstructions of past silicic acid utilisation from diatom δ 30Si. © 2012.
first_indexed 2024-03-06T21:39:22Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:475f6dba-dee9-491f-9960-1da4fa332cd3
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-06T21:39:22Z
publishDate 2012
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:475f6dba-dee9-491f-9960-1da4fa332cd32022-03-26T15:19:49ZDiatom silicon isotopes as a proxy for silicic acid utilisation: A Southern Ocean core top calibrationJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:475f6dba-dee9-491f-9960-1da4fa332cd3EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2012Egan, KRickaby, RLeng, MHendry, KHermoso, MSloane, HBostock, HHalliday, ADespite a growing body of work that uses diatom δ 30Si to reconstruct past changes in silicic acid utilisation, few studies have focused on calibrating core top data with modern oceanographic conditions. In this study, a microfiltration technique is used to divide Southern Ocean core top silica into narrow size ranges, separating components such as radiolaria, sponge spicules and clay minerals from diatoms. Silicon isotope analysis of these components demonstrates that inclusion of small amounts of non-diatom material can significantly offset the measured from the true diatom δ 30Si. Once the correct size fraction is selected (generally 2-20μm), diatom δ 30Si shows a strong negative correlation with surface water silicic acid concentration (R 2=0.92), highly supportive of the qualitative use of diatom δ 30Si as a proxy for silicic acid utilisation. The core top diatom δ 30Si matches well with mixed layer filtered diatom δ 30Si from published in situ studies, suggesting little to no effect of either dissolution on export through the water column, or early diagenesis, on diatom δ 30Si in sediments from the Southern Ocean. However, the core top diatom δ 30Si shows a poor fit to simple Rayleigh or steady state models of the Southern Ocean when a single source term is used. The data can instead be described by these models only when variations in the initial conditions of upwelled silicic acid concentration and δ 30Si are taken into account, a caveat which may introduce some error into quantitative reconstructions of past silicic acid utilisation from diatom δ 30Si. © 2012.
spellingShingle Egan, K
Rickaby, R
Leng, M
Hendry, K
Hermoso, M
Sloane, H
Bostock, H
Halliday, A
Diatom silicon isotopes as a proxy for silicic acid utilisation: A Southern Ocean core top calibration
title Diatom silicon isotopes as a proxy for silicic acid utilisation: A Southern Ocean core top calibration
title_full Diatom silicon isotopes as a proxy for silicic acid utilisation: A Southern Ocean core top calibration
title_fullStr Diatom silicon isotopes as a proxy for silicic acid utilisation: A Southern Ocean core top calibration
title_full_unstemmed Diatom silicon isotopes as a proxy for silicic acid utilisation: A Southern Ocean core top calibration
title_short Diatom silicon isotopes as a proxy for silicic acid utilisation: A Southern Ocean core top calibration
title_sort diatom silicon isotopes as a proxy for silicic acid utilisation a southern ocean core top calibration
work_keys_str_mv AT egank diatomsiliconisotopesasaproxyforsilicicacidutilisationasouthernoceancoretopcalibration
AT rickabyr diatomsiliconisotopesasaproxyforsilicicacidutilisationasouthernoceancoretopcalibration
AT lengm diatomsiliconisotopesasaproxyforsilicicacidutilisationasouthernoceancoretopcalibration
AT hendryk diatomsiliconisotopesasaproxyforsilicicacidutilisationasouthernoceancoretopcalibration
AT hermosom diatomsiliconisotopesasaproxyforsilicicacidutilisationasouthernoceancoretopcalibration
AT sloaneh diatomsiliconisotopesasaproxyforsilicicacidutilisationasouthernoceancoretopcalibration
AT bostockh diatomsiliconisotopesasaproxyforsilicicacidutilisationasouthernoceancoretopcalibration
AT hallidaya diatomsiliconisotopesasaproxyforsilicicacidutilisationasouthernoceancoretopcalibration