Aragonite production in calcite seas: effect of seawater Mg/Ca ratio on the calcification and growth of the calcareous alga Penicillus capitatus

Abstract

Abstract Previous studies have shown that secular variation in the Mg/Ca ratio of seawater throughout the Phanerozoic would have subjected the aragonite-producing codiacean algae to at least three transitions between the low-Mg calcite (molar Mg/Ca 2) nucleation fields in the oceans, since their origin in the Ordovician. These studies have asserted that major sediment production by codiacean algae in Recent tropical seas is permitted by the Mg/Ca ratio of modern seawater (molar Mg/Ca ∼5.2) remaining within the aragonitic/high-Mg calcite nucleation field (molar Mg/Ca >2). Here I present the results of experiments conducted to determine the effects of ambient Mg/Ca on the mineralogy, growth rate, primary productivity, calcification rate, and biomechanics of the codiacean alga Penicillus capitatus. P. capitatus specimens were grown in three artificial seawater treatments that mimic ancient seawater of differing Mg/Ca ratios, corresponding to the low-Mg calcit...