Abstract

We present a global atlas of downcore foraminiferal oxygen and carbon isotope ratios available at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.936747 (Mulitza et al., 2021). The database contains 2,108 published and previously unpublished stable isotope downcore records with 362,067 stable isotope values of various planktonic and benthic species of foraminifera from 1,265 sediment cores. Age constraints are provided by 6,153 uncalibrated radiocarbon ages from 598 (47 %) of the cores. Each stable isotope and radiocarbon series is provided in a separate netCDF file containing fundamental meta data as attributes. The data set can be managed and explored with the free software tool PaleoDataView. The atlas will provide important data for paleoceanographic analyses and compilations, site surveys, or for teaching marine stratigraphy. The database can be updated with new records as they are generated, providing a live ongoing resource into the future.

Highlights

  • Stable oxygen and carbon isotope ratios measured on foraminiferal shells are often regarded as the foundation of Marine Geology and Paleoceanography

  • The importance of these proxies stems from their broad applicability in time and space, their established and efficient analytical methods and their great value for stratigraphy and paleoceanographic reconstructions (see 5 review by (Pearson, 2012)

  • About 79% of the files containing stable isotope 30 records were derived from data downloaded either from PANGAEA or NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI, www.ncdc.noaa.gov)

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Summary

Introduction

Foraminiferal isotopes have substantially contributed to the reconstruction and understanding of the global climate evolution since the Early Cretaceous (Cramer et al, 2009) including the validation of the orbital theory of the ice ages (Hays et al, 1976), reconstructions of ice volume (Shackleton and Opdyke, 1973; Waelbroeck et al, 2002) and water 10 mass structure, ocean circulation and carbon cycling (Curry et al, 1988; Duplessy et al, 1988; Boyle and Keigwin, 1987) Despite their importance for the understanding of the Earth System, foraminiferal isotope data have not been systematically catalogued or stored in a database in a consistent and standardized format. The netCDF format allows the data to be analysed using programming languages such as MATLAB, R, Fortran, 25 C++ and Python

Data sources and harmonisation
Spatial and vertical coverage
Figure 5
Figure 6
Distribution of radiocarbon ages
10 Figure 10
Education
Future
Findings
25 R Core Team
Full Text
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