Controls on shell Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca in cultured planktonic foraminiferan, Globigerinoides ruber (white)

Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios were determined on a single species of planktonic foraminiferan, Globigerinoides ruber (white), collected from the Gulf of Eilat and cultured in seawater at five different salinities (32 to 44), five temperatures (18 to 30 °C) and four pH values (7.9 to 8.4). The Mg/Ca-temperature calibration of cultured G. ruber (with an exponential slope of 8 ± 3%/°C) agrees well with previously published calibrations from core-tops and sediment traps. However, the dependence of Mg/Ca on salinity (with an exponential slope of 5 ± 3%/psu) is also significant and should be included in the calibration equation. With this purpose, we calculated a calibration equation for G. ruber dependent on both temperature and salinity within the 95% confidence limits: Mg / Ca ( mmol/mol ) = e x p [ 0.06 ( ± 0.02 ) ∗ S ( psu ) + 0.08 ( ± 0.02 ) ∗ T ( ° C ) − 2.8 ( ± 1.0 ) ] , R 2 = 0.95 The influence of pH on Mg/Ca ratios is negligible at ambient seawater pH (8.1 to 8.3). However, we observe a dominating pH control on shell Mg/Ca when the pH of seawater is lower than 8.0. Sr/Ca in G. ruber shows a significant positive correlation with average growth rate. Presumably, part of the variability in shell Sr/Ca in the geological record is linked to changes in growth rates of foraminifera as a response to changing environmental conditions.