(Table 2) Zn/Si ratios for sponge spicules from sediment core samples

DOI

The zinc concentration of siliceous sponge spicules was determined from spicules recovered from four sediment cores spanning the last 160 kyr, from the Campbell Plateau region southeast of New Zealand. Zinc/Si results showed little difference between Holocene and glacial aged spicules. An increase in Zn/Si was observed for core Y14, where Zn/Si peaked at about 0.6 mmol/mol during marine isotope stages 5a-5b. To better understand the role carbon export has on sponge Zn/Si, we explored the strong relationship observed between surficial sediment particulate organic carbon (POC) and the Zn/Si of sponge silica and related this to sediment trap POC flux estimates. Conversion of the Zn/Si records to benthic POC fluxes suggests that there has been little change in the amount of POC reaching Campbell Plateau sediments over the past 30 kyr. These results suggest that surface productivity over the Campbell Plateau has remained relatively low over the past 160 kyr and suggests that glacial productivity was not significantly higher than the present day. Finally, this work reveals that living marine sponges appear to act as the biological equivalents of moored sediment traps, recording the flux of POC to the seafloor by archiving zinc associated with sinking POC in the growing silica skeleton.

Supplement to: Ellwood, Michael J; Kelly, Michelle; Neil, Helen L; Nodder, Scott D (2005): Reconstruction of paleo-particulate organic carbon fluxes for the Campbell Plateau region of southern New Zealand using the zinc content of sponge spicules. Paleoceanography, 20(3), PA3010

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.836800
Related Identifier https://doi.org/10.1029/2004PA001095
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.836800
Provenance
Creator Ellwood, Michael J ORCID logo; Kelly, Michelle; Neil, Helen L; Nodder, Scott D ORCID logo
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 2005
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
OpenAccess true
Representation
Language English
Resource Type Supplementary Dataset; Dataset
Format text/tab-separated-values
Size 509 data points
Discipline Earth System Research
Spatial Coverage (-177.990W, -51.335S, 169.756E, -46.971N); offshore eastern New Zealand; Southwest Pacific; South Pacific