Phytoplanktonic microfossil groups of sediments from the South and Equatorial Atlantic

DOI

Individual planktonic microfossil species, or assemblage groups of different species, are often used to, qualitatively and/or quantitatively, reconstruct past (sub)surface-water conditions of the world's oceans and seas. Until now, little information has been available on the surface sediment distribution patterns and paleoenvironmental reconstruction potential of coccolith, calcareous dinoflagellate cyst and organic-walled dinoflagellate cyst assemblages of the South and equatorial Atlantic, especially at the species level. This paper (i) summarizes the distributions of these three phytoplanktonic microfossil groups in numerous Atlantic surface sediments from 20°N-50°S and 30°E-65°W and determines their relationship with the physicochemical and trophic conditions of the overlying (sub)surface-waters, and (ii) determines the synecology of the three phytoplankton groups by carrying out statistical analyses (i.e. detrended and canonical correspondence analyses) on all groups simultaneously. Ecological relationships are additionally strengthened by statistically comparing the distribution patterns of the phytoplankton groups with those of planktonic foraminifera (Pflaumann et al. 1996; Niebler et al. 1998), as the ecological preferences of the latter are much better known. Many of the analyzed phytoplanktonic microfossil species or groups of species in the surface sediments do show restricted distributions which primarily reflect the environmental conditions of the upper water masses above them (e.g. sea-surface temperature, productivity, stratification). The acquired 'reference' data sets are large and diverse enough to allow future development of transfer functions for the reconstruction of past surface-water conditions, and show that there is still an enormous paleoenvironmental reconstruction potential concealed in many fossil coccolith and dinoflagellate cyst assemblages.

Supplement to: Vink, Annemiek; Baumann, Karl-Heinz; Boeckel, Babette; Esper, Oliver; Kinkel, Hanno; Volbers, Andrea N A; Willems, Helmut; Zonneveld, Karin A F (2003): Coccolithophorid and dinoflagellate synecology in the South and Equatorial Atlantic: Improving the palaeoecological significance of phytoplanktonic microfossils. In: Wefer, G; Mulitza, S & Ratmeyer, V (eds.), The South Atlantic in the Late Quaternary: Reconstruction of Material Budgets and Current Systems, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 101-120

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.779587
Related Identifier IsSupplementTo https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18917-3_6
Related Identifier References https://doi.org/10.1016/S0377-8398(03)00067-7
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.779587
Provenance
Creator Vink, Annemiek ORCID logo; Baumann, Karl-Heinz; Boeckel, Babette; Esper, Oliver ORCID logo; Kinkel, Hanno; Volbers, Andrea N A; Willems, Helmut; Zonneveld, Karin A F ORCID logo
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 2003
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
OpenAccess true
Representation
Resource Type Supplementary Publication Series of Datasets; Collection
Format application/zip
Size 7 datasets
Discipline Geosciences; Natural Sciences
Spatial Coverage (-64.162W, -49.129S, 17.862E, 18.933N); Guinea Basin; Equatorial Atlantic; Brazil Basin; Walvis Ridge; Cape Basin; Eastern Rio Grande Rise; West Angola Basin; Mid Atlantic Ridge; East Brazil Basin; Amazon Fan; off Kunene; Namibia Continental Margin; Namibia continental slope; South African margin; Slope off Argentina; Western Equatorial Atlantic; Sierra Leone Rise; Southern Cape Basin; Northern Cape Basin; Vema Channel; Continental slope off Brazil; Northeast Brasilian Margin; Amazon Shelf/Fan; Atlantic Caribbean Margin; South of Cape Verde; Midatlantic Ridge; Northern Brasil Basin; Ceara Rise; Guayana continental slope; Eastern Niger fan; NE off San Thome; off northern Gabun; off Cameroon; off Gabun; off south Gabun; northern Congo fan; southern Congo fan; off Angola; Ascencion Island; Mid-Atlantic Ridge; Northwestern Vema Channel; Angola Basin; Central Brazil Basin; Central South Atlantic; South Atlantic Ocean
Temporal Coverage Begin 1989-02-22T00:00:00Z
Temporal Coverage End 2000-03-04T02:21:00Z