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Stable isotopes in deep-sea living (stained) foraminifera from the Mozambique Channel (eastern Africa): multispecies signatures and paleoenvironmental application

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Abstract

Oxygen and carbon isotopes (δ18O and δ13C) have been investigated in carbonate tests of deep-sea foraminifera living in the Mozambique Channel (eastern Africa) to understand how environmental constraints (e.g., organic matter, oxygenation) control the intra- and interspecific variability of isotopic signatures. 197 living individuals, including eight different species, from various microhabitats within the sediment were sorted from sediment samples gathered at two stations on the Malagasy upper slope. Results show that the δ18O values of foraminiferal taxa were not controlled by microhabitat pattern. They presented tremendous and intriguing intraspecific variability that is not explained by the classical ontogenetic effect. The δ13C values of infaunal foraminiferal taxa do not show a 1:1 relationship with the bottom water δ13C DIC and do not present a constant offset from it; instead, they appear to be mainly controlled by a microhabitat effect. The lower δ13C values of shallow, intermediate, and deep infaunal taxa at the deeper station compared to those seen at the shallower station reflect the enhanced exportation of sedimentary organic matter at the sediment–water interface, and its related mineralization within the upper sediments. The ∆δ13C between shallow/very shallow infaunal species (i.e., Hoeglundina elegans, Uvigerina hispida) and intermediate/deep infaunal species (i.e., Melonis barleeanus, Globobulimina barbata) permits insight into (1) the exportation of organic matter to the seafloor and (2) the various degradation pathways for organic detritus in the benthic environments off NW Madagascar.

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Acknowledgements

This study was done within the framework of the PAMELA project (“Passive Margin Exploration Laboratories”), funded by TOTAL and Ifremer. We thank crew members of the R/V L’Atalante and all scientists who participated in the PAMELA-MOZ1 cruise. We sincerely acknowledge Karine Olu (Ifremer) and Stephan Jorry (Ifremer) for their very efficient work as chief scientists in facilitating the cruise. We also express our special thanks to Lara Macheriotou (Ph.D., Ghent University), who sampled cores dedicated to foraminiferal investigations. We thank Heather Birch helping us to retrieve δ13CDIC values from the World Ocean Database 2009 (WOD09 files at http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/WOD/pr_wod.html). The Eline Garnier Fellowship was funded by the ECOBIOC team from the laboratory “Environnements et Paléo-environnements Océaniques et Continentaux” (UMR 5805), University of Bordeaux. Finally, we thank both reviewers for their comments, which helped us to improve the overall quality of this paper.

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Fontanier, C., Sakai, S., Toyofuku, T. et al. Stable isotopes in deep-sea living (stained) foraminifera from the Mozambique Channel (eastern Africa): multispecies signatures and paleoenvironmental application. J Oceanogr 73, 259–275 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10872-016-0401-1

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