Zinc incorporation in the miliolid foraminifer Pseudotriloculina rotunda under laboratory conditions

Research areas:

• Environnement, Paléo-Environnement et Bio-Indicateurs (2011 - 2016)

Year:

2016

Keywords:

Foraminifera

Authors:

• Maria Pia Nardelli
• D. Malferrari
• A. Ferretti
• A. Bartolini
• A. Sabbatini
• A. Negri

Journal:

Marine Micropaleontology

Volume:

126

Pages:

42 - 49

ISSN:

0377-8398

BibTex:

@article{Nardelli201642, author = "Maria Pia Nardelli and D. Malferrari and A. Ferretti and A. Bartolini and A. Sabbatini and A. Negri", abstract = "Abstract The incorporation rate of Zn into the calcareous tests of Pseudotriloculina rotunda was investigated in culture in order to evaluate the possibility of using Zn/Ca ratios as a pollution proxy. Foraminifera were incubated at zinc concentrations up to 10-fold higher than unpolluted seawater (sea + 10 mg Zn/L) during 70 days. New calcite was investigated under the Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM), for potential alteration of test structure. Laser ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) was used to quantify Zn contents. The analyses revealed that test structure is not visibly altered by the presence of zinc. However, significant Zn incorporation is detected by the LA-ICP-MS. The zinc partition coefficient, DZn, decreases at increasing Zn concentrations (from 4.03 ± 0.06 to 0.2 ± 0.01) and the zinc is incorporated into the calcite not necessarily linearly. ", doi = "http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marmicro.2016.06.001", issn = "0377-8398", journal = "Marine Micropaleontology ", keywords = "Foraminifera", pages = "42 - 49", title = "{Z}inc incorporation in the miliolid foraminifer {P}seudotriloculina rotunda under laboratory conditions ", url = "http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377839816300445", volume = "126", year = "2016", }

Abstract:

Abstract The incorporation rate of Zn into the calcareous tests of Pseudotriloculina rotunda was investigated in culture in order to evaluate the possibility of using Zn/Ca ratios as a pollution proxy. Foraminifera were incubated at zinc concentrations up to 10-fold higher than unpolluted seawater (sea + 10 mg Zn/L) during 70 days. New calcite was investigated under the Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM), for potential alteration of test structure. Laser ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) was used to quantify Zn contents. The analyses revealed that test structure is not visibly altered by the presence of zinc. However, significant Zn incorporation is detected by the LA-ICP-MS. The zinc partition coefficient, DZn, decreases at increasing Zn concentrations (from 4.03 ± 0.06 to 0.2 ± 0.01) and the zinc is incorporated into the calcite not necessarily linearly.