Southern Ocean Foraminifera Oxygen Isotope Seasonality from Sediment Traps

Southern Ocean and Southwest Pacific data from 5 sediment traps moored from Subtropical to Polar Frontal environments. The dataset contains oxygen isotopic records from three planktonic foraminifera species, analyzed to understand seasonal flux patterns and habitat depths. It was published by Geoscience Australia Data and last updated in 2026.

Use Cases

• Calibrating paleotemperature equations based on the comparison of foraminiferal d18O to predicted calcite d18O.
• Modeling seasonal production cycles of marine microorganisms based on described flux patterns for Globigerina bulloides and Neogloboquadrina pachyderma.
• Investigating the relationship between carbonate chemistry and isotopic offsets based on the finding that offsets do not correlate with carbonate ion concentration.
• Reconstructing past surface ocean habitats based on the inferred depth preferences of different foraminifera species.

Strengths

• Provides the first analysis of seasonal foraminiferal d18O records from the described latitudinal range.
• Data spans a significant environmental gradient, from Subtropical to Polar Frontal zones.
• Compares isotopic records against established paleotemperature equations from Epstein et al. (1953) and Kim and O'Neil (1997).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data freshness should be verified despite the 2026 update timestamp.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Analysis of oxygen isotopic records from foraminifera collected in sediment traps.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-20 02:13:17.402845

Geography

Southern Ocean and Southwest Pacific, from Subtropical to Polar Frontal environments.