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Foraminifera shells
Oxygen isotopes from the
calcite (CaCO3) shells from
organisms taken from
deep-sea sediments of
Cretaceous age.
TEMPERATURE FRACTIONATION OF OXYGEN ISOTOPES 18O AND 16O
Foraminifera are small (1 mm) organisms (protists) that live in the ocean.
They have shells made of calcium carbonate - CaCO3
And, like carbon, biology fractionates this oxygen isotope ratio (critters
‘like’ the light isotope better) during metabolism.
BUT the amount of this fractionation is TEMPERATE DEPENDENT.
Both LAB and FIELD studies show that the temperature dependence of
this BIOLOGICAL fractionation is
or… 18O becomes less abundant in the foram carbonate shells - with
respect to 16O - when the temperature increases.
Cretaceous δ18O temperature records from Indian (solid) and global (open)
carbonates. All temperatures are conservative values and would be 3°– 6°C
higher if modern latitudinal trends were applied.
How was this extreme global heat distributed N-S over
the earth compared to the present meridional
distribution?
Pole Pole
Sea level during the
Cretaceous was very
• No land-based ice. high – why?