Foraminiferal Barium as a Paleochemical Tracer of the Glacial Oceans

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The Ba content of the foraminifera shells that accumulate in deep- sea sediments record past seawater Ba concentrations. The unique properties of Ba make it an effective tracer of deep-ocean circulation; in addition, paleo-Ba distributions are the best constraint presently available on alkalinity distributions in the glacial oceans. This study will 1) improve and augment the analytical method so that Ba, Cd, Mn, Sr and Ca can be analyzed simultaneously in foraminifera; 2) acquire a long record (250 kyr or more) of benthic foraminiferal Ba for Circumpolar Deep Water (core RC13-229); 3) recover a long record (225 kyr) of benthic foraminiferal Ba for Pacific Deep Water (core TR163-31P); 4) recover a glacial-interglacial record of planktonic foraminiferal Ba for the Southern Ocean (core AII107-22GGC); and, 5) expand the map of benthic Ba distributions in the glacial oceans, with special focus on the tropical Atlantic Ocean, Western Pacific Ocean and intermediate waters of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.