Radiolarian and sedimentological studies on Neogene sediments of the Benguela Upwelling System

我们提议对本格拉上升流系统进行为期3年的研究……本格拉上升流系统是全球海洋中最大的上升流系统之一。上升流对当地渔业很重要，影响非洲的区域气候，并通过向沉积物输出碳，影响全球二氧化碳循环。先前的DSDP和ODP钻井已经恢复了该系统的详细记录，可以追溯到中新世晚期早期。也许对这一记录的先前研究中最重要的结果是证明了蛋白石（二氧化硅）和碳酸盐壳浮游植物的生产力记录经常彼此相异。目前还不完全清楚，这是否反映了每个浮游植物群体在一段时间内行为的真正差异，或者，由于难以解释过去生产力的替代指标，这至少在一定程度上是人为的。因为蛋白石壳和碳酸盐壳的浮游植物输出不同比例的营养物质——特别是碳——这些差异对于理解海洋生产力在调节全球碳循环中的作用具有普遍的重要性。我们的目标是更好地了解生物源硅基生产力的保留记录之间解耦的程度和原因。以及生产力的其他组成部分，以及这些不同的组成部分在过去10年中在本格拉上升流系统中是如何演变的……

We propose a 3 year study of the Benguela upwelling system... The Benguela upwelling system is one of the largest such in the global ocean. Upwelling is important to local fisheries, affects the regional climate of Africa and, via export of carbon to the sediments, the global C02 cycle. Previous DSDP and ODP drilling has recovered a detailed record of this system going back to the early late Miocene. Perhaps the most significant outcome of previous studies of this record is evidence that opal (Si02) and carbonate shelled phytoplankton records of productivity are frequently out of phase with each other. It is still not fully clear if this reflects true differences in how each phytoplankton group behaves over time, or if it is at least in part an artifact, due to difficulties in interpreting proxy indicators of past productivity. Because opal shelled and carbonate shelled phytoplankton export different ratios of nutrients - particularly carbon - these differences are of general importance in understanding the role of ocean productivity in regulating the global carbon cycle. Our goals are to better understand the extent and causes of decoupling between reserved records of biogenic silica based productivity ... and other components of productivity, and how these different components have evolved over the last 10 my in the Benguela upwelling system...