Abstract:

This dataset includes baseline stable carbon and oxygen isotope measurements from benthic foraminifera throughout the Gulf of Mexico. Stable isotope measurements were performed on Cibicidoides spp. The dataset contains the sediment core information such as location, date, and depth; and benthic foraminiferal stable carbon and oxygen isotopes. Sediment cores were collected on multiple cruises from 2010-06-13 to 2017-07-19.

Suggested Citation:

Schwing, Patrick; Hollander, David J.. 2019. Gulf-wide seafloor surface benthic foraminifera stable isotopes from sediment cores collected on multiple cruises from 2010-06-13 to 2017-07-19. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/n7-repn-q515

Publications:

Schwing, P. T., & Machain-Castillo, M. L. (2019). Impact and Resilience of Benthic Foraminifera in the Aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon and Ixtoc 1 Oil Spills. Deep Oil Spills, 374–387. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-11605-7_23

Schwing, P. T., Hollander, D. J., Brooks, G. R., Larson, R. A., Hastings, D. W., Chanton, J. P., … Langenhoff, A. (2019). The Sedimentary Record of MOSSFA Events in the Gulf of Mexico: A Comparison of the Deepwater Horizon (2010) and Ixtoc 1 (1979) Oil Spills. Deep Oil Spills, 221–234. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-11605-7_13

Schwing, P. T., Montagna, P. A., Machain-Castillo, M. L., Escobar-Briones, E., & Rohal, M. (2019). Benthic Faunal Baselines in the Gulf of Mexico: A Precursor to Evaluate Future Impacts. Scenarios and Responses to Future Deep Oil Spills, 96–108. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-12963-7_6

Armenteros, M., Schwing, P. T., Larson, R. A., Díaz-Asencio, M., Martínez-Suárez, A., Fernández-Garcés, R., … Brooks, G. R. (2019). Geochemical and Faunal Characterization in the Sediments off the Cuban North and Northwest Coast. Scenarios and Responses to Future Deep Oil Spills, 147–159. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-12963-7_9

Schwing, P. T., Machain-Castillo, M. L., Brooks, G. R., Larson, R. A., Fillingham, J. N., Sanchez-Cabeza, J. A., … Hollander, D. J. (2021). Multi-proxy assessment of recent regional-scale events recorded in Southern Gulf of Mexico sediments. Marine Geology, 434, 106434. doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2021.106434

Purpose:

The purpose of this dataset was to provide Gulf of Mexico-wide baseline measurements of benthic foraminifera stable isotope in advance of future oil spills. These baseline measurements can be used in the event of future oil spills as a reference to quantitatively assess impact and recovery. They also have implications for the calibration and development of paleoceanographic proxies.

Data Parameters and Units:

Site/station name, latitude and longitude (decimal degrees), collection date (mm/dd/yyyy), water depth (m), core name or id, top depth of interval within the core (mm), core interval, benthic foraminiferal stable carbon delta-13C (per mil), stable oxygen delta-18O (per mil), delta-C13 standard deviation (per mil), delta-O18 standard deviation (per mil). Note: The full collection date for the site/station "E4, E52, E58, and 89-33" is missing in the data, and are as follows: E4: 08/03/2011 E52: 08/10/2011 E58: 08/11/2011 89-33: 06/13/2010

Methods:

The cores and surface grab samples used for benthic foraminiferal stable isotope measurement and organic geochemistry were frozen (-20O C) and the core used for short-lived radioisotope geochronology was stored at ambient temperature. All cores were sub-sampled by extrusion at 2-5 mm intervals (Table 2) using a calibrated, threaded-rod extrusion device (Schwing et al., 2016). The sub-samples used for benthic foraminiferal stable isotope measurement were then washed with a sodium hexametaphosphate solution through a 63-μm sieve to disaggregate clay particles from foraminifera tests. The fraction remaining on the sieve was dried, weighed again, and stored at room temperature. For gulf-wide measurements, only the surface sub-sample (0-2 mm) was measured. Cibicidoides spp. (C. wuellerstorfi and C. pachyderma) tests were picked from each sample to obtain greater than 50 μg of CaCO3 (7-44 individuals, Table 2). Translucent tests were preferentially selected to avoid any authigenic overgrowth influence on the carbon isotope measurements (Wycech et al., 2016). The Cibicidoides spp. tests were lightly cracked between two sterile glass plates and homogenized. They were then cleaned ultrasonically in reagent-grade methanol to disaggregate any clay and authigenic carbonate material (Hill et al., 2004). Each sample of δ13CCaCO3 and δ18OCaCO3 was measured with a ThermoFisher MAT253 stable isotope ratio mass spectrometer coupled to a GasBench-II peripheral in continuous-flow mode located at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry Laboratory following established procedures (Révész and Landwehr, 2002; Spötl and Vennemann, 2003). Replicates (3-5) were measured for the majority of the samples, where there was enough material for replicates. In some cases, only enough material was available for one measurement. Secondary reference materials (TSF-1 δ13C = 1.95±0.05‰; Borba δ13C = 2.87±0.05‰, both calibrated to NBS19 and NBS18 NIST certified reference materials) were used to normalize measurements to the VPDB scale. Measurement uncertainty, expressed as ±1 standard deviation of measurements (n=37) of the TSF-1 laboratory reference material was 0.05%.

Provenance and Historical References:

Hill, T. M., Kennett, J. P., & Valentine, D. L. (2004). Isotopic evidence for the incorporation of methane-derived carbon into foraminifera from modern methane seeps, Hydrate Ridge, Northeast Pacific. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 68(22), 4619–4627. doi:10.1016/j.gca.2004.07.012 Révész, K. M., & Landwehr, J. M. (2002). δ13C and δ18O isotopic composition of CaCO3measured by continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry: statistical evaluation and verification by application to Devils Hole core DH-11 calcite. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 16(22), 2102–2114. doi:10.1002/rcm.833 Spötl, C., & Vennemann, T. W. (2003). Continuous-flow isotope ratio mass spectrometric analysis of carbonate minerals. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 17(9), 1004–1006. doi:10.1002/rcm.1010 Schwing, P.T., Romero, I.C., Larson, R.A., O'Malley, B.J., Fridrik, E.E., Goddard, E.A., Brooks, G.R., Hastings, D.W., Rosenheim, B.E., Hollander, D.J., & Grant, G. (2016). Sediment Core Extrusion Method at Millimeter Resolution Using a Calibrated, Threaded-rod. JoVE, (114). doi:10.3791/54363 Wycech, J., Kelly, D. C., & Marcott, S. (2016). Effects of seafloor diagenesis on planktic foraminiferal radiocarbon ages. Geology, 44(7), 551–554. doi:10.1130/g37864.1

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