The effect of upwelling on the distribution and stable isotope composition of Globigerina bulloides and Globigerinoides ruber (planktic foraminifera) in modern surface waters of the NW Arabian Sea

Hydrographic changes in the NW Arabian Sea are mainly controlled by the monsoon system. This results in a strong seasonal and vertical gradient in surface water properties, such as temperature, nutrients, carbonate chemistry and the isotopic composition of dissolved inorganic carbon (δ13CDIC). Living specimens of the planktic foraminifer species Globigerina bulloides and Globigerinoides ruber, were collected using depth stratified plankton tows during the SW monsoon upwelling period in August 1992 and the NE monsoon non-upwelling period in March 1993. We compare their distribution and the stable isotope composition to the seawater properties of the two contrasting monsoon seasons. The oxygen isotope composition of the shells (δ18Oshell) and vertical shell concentration profiles indicate that the depth habitat for both species is shallower during upwelling (SW monsoon period) than during non-upwelling (NE monsoon period). The calcification temperatures suggest that most of the calcite is precipitated at a depth level just below the deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM), however above the main thermocline. Consequently, the average calcification temperature of G. ruber and G. bulloides is lower than the sea surface temperature by 1.7±0.8 and 1.3±0.9 °C, respectively. The carbon isotope composition of the shells (δ13Cshell) of both species differs from the in situ δ13CDIC found at the calcification depths of the specimens. The observed offset between the δ13Cshell and the ambient δ13CDIC results from (1) metabolic/ontogenetic effects, (2) the carbonate chemistry of the seawater and, for symbiotic G. ruber, (3) the possible effect of symbionts or symbiont activity. Ontogenetic effects produce size trends in Δδ13Cshell–DIC and Δδ18Oshell–w: large shells of G. bulloides (250–355μm) are 0.33‰ (δ13C) and 0.23‰ (δ18O) higher compared to smaller ones (150–250 μm). For G. ruber, this is 0.39‰ (δ13C) and 0.17‰ (δ18O). Our field study shows that the δ13Cshell decreases as a result of lower δ13CDIC values in upwelled waters, while the effects of the carbonate system and/or temperature act in an opposite direction and increase the δ13Cshell as a result lower [CO32−] (or pH) values and/or lower temperature. The Δδ13Cshell–DIC [CO32−] slopes from our field data are close to those reported literature from laboratory culture experiments. Since seawater carbonate chemistry affects the δ13Cshell in an opposite sense, and often with a larger magnitude, than the change related to productivity (i.e. δ13CDIC), higher δ13Cshell values may be expected during periods of upwelling.