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Trace and major element incorporation into amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) precipitated from seawater

Trace and major element incorporation into amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) precipitated from seawater
Trace and major element incorporation into amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) precipitated from seawater
Amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) has been identified or inferred to exist in many groups of marine organisms that produce biominerals widely used as geochemical archives (e.g. foraminifera, molluscs, echinoderms). However, little is known about trace element incorporation into ACC, and thus it is not understood how precipitation through an ACC precursor might impact the fidelity of climate proxies and biomineralisation models built on the skeletal geochemistry of these marine calcifiers. To address this, we investigated the incorporation of Li, B, Na, Mg, Mn, Sr, Ba, and U into inorganic amorphous calcium magnesium carbonates precipitated from seawater under a variety of different carbonate chemistries, Mg/Ca ratios, and in the presence of aspartic and glutamic acid, two of the most common intracrystalline amino acids found in foraminifera and corals. ACC is highly enriched in most of these trace elements relative to the crystalline carbonates yet similar in some respects in terms of the factors influencing trace element partitioning. For example, ACC B/Ca is sensitive to the carbonate system, whilst Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca are largely a function of their respective ratio in seawater. In general, we find that most of the variance in the distribution coefficients of the other trace elements can be explained by some combination of the seawater carbonate chemistry and the seawater or ACC Mg/Ca ratio.
0016-7037
293-311
Evans, David
878c65c7-eab9-4362-896b-166e165eb94b
Gray, William R.
e8115468-3b1a-4f51-9803-95a8af4a0bc8
Rae, James W.B.
e22c24a8-9049-43a8-997a-c6dc10a3a26e
Greenop, Rosanna
9a08d945-03bb-41b9-b8f2-f6e84731057e
Webb, Paul B.
6e355225-72bb-4cbd-895a-ff6dea05c93d
Penkman, Kirsty
f94c1369-265e-4ddb-8578-80d6d6cdc616
Kröger, Roland
81d45bb6-2855-46e5-8d8b-7436ca668238
Allison, Nicola
f62c8053-72de-4197-a094-722a39998e94
Evans, David
878c65c7-eab9-4362-896b-166e165eb94b
Gray, William R.
e8115468-3b1a-4f51-9803-95a8af4a0bc8
Rae, James W.B.
e22c24a8-9049-43a8-997a-c6dc10a3a26e
Greenop, Rosanna
9a08d945-03bb-41b9-b8f2-f6e84731057e
Webb, Paul B.
6e355225-72bb-4cbd-895a-ff6dea05c93d
Penkman, Kirsty
f94c1369-265e-4ddb-8578-80d6d6cdc616
Kröger, Roland
81d45bb6-2855-46e5-8d8b-7436ca668238
Allison, Nicola
f62c8053-72de-4197-a094-722a39998e94

Evans, David, Gray, William R., Rae, James W.B., Greenop, Rosanna, Webb, Paul B., Penkman, Kirsty, Kröger, Roland and Allison, Nicola (2020) Trace and major element incorporation into amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) precipitated from seawater. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 290, 293-311. (doi:10.1016/j.gca.2020.08.034).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) has been identified or inferred to exist in many groups of marine organisms that produce biominerals widely used as geochemical archives (e.g. foraminifera, molluscs, echinoderms). However, little is known about trace element incorporation into ACC, and thus it is not understood how precipitation through an ACC precursor might impact the fidelity of climate proxies and biomineralisation models built on the skeletal geochemistry of these marine calcifiers. To address this, we investigated the incorporation of Li, B, Na, Mg, Mn, Sr, Ba, and U into inorganic amorphous calcium magnesium carbonates precipitated from seawater under a variety of different carbonate chemistries, Mg/Ca ratios, and in the presence of aspartic and glutamic acid, two of the most common intracrystalline amino acids found in foraminifera and corals. ACC is highly enriched in most of these trace elements relative to the crystalline carbonates yet similar in some respects in terms of the factors influencing trace element partitioning. For example, ACC B/Ca is sensitive to the carbonate system, whilst Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca are largely a function of their respective ratio in seawater. In general, we find that most of the variance in the distribution coefficients of the other trace elements can be explained by some combination of the seawater carbonate chemistry and the seawater or ACC Mg/Ca ratio.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 31 August 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 9 September 2020
Published date: 1 October 2020

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 502371
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/502371
ISSN: 0016-7037
PURE UUID: 025fb911-0633-48df-abf0-4774ff8dc1bd
ORCID for David Evans: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8685-671X

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Date deposited: 24 Jun 2025 16:40
Last modified: 28 Jun 2025 04:05

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Contributors

Author: David Evans ORCID iD
Author: William R. Gray
Author: James W.B. Rae
Author: Rosanna Greenop
Author: Paul B. Webb
Author: Kirsty Penkman
Author: Roland Kröger
Author: Nicola Allison

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