Paleoecological implications of radiolarian distribution and standing stocks vs. accumulation rates in the Weddell Sea.

BOLTOVSKOY, D.; ALDER V.A.

The Antarctic Paleoenvironment: A Perspective on Global Change

American Geophysical Union.

Año: 1992; p. 377 - 384

In the Scotia and Weddell Seas polycystine radiolarians dwell chiefly at depths between 200 and 300 m, their vertical patterns being strongly associated with the higher temperatures characteristic of the Warm Deep Water. At scales of approximately 400 to 2000 km and ca. 30 days, radiolarian horizontal quantitative distribution trends are not visibly affected by ice cover or primary production. On the other hand, comparison of polycystine standing stocks at 0-400 m vs. their accumulation rates at 400 to 900 m indicates that >90% of the shells are lost to sedimentation. It is suggested that mechanical fragmentation by grazing (rather than dissolution) is primarily responsible for this loss. Deep habitat and high destruction rates in the water-column are important factors which hinder the use of Antarctic polycystine thanatocoenoses for paleoecological reconstructions.