Loss of carbon from the deep sea since the Last Glacial Maximum.

Deep-ocean carbonate ion concentrations ([CO(3)(2-)]) and carbon isotopic ratios (δ(13)C) place important constraints on past redistributions of carbon in the ocean-land-atmosphere system and hence provide clues to the causes of atmospheric CO(2) concentration changes. However, existing deep-sea [CO(3)(2-)] reconstructions conflict with one another, complicating paleoceanographic interpretations. Here, we present deep-sea [CO(3)(2-)] for five cores from the three major oceans quantified using benthic foraminiferal boron/calcium ratios since the last glacial period.

Comment on "Deep-sea temperature and ice volume changes across the Pliocene-Pleistocene climate transitions".

Sosdian and Rosenthal (Reports, 17 July 2009, p. 306) used magnesium/calcium ratios in benthic foraminifera from the North Atlantic to reconstruct past bottom-water temperatures. They suggested that both ice volume change and ice-sheet dynamics played important roles during the late Pliocene and mid-Pleistocene climate transitions.