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Stratification and Oxygen Isotopes in the Paleozoic: Is Paleotermometry in Hot Water?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2017

Peter A. Allison ,
Rupert Ford  and
Richard Corfield
Peter A. Allison
Affiliation:
T.H. Huxley School of Environment, Earth Sciences and Engineering, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BP, UK
Rupert Ford
Affiliation:
Dept. Of Applied Mathematics, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BP, UK
Richard Corfield
Affiliation:
Dept. Of Earth Sciences, Oxford University, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PR., UK
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Extract

The oxygen isotope method is probably the most widely used proxy of paleotemperature determination in the fossil record. The relationship as first proposed by Urey (1947) suggests that the ratio of 18O to 16O in the calcitic shells of fossils is proportional to temperature. This was subsequently confirmed by empirical studies (Epstein et al, 1951, Emiliani, 1954; 1955). However, Shackleton (1967), suggested on the basis of co-variance of benthonic and planktonic foraminifera, that the δ18O composition of seawater varied only as a function of glacial ice growth and decay. However, more recent studies have shown that there is still a residual temperature component in the δ18O variability of deep waters.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Paleontological Society Papers , Volume 4: Isotope Paleobiology and Paleoecology , October 1998 , pp. 244 - 254
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 by The Paleontological Society 

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