Controls on ostracod valve geochemistry: Part 2. Carbon and oxygen isotope compositions

The stable carbon and oxygen isotope compositions of fossil ostracods are powerful tools to estimate past environmental and climatic conditions. The basis for such interpretations is that the calcite of the valves reflects the isotopic composition of water and its temperature of formation. However, calcite of ostracods is known not to form in isotopic equilibrium with water and different species may have different offsets from inorganic precipitates of calcite formed under the same conditions. To estimate the fractionation during ostracod valve calcification, the oxygen and carbon isotope compositions of 15 species living in Lake Geneva were related to their autoecology and the environmental parameters measured during their growth. The results indicate that: (1) Oxygen isotope fractionation is similar for all species of Candoninae with an enrichment in (18)O of more than 3 parts per thousand relative to equilibrium values for inorganic calcite. Oxygen isotope fractionation for Cytheroidea is less discriminative relative to the heavy oxygen, with enrichments in (18)O for these species of 1.7 to 2.3 parts per thousand. Oxygen isotope fractionations for Cyprididae are in-between those of Candoninae and Cytheroidea. The difference in oxygen isotope fractionation between ostracods and inorganic calcite has been interpreted as resulting from a vital effect. (2) Comparison with previous work suggests that oxygen isotope fractionation may depend on the total and relative ion content of water. (3) Carbon isotope compositions of ostracod valves are generally in equilibrium with DIC. The specimens' delta(13)C values are mainly controlled by seasonal variations in delta(13)C(DIC) of bottom water or variation thereof in sediment pore water. (4) Incomplete valve calcification has an effect on carbon and oxygen isotope compositions of ostracod valves. Preferential incorporation of CO(3)(2-) at the beginning of valve calcification may explain this effect. (5) Results presented here as well as results from synthetic carbonate growth indicate that different growth rates or low pH within the calcification site cannot be the cause of oxygen isotope 'vital effects' in ostracods. Two mechanisms that might enrich the (18)O of ostracod valves are deprotonation of HCO(3)(-) that may also contribute to valve calcification, and effects comparable to salt effects with high concentrations of Ca and/or Mg within the calcification site that may also cause a higher temperature dependency of oxygen isotope fractionation. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.