Comment on "Calcareous nannoplankton response to surface-water acidification around Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a"

Science. 2011 Apr 8;332(6026):175; author reply 175. doi: 10.1126/science.1199459.

Abstract

Erba et al. (Reports, 23 July 2010, p. 428) attributed calcareous nannofossil morphology and assemblage changes across Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a to the effects of surface ocean acidification. We argue that the quality of carbonate preservation in these sequences, the unsupported assumptions of the biotic response to acidity, and the absence of independent proxy estimates for ocean pH or atmospheric pCO(2) render this conclusion questionable.

Publication types

  • Comment

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Physiological
  • Atmosphere
  • Calcification, Physiologic*
  • Calcium Carbonate / analysis
  • Calcium Carbonate / chemistry*
  • Carbon Dioxide
  • Ecosystem*
  • Fossils*
  • Geologic Sediments
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Oceans and Seas
  • Oxygen
  • Plankton* / cytology
  • Plankton* / physiology
  • Seawater / chemistry*
  • Time

Substances

  • Carbon Dioxide
  • Calcium Carbonate
  • Oxygen