Arctic ostracode database: An introduction
T.M. Cronin,
T.R. Holtz, Jr.,
E.M. Brouwers,
W.M. Briggs, Jr.,
R.C. Whatley, and
A. Wood
Introduction
The Arctic Ostracode Database provides species census data for about 100
species of benthic marine Ostracoda from modern surface and late
Quaternary sediments from various parts of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent
seas. This readme file describes the sources of the ostracode data
provided in the accompanying data files. Ostracodes are a microfossil
group of bivalved Crustacea that secrete a calcareous shell commonly
preserved in sediments in the Arctic region. Because many ostracode
species have ecological limits controlled by temperature, salinity,
oxygen, food and other factors, they can provide an important tool for
paleoceanographic reconstruction in the Arctic. Some recent applications
of ostracodes to understanding Arctic Ocean history include Briggs (1983),
Reimnitz et al. (1983, 1992), McDougall et al. (1986), Clark et al.
(1990), Pak et al. (1992), Brouwers et al. (1991), Cronin et al. (1993,
1994, 1995), Penney (1993a,b), Nurnberg et al. (1994), and Briggs and
Mudie (in prep.).
The information given here is supplemented by an
annotated list of digital files and formal metadata in
FAQ-style HTML and
indented text formats.
Ostracode Data Files
All files are tab-delimited ASCII text, meaning that columns are
separated by the tab character (ASCII 9). It should be straightforward to
import these data into a spreadsheet or database application, provided the
tab characters are preserved during the transfer across the network. To
ensure that the tabs are preserved, load the files directly to your local
disk, don't save them from a web browser's display window.
- taxa.txt Taxonomic name table
- This file lists the names of 103 taxon categories used in the other three
files containing the species census counts. Most of the 103 categories
represent individual ostracode species; a few (i.e., Polycope) are genus-
level categories, used because the taxonomy of a particular genus is not
well understood. Category 100 represents "other", unidentified species.
Category 101 includes ice-rafted ostracodes (IRO) representing shallow
water species believed to be transported into deeper water sediments by
Arctic Ocean sea-ice. Category 103 in ostarcfos file represents taxa from
the Atlantic Ocean. Twenty-one species have the designation "SCD", which
stands for Squared Chord Distance. These are those species used in the
Modern Analog Technique quantitative analyses described in Cronin et al.
(1995).
The contributors to the Arctic Ostracode Database generally agree on the
taxonomic identification of most Arctic ostracodes, although additional
work is required in some groups such as Cytheropteron. Readers are
referred to the following sources and the references therein for formal
taxonomic treatment of Arctic taxa: Sars (1866, 1922-28), Elofson (1941),
Neale and Howe (1975), Joy and Clark (1977), Cronin (1981; 1988), Whatley
(1982), Penney (1989), Hartmann (1992), Whatley and Coles (1987), and
Whatley and Eynon (1995).
- location.txt Sample location data
- Sample identifiers, geographic location, and water depth are given in this
file. The identifiers given here are those used in the other data files.
A question mark is shown where locality information is not known.
- modern.txt Modern census data
- This file contains species census data from 403 modern ostracode
assemblages obtained from coretops, grab and surface sediment samples.
Taxon numbers 1-101 in the column headings are keyed to the taxonomic
name table (taxon numbers 102 and 103 are not recognized in coretop
samples and are only used in the fossil census data in file
fossil.txt
and the multicore (MUC) census data in file
multicor.txt).
The published sources of species occurrence data and the repositories of
the faunal slides are as follows. Cronin et al. (1991) compiled a Modern
Arctic Ostracode Database (MAOD) that included mostly shallow water
samples from four repository laboratories: Aberystwyth (Institute of Earth
Studies, University College Wales, R.C. Whatley and A. Wood), Boulder,
Colorado (INSTAAR, University of Colorado, W.M. Briggs, Jr.), Denver,
Colorado (U.S. Geological Survey, E.M. Brouwers), Reston, Virginia (U.S.
Geological Survey, T.M. Cronin). MAOD gave the longitude, latitude, water
depth of the samples and the repository for each. Most of the shallow
water samples from MAOD containing more than 20 individual specimens of
ostracodes are included in this modern sample database (several sites from
latitudes below 50°N were excluded); taxonomy for a few species was
updated and a few typographical errors were corrected. Cronin et al.
(1994) provided species census data from 43 coretop samples obtained during
the 1991 cruise of the Polarstern to the Arctic Ocean. Station data for
these are given in Fütterer (1992). Cronin et al (1995) provided
additional coretop ostracode census data from other deep water regions of
the Arctic and the adjacent Nordic Seas obtained during several Polarstern
and Meteor cruises and the 1992 Polar Star cruise to the Northwind Ridge
region, Canada Basin. Surface sample ostracode assemblages from the 1993
Polarstern cruise to the Barents and Laptev Seas (Fütterer, 1994) are
given in Cronin (in press; special volume on Arctic Ocean surface
sediments, Stein et al., eds.).
- fossil.txt Fossil census data
- fossil.tab Fossil census data
- This file contains the downcore ostracode census counts from Cronin et
al. (1994) for 18 GKG boxcores and 1 KAL kastenlot core from the 1991
Polarstern cruise (Fütterer, 1992). Ostracode faunal slides from these
cores are housed in the U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia. Columns
2 and 3 are the top and bottom core depths for each sample. Taxon numbers
1-103 are keyed to the taxonomic name table.
- multicor.txt Multicore (MUC) census data
- This file contains the downcore ostracode species census counts from
Cronin et al. (1995) for eight multicores (MUC) from the Eurasian Basin of
the Arctic Ocean obtained during the 1991 Polarstern cruise (Fütterer,
1992). Ostracode faunal slides from these cores are housed in the U.S.
Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia. Columns 2 and 3 are the top and
bottom core depths for each sample. Taxon numbers 1-103 are keyed to the
taxonomic name table.
Acknowledgements
sWe are grateful to the shipboard scientists and crews of cruises who
obtained Arctic cores and samples that provided the material for this
database. We are also especially appreciative of the following colleagues
who have freely and kindly provided material for ostracode study: Dr. J.
T. Andrews, K. Foley, Prof. D. Fütterer, Dr. A. Grantz, Dr. S. Ishman, Dr.
E. Reimnitz, Dr. P. Barnes, Dr. S. Lehman, Dr. A. Mackensen, Dr. D.
Nurnberg, Dr. L. Polyak, Dr. R.Z. Poore, Dr. R. Spielhagen, Dr. R. Stein,
Prof. J. Thiede, Dr. C. Vogt, Dr. J. Wollenburg. Much of the ostracode
research was supported by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Global Change
and Climate History Program, in collaboration with INSTAAR (University of
Colorado) and the Institute of Earth Studies, Aberystwyth, (University
College, Wales), and with assistance from the Alfred Wegener Institute
(Bremerhaven) and GEOMAR (Kiel). Most of the taxonomy of this database
was agreed upon at a conference on deep-sea Ostracoda held in summer,
1993, at the USGS in Reston, Virginia, sponsored by the USGS Global Change
and Climate History Program.
References
- Briggs, W.M., Jr. 1983. Ice rafting of ostracodes and other microfauna, Beaufort Sea, Alaska. Abstracts with Programs, 96th Annual Meeting, The Geological Society of America: 532.
- Briggs, W.M., Jr. and Mudie, P. in prep. Ostracodes from the Axel Heiberg CESAR cores.
- Brouwers, E.M., Jorgensen, N.O., and Cronin, T.M. 1991. Climatic significance of the ostracode fauna from the Pliocene Kap Kobenhavn Formation, north Greenland. Micropaleontology. 37(3): 245-267.
- Clark, D.L., Chern, L.A., Hogler, J.A., Mennicke, C.M., and Atkins, E.D. 1990. Late Neogene climate evolution of the central Arctic Ocean. Marine Geology. 93: 69-94.
- Cronin, T.M. 1981. Paleoclimatic implications of Late Pleistocene marine ostracodes from the St. Lawrence Lowlands. Micropaleontology 27(4): 383-418.
- Cronin, T.M. 1988. Paleozoogeography of postglacial Ostracoda from northeastern North America. In, N.R. Gadd, ed., "The Late Quaternary development of the Champlain Sea Basin", Geol. Assoc. Canada Special Paper 35: 125-144.
- Cronin, T.M., Briggs, W.M. Jr., Brouwers, E.M., Whatley, R.C., Wood, A. and Cotton, M.A. 1991. Modern Arctic podocopid ostracode database. United States Geological Survey Open-File Report 91-385, 1-51.
- Cronin, T.M., Whatley, R., Wood, A., Tsukagoshi, A., Ikeya, N., Brouwers, E.M., and Briggs, W., Jr. 1993. Evidence for elevated mid-Pliocene temperatures in the Arctic Ocean based on marine Ostracoda, Paleoceanography., 8, 161-173.
- Cronin, T.M., Holtz, T.R., Jr. and Whatley, R.C. 1994. Quaternary paleoceanography of the deep Arctic Ocean based on quantitative analysis of Ostracoda. Marine Geology, 119, 305-332.
- Cronin, T.M., Holtz, T.R., Jr., Stein, R., Spielhagen, R., Fütterer, D., and Wollenburg, J. 1995. Late Quaternary paleoceanography of the Eurasian Basin, Arctic Ocean. Paleoceanography 10(2): 259-281.
- Elofson, O. 1941. Zur kenntnis der marinen Ostracoden Schwedens, mit besonderer berucksichtigung des skagerrads. Zoologiska Bidrag fran Uppsala, 19, 215-534.
- Fütterer, D. (ed.). 1992. Arctic'91: The expedition ARK-VIII/3 of RV "Polarstern" in 1991, Berichte zur Polarforschung, 107, 1-267.
- Fütterer, D. (ed.). 1994. The expedition ARCTIC '93 Leg ARK IX/4 of RV "Polarstern" 1993. Berichte zur Polarforschung, 149: 1-244.
- Hartmann, G. 1992. Zur Kenntnis der rezenten und subfossilen Ostracoden des Liefdefjords (Nordspitzbergen, Svalbard).i.teil. Mit einer tabelle subfossil nachgewiesener Foraminiferen. Mitt. hamb. zool. Mus. Inst., 89, 181-225.
- Joy, J.A. and Clark, D.L. 1977. The distribution, ecology and systematics of the benthic Ostracoda of the central Arctic Ocean. Micropaleontology, 23, 129-154.
- McDougall, K., Brouwers, E.M., Smith, P. 1986. Micropaleontology and sedimentology of the PB borehole series, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. US Geological Survey Bulletin 1598.
- Neale, J.W. and Howe, H.V. 1975 The marine Ostracoda of Russian Harbour, Novaya Zemlya and other high latitude faunas. Bulletin of American Paleontology, 65, 381-431.
- Nurnberg, D., I. Wollenburg, D. Dethleff, H. Eicken, H. Kassens, T. Letzig, E. Reimnitz, J. Thiede. 1994. Sediments in Arctic sea ice: implications for entrainment, transport and release. Marine Geology 119: 185-214.
- Pak, D.K., Clark, D.L., Blasco, S.M. 1992. Late Pleistocene stratigraphy and micropaleontology of a part of the Eurasian Basin (=Fram Basin), central Arctic Ocean. Marine Micropaleontology 20: 1-22.
- Penney, D.N. 1989. Recent shallow marine Ostracoda of the Ikerssuak (Bredefjord) district, Southwest Greenland. Journal of Micropalaeontology, 8, 55-75.
- Penney, D.N. 1993a. Late Pliocene to early Pleistocene ostracode stratigraphy and paleoclimate of the Lodin Elv and Kap Kobenhavn formations, East Greenland. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 101, 49-66.
- Penney, D.N. 1993b. Northern North Sea benthic Ostracoda: modern distribution, palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental significance. The Holocene, 3, 241-254.
- Reimnitz, E., McCormick, M., McDougall, K. and Brouwers, E.M. 1983. Sediment export by ice rafting from a coastal polynya, Arctic Alaska, U.S.A. Arctic and Alpine Research, 25, 83-98.
- Reimnitz, E., Marincovich, L., McCormick, M. and Briggs, W.M., Jr. 1992. Suspension freezing of bottom sediment and biota in the Northwest Passage and implications for Arctic Ocean sedimentation. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 29: 693-703.
- Sars, G.O. 1866. Oversigt af Norges marine Ostracoder. Vidensk. -Selsk. Forhandl. Christiania, 17 (for 1865), 1-130.
- Sars, G.O. 1922-1928. An account of the Crustacea of Norway, Volume IX, Ostracoda, Bergen Museum, 1-277.
- Stein, R., Ivanov, G., Levitan, M. (eds.), in press. "Surface-sediment composition and sedimentary processes in the eastern Arctic Ocean and along the Eurasian Continental Margin", Berichte zur Polarforschung.
- Whatley, R.C. 1982. Littoral and sublittoral Ostracoda from Sisimiut, West Greenland. In Fox, A.D. and Stroud, D.A. (Eds.), Report of the 1979 Greenland White-Fronted Goose Study Expedition to Equalunqmiut Nunat, Western Greenland, University of Wales Press, 269-285.
- Whatley, R.C. and G. Coles. 1987. The late Miocene to Quaternary Ostracoda of Leg 94, Deep Sea Drilling Project, Revista Espanola de Micropaleontologicia, 19 (1), 33-97.
- Whatley, R.C. and M. Eynon, 1995. Ostracoda from the Greenland Sea, Micropalaeontology (in press).
Contacts
Thomas M. Cronin
Mail Stop 955
U.S. Geological Survey
Reston, Virginia 22092
Tel: (703) 648-6363
FAX: (703) 648-6688
email: tcronin@geochange.er.usgs.gov
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Department of Geology
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
Tel: (301) 405-4084
FAX: (301) 314-9661
email: Thomas_R_Holtz@umail.umd.edu
Elisabeth M. Brouwers
Mail Stop 919
U.S. Geological Survey
Box 25046, Denver Federal Center
Denver, CO 80225-0046
Tel: (303) 236-5667
FAX:
email: brouwers@usgs.gov
William M. Briggs, Jr.
Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research
Campus Box 450
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309
Tel: (303) 492-8971
FAX:
email: briggs@spot.colorado.edu
Robin C. Whatley
Institute for Earth Studies
University of Wales
Dyfed, Aberystwyth SY23 3DB
Wales, UK
Tel: 044-970-62-3111
FAX:
email: riw@aberystwyth.ac.uk
Adrian Wood
School of Natural and Environmental Sciences
Division of Geography
Coventry University
Priory Street,
Coventry CV1 5FB, UK
Tel: 1203 83 87 57
FAX: 1203 83 87 53
email apx071@coventry.ac.uk
This page is <URL:http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/pub/data/PRISM/ostracodes/arctic/Core/meta/report.html>
Maintained by Peter Schweitzer
Last updated 25-Jan-1995