Correction of Inexactitude in Surficial Sediment Calcium Carbonate Content Data of the Global Ocean

Abstract

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is a main component in marine sediment, and sedimentary CaCO3 weight percentages (wtCaCO3%) in the global ocean have been extensively measured since the early last century. The tremendous database produced has been utilized in oceanographic research to constrain oceanic carbon cycles and to dictate past changes in deep ocean circulation. Inaccurate records in terms of sediment core coordinates, elevation, and wtCaCO3% data have been introduced in the past few decades, especially during compilation practice, rendering them less effective during the reuse of the data. Therefore, we thoroughly scrutinized published wtCaCO3% data and their geographical information and corrected 570 erroneous data points. These corrections help to establish a better basin-wide distribution pattern of sedimentary CaCO3 with ocean depth, which would eventually contribute to a more valid estimate of the standing stock of erodible CaCO3 in the global ocean. An accurate carbonate dataset could also facilitate applications of wtCaCO3% in paleoceanography and predictions of the buffering capacity of CaCO3 to ocean acidification.