Living benthic foraminifera along a bathymetric gradient in the open slope and canyons, Campos Basin, Southwest Atlantic ocean

• Grant number: 14/21488-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: February 02, 2015
• End date: May 01, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Oceanography - Geological Oceanography
• Principal Investigator: Silvia Helena de Mello e Sousa
• Grantee: Silvia Helena de Mello e Sousa
• Host Investigator: Laetitia Licari
• Host Institution: Instituto Oceanográfico (IO). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Aix-Marseille Université (AMU), France

Abstract

This project aims to evaluate the relationships between the community structure of the living benthic foraminifera assemblages, species isotopic signals and quantity and biogeochemical composition of organic matter in canyons and open slope, along bathymetric transects, in order to understand and compare the nutrients input in these systems in the Campos Basin, during autumn/winter and summer. The study material consists of 28 surface (0-2 cm depth) sediment samples, which were collected at 14 oceanographic stations during two oceanographic cruises (May to July of 2008, and January to February of 2009), and located along 02 transects in submarine canyons (Almirante Câmara and Grussaí) and 02 adjacent transects to the canyons on the open slope, between 400 m and 1,300 m depth. The following methods will be applied: micropaleontological (benthic foraminifera analysis), geochemical (analysis of quantity and composition of sedimentary organic matter and d18O and d13C stable isotopes in calcareous shells of benthic foraminifera), and sedimentological (grain size analysis), allowing evaluation of sedimentary processes and the energetic state at the benthic/pelagic boundary on the continental slope of Campos Basin. (AU)