Coccosphere geometry dataset for Eocene and Oligocene calcareous nannoplankton

Coccolithophores and other calcareous nannoplankton are a group of calcifying marine phytoplankton that produce calcium carbonate plates (coccoliths) that form a cell covering (the coccosphere). Calcareous nannoplankton have diverse morphological traits, including cell size, coccosphere size, coccolith size and morphology, the arrangement of coccoliths in the coccosphere, and the number of coccoliths per cell.

The Coccosphere geomety dataset for Eocene and Oligocene calcareous nannoplankton contains coccosphere geometry data for the cell diameter (CellD), coccosphere diameter (CD), coccolith length (CL) and number of coccoliths per cell (CN) measured on 2,202 individual, intact fossil coccospheres of early Eocene to late Oligocene age from 9 localities.

This data record contains two files:
1. Dataset descriptor (.pdf) that describes the contents of the dataset, briefly outlines the materials and methods used to generate the dataset (including references for further information), and suggests potential topics that the dataset can be used for. A list of associated publications, theses, and similar datasets are also provided in this document.

2. The Coccosphere geometry dataset for Eocene and Oligocene calcareous nannoplankton (.xls) contains morphometric data of the coccosphere geometry of n= 2,202 fossil coccospheres alongside site and taxonomic information.

Correspondence should be directed to: Rosie Sheward (sheward@em.uni-frankfurt.de).

Funding acknowledgements: Collection of this dataset was made possible by funding awarded to RMS by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (reference 447581699) for data collected at Goethe-University Frankfurt from IODP Site U1553 and a Vice Chancellors Studentship from the University of Southampton and a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) award (reference 1272561) for data collected during her PhD at the University of Southampton. SJG was funded through a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. Additional financial support was provided to RMS and JOH through the VeWA consortium (Past Warm Periods as Natural Analogues of our high-CO2 Climate Future) by the LOEWE programme of the Hessen Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts, Germany. JOH is supported by grants awarded by the State of Hesse (Germany) in the framework of the Initiative for the Development of Scientific and Economic Excellence (LOEWE) the Biodiversity and Climate Centre Frankfurt (BIK-F) grant number R2107 Project PB A, the DAAD-Programm Strategische Partnerschaften of the Goethe-University Frankfurt (grant number UoT6), and the Freunde und Förderer der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main (funding awarded to JOH in 2010).