Secondary Calcification of the Planktonic Foraminifer Neogloboquadrina pachyderma as a Climatic Index.

Oscillations in the ratio of two principal types of secondary calcification of the test surface in Neogloboquadrina pachyderma populations closely parallel paleoclimatic oscillations over the last 6 million years in a deep-sea core drilled in the temperate South Pacific. The nature of secondary calcification in fossil planktonic foraminifera represents a useful index in interpreting Cenozoic climates.