Abstract
The boron isotope ratio of seawater (δ11Bsw) is a parameter which must
be known to reconstruct palaeo pH and CO2 from boron isotope
measurements of marine carbonates. Beyond a few million years ago,
δ11Bsw is likely to have been different to modern. Palaeo δ11Bsw can be
estimated by simultaneously constraining the vertical gradients in
foraminiferal δ11B (∆δ11B) and pH (∆pH). A number of subtly different
techniques have been used to estimate ∆pH in the past, all broadly based
on assumptions about vertical gradients in oxygen, and/or carbon, or
other carbonate system constraints. In this work we pull together
existing data estimates alongside limitations on the rate of change of
δ11Bsw from modelling, and combine these into an overarching statistical
framework called a Gaussian Process. The Gaussian Process technique
allows us to bring together data and constraints on the rate of change
in δ11Bsw to generate random plausible evolutions of δ11Bsw. We
reconstruct δ11Bsw, and by extension palaeo pH, across the last 65Myr
using this novel methodology. Reconstructed δ11Bsw is compared to other
seawater isotope ratios, namely 87/86Sr, 187/188Os, and δ7Li, which we
also reconstruct with Gaussian Processes. Our method provides a template
for incorporation of future δ11Bsw constraints, and a mechanism for
propagation of uncertainty in δ11Bsw into future studies.