Projects per year
Abstract
Stylasterids are a ubiquitous deep-sea coral taxon that build their skeletons from either calcite, aragonite, or both. Yet, robust geochemical proxy data from these corals are limited. In this study, 95 modern stylasterids, spanning a wide range of depths (63 to 2894 m) and ambient seawater temperatures (0 to 17°C), were tested for their potential use as paleoceanographic archives. Stable oxygen and carbon isotopic composition (δ18O and δ13C) were measured from the main trunk of all specimens and five specimens were further sub-sampled to assess internal chemical variability. The isotope data show non-equilibrium precipitation from seawater for both δ18O and δ13C, with the growing tips of colonies yielding the isotopically lowest values. Overall, the calcitic corals showed lower isotope values for δ18O and δ13C than aragonitic specimens. Within the aragonite corals, we present a δ18O:temperature calibration that exhibits a significant linear relationship with the equation δ18Ocoral-seawater = −0.22(±0.01)×T(°C) + 3.33(±0.06) across a temperature range of 0 to 30°C, using samples from this study and published data. This work highlights the potential application of stylasterid coral δ18O data to reconstruct paleo seawater temperature.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 116407 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Earth and Planetary Science Letters |
Volume | 545 |
Early online date | 25 Jun 2020 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Sept 2020 |
Keywords
- stylasteridae
- deep-sea corals
- stable isotopes
- biomineralisation
- paleotemperature
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Stylasterid corals: A new paleotemperature archive'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 3 Finished
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Carbon cycling in a warming world: a deglacial test case
Robinson, L. F. (Principal Investigator)
1/02/19 → 31/03/23
Project: Research
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Deep sea corals in the South Atlantic: new insights from an interdisciplinary study
Robinson, L. F. (Principal Investigator)
1/06/18 → 31/05/20
Project: Research
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Bridging the timing gap: connecting Southern Ocean and Antarctic Climate records
Robinson, L. F. (Principal Investigator)
1/12/15 → 11/06/19
Project: Research