Spooner, PT;
Robinson, LF;
Hemsing, F;
Morris, P;
Stewart, JA;
(2018)
Extended calibration of cold-water coral Ba/Ca using multiple genera and co-located measurements of dissolved barium concentration.
Chemical Geology
, 499
pp. 100-110.
10.1016/j.chemgeo.2018.09.012.
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Abstract
Biological productivity and ocean circulation are both important oceanographic variables that control the distribution of dissolved barium in the ocean interior ([Ba]sw). The ability to accurately reconstruct [Ba]swwill provide key constraints on these processes in the past. The geochemistry of cold-water corals has the potential to unlock paleoceanographic records at spatial and temporal resolutions not available using other sedimentary archives. Previous studies have suggested that the Ba/Ca ratio of coral skeletons is linearly related to [Ba]sw. However, these efforts have used a limited number of species, sparse global seawater databases, or have not explicitly measured the Ba/Ca ratio. Here we investigate the Ba/Ca ratio in a well-constrained set of cold-water scleractinian (aragonitic) corals as a proxy for [Ba]sw, using 58 specimens from 7 coral genera along with co-located measurements of [Ba]sw. We find that traditional chemical cleaning procedures do not significantly affect the Ba/Ca ratio of cold-water coral skeletons, allowing rapid sample throughput. We also determine that intra-sample variation in Ba/Ca ratios can be reduced by using larger sample sizes (e.g. 20 mg). By combining our results with existing data, we find that cold-water coral Ba/Ca is linearly related to [Ba]swaccording to the relationship: Ba/Ca μmol/mol = [0.15 ± 0.02] [Baswnmol/kg] + [2.5 ± 1.4], (R2= 0.7). We observe no species-specific ‘vital effects’ in cold-water coral Ba/Ca ratios, but site-specific effects could be a factor. Nevertheless, our results highlight the potential of Ba/Ca in cold-water corals to reconstruct biological and physical changes in the ocean interior.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Extended calibration of cold-water coral Ba/Ca using multiple genera and co-located measurements of dissolved barium concentration |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2018.09.012 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2018.09.012 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Cold-water coral, Coral, Barium, Ba/Ca, Calibration |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10063345 |
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