Stylasterid corals: A new paleotemperature archive

Samperiz, Ana; Robinson, Laura F.; Stewart, Joseph A.; Strawson, Ivo; Leng, Melanie J.; Rosenheim, Brad E.; Ciscato, Emily R.; Hendry, Katharine R.; Santodomingo, Nadiezhda

Abstract

© 2020 The Authors 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.

Citation

Samperiz, A., Robinson, L. F., Stewart, J. A., Strawson, I., Leng, M. J., Rosenheim, B. E., …Santodomingo, N. (2020). Stylasterid corals: A new paleotemperature archive. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 545, Article 116407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116407

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 6, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jun 25, 2020
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Jul 1, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 1, 2020
• Journal: Earth and Planetary Science Letters
• Print ISSN: 0012-821X
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 545
• Article Number: 116407
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116407
• Keywords: Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous); Space and Planetary Science; Geochemistry and Petrology; Geophysics
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4742206
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X20303514
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Stylasterid corals: A new paleotemperature archive; Journal Title: Earth and Planetary Science Letters; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116407; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.