Growth of north-east Atlantic cold-water coral reefs and mounds during the Holocene: A high resolution U-series and C-14 chronology
| Type | Article | ||||||||||||
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| Date | 2013-08 | ||||||||||||
| Language | English | ||||||||||||
| Author(s) | Douarin Melanie1, Elliot Mary1, Noble Stephen R.2, Sinclair Daniel3, Henry Lea-Anne4, Long David5, Moreton Steven G.6, Roberts J. Murray4, 7, 8 | ||||||||||||
| Affiliation(s) | 1 : Univ Edinburgh, Sch Geosci, Grant Inst, Edinburgh EH9 3JW, Midlothian, Scotland. 2 : British Geol Survey, NERC, Isotope Geosci Lab, Keyworth NG12 5GG, Notts, England. 3 : Rutgers State Univ, Inst Marine & Coastal Sci, Marine Biogeochem & Paleoceanog Grp, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 USA. 4 : Heriot Watt Univ, Sch Life Sci, Ctr Marine Biodivers & Biotechnol, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, Midlothian, Scotland. 5 : British Geol Survey, Edinburgh EH9 3LA, Midlothian, Scotland. 6 : NERC, Radiocarbon Facil Environm, Glasgow G75 0QF, Lanark, Scotland. 7 : Scottish Marine Inst, Scottish Assoc Marine Sci, Oban PA37 1QA, Argyll, Scotland. 8 : Univ N Carolina, Ctr Marine Sci, Wilmington, NC 28403 USA. |
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| Source | Earth And Planetary Science Letters (0012-821X) (Elsevier Science Bv), 2013-08 , Vol. 375 , P. 176-187 | ||||||||||||
| DOI | 10.1016/j.epsl.2013.05.023 | ||||||||||||
| WOS© Times Cited | 36 | ||||||||||||
| Keyword(s) | NE Atlantic, Holocene, Lophelia pertusa, cold-water coral reef | ||||||||||||
| Abstract | We investigated the Holocene growth history of the Mingulay Reef Complex, a seascape of inshore cold-water coral reefs off western Scotland, using U-series and radiocarbon dating methods. Both chronologies revealed episodic occurrences of the reef framework-forming scleractinian coral Lophelia pertusa during the late Holocene. Downcore U-series dating revealed unprecedented reef growth rates of up to 12 mm a(-1) with a mean rate of 3-4 mm a(-1). Our study highlighted a persistent hiatus in coral occurrence from 1.4 ka to modern times despite present day conditions being conducive for coral growth. The growth history of the complex was punctuated at least twice by periods of reduced growth rates: 1.75-2.8 ka, 3.2-3.6 ka and to a lesser extent at 3.8-4 ka and at 4.2 ka. Timing of coral hiatuses and reduced reef growth rates at Mingulay were synchronous with those occurring across the wider northern European region, which suggests a close relationship between these ecosystems and large-scale shifts in palaeoenvironmental regimes associated with changes to the North Atlantic subpolar gyre. | ||||||||||||
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