FN Archimer Export Format
PT J
TI Cold-water coral mounds in the southern Alboran Sea (western Mediterranean Sea): Internal waves as an important driver for mound formation since the last deglaciation
BT 
AF Wang, Haozhuang
   Lo Iacono, Claudio
   Wienberg, Claudia
   Titschack, Jürgen
   Hebbeln, Dierk
AS 1:1;2:2,3;3:1;4:1,4;5:1;
FF 1:;2:;3:;4:;5:;
C1 Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM), Bremen University, Leobener Strasse 2, 28359 Bremen, Germany
   National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton, Waterfront Campus, European Way, SO143ZH Southampton, United Kingdom
   Marine Sciences Institute (ICM), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Paseo Maritimo de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
   Senckenberg am Meer (SAM), Marine Research Department, Südstrand 40, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany
C2 UNIV BREMEN MARUM, GERMANY
   NOC, UK
   ICM CSIC, SPAIN
   SENCKENBERG MEER, GERMANY
IF 3.04
TC 26
UR https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00483/59512/83481.pdf
LA English
DT Article
CR MD 194 / EUROFLEET - GATEWAY
BO Marion Dufresne
DE ;Cold-water coral mounds;Coral mound formation;Mound aggradation rate;Last deglaciation;Internal waves;Levantine Intermediate Water;Alboran Sea
AB Cold-water corals (CWCs) are widely distributed in the entire Alboran Sea (western Mediterranean Sea), but only along the Moroccan margin they have formed numerous coral mounds, which are constrained to the West and the East Melilla CWC mound provinces (WMCP and EMCP). While information already exists about the most recent development of the coral mounds in the EMCP, the temporal evolution of the mounds in the WMCP was unknown up to the present. In this study, we present for the first time CWC ages obtained from four sediment cores collected from different mounds of the WMCP, which allowed to decipher their development since the last deglaciation. Our results revealed two pronounced periods of coral mound formation. The average mound aggradation rates were of 75–176 cm kyr−1 during the Bølling-Allerød interstadial and the Early Holocene, only temporarily interrupted during the Younger Dryas, when aggradation rates decreased to <45 cm kyr−1. Since the Mid Holocene, mound formation significantly slowed-down and finally stagnated until today. No living CWCs thrive at present on the mounds and some mounds became even buried. The observed temporal pattern in mound formation coincides with distinct palaeoceanographic changes that significantly influenced the local environment. Within the Alboran Sea, enhanced surface ocean productivity and seabed hydrodynamics prevailed during the Bølling-Allerød and the Early Holocene. Only with the onset of the Mid Holocene, the area turned into an oligotrophic setting. The strong hydrodynamics during the mound formation periods are most likely caused by internal waves that developed along the water mass interface between the Modified Atlantic Water and the Levantine Intermediate Water. In analogue to observations from modern CWC settings, we assume that internal waves created turbulent hydrodynamic conditions that increased the lateral delivery of particulate material, promoting the availability of food for the sessile CWCs. Overall, our data point to the dominant role of the water column structure in controlling the proliferation of CWCs and hence the development of coral mounds in the southern Alboran Sea. 
PY 2019
PD JUL
SO Marine Geology
SN 0025-3227
PU Elsevier BV
VL 412
UT 000472687400001
BP 1
EP 18
DI 10.1016/j.margeo.2019.02.007
ID 59512
ER

EF