1. On the stable carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of some shallow water, ahermatypic, scleractinian coral skeletons
- Author
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David Barnes, Judith C. Lang, and Lynton S. Land
- Subjects
geography ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,Coral ,chemistry.chemical_element ,Hermatypic coral ,Waves and shallow water ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Oceanography ,Calcium carbonate ,chemistry ,Geochemistry and Petrology ,Zooxanthellae ,Seawater ,Reef ,Carbon ,Geology - Abstract
The δC13 and δO18 values of skeletons of shallow water, ahermatypic scleractinian corals from Jamaica show an excellent correlation over a wide range of isotopic composition. Within individual specimens there are large differences in the isotopic composition of separate skeletal elements. Some of these ahermatypes are enriched in O18 relative to equilibrium precipitates of calcium carbonate from Jamaican sea water. Therefore our data do not support a two-reservoir mixing model for calcification if one of these reservoirs consists of dissolved marine (inorganic) bicarbonate. As some of these ahermatypic species are enriched in both C13 and O18 relative to hermatypic corals from the same reefs, calcification models based on withdrawal of metabolic CO2 by photosynthesizing zooxanthellae must also be modified.
- Published
- 1977
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