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Radiocarbon evidence for annual growth rings in the deep-sea octocoral Primnoa resedaeformis
- Source :
- Marine Ecology Progress Series. 301:129-134
- Publication Year :
- 2005
- Publisher :
- Inter-Research Science Center, 2005.
-
Abstract
- The deep-sea gorgonian octocoral Primnoa resedaeformis is distributed throughout the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans at depths of 65-3200 m. It has a two-part skeleton of calcite and gorgonin. Towards the inside of the axial skeleton gorgonin and calcite are deposited in concentric growth rings, similar to tree rings. Colonies were collected from the Northeast Channel (northwest Atlantic Ocean, southwest of Nova Scotia, Canada) from depths of 250-475 m. Radiocarbon was measured in individual rings isolated from sections of each colony, after dissolution of calcite. Each {Delta}{sup 14}C measurement was paired with a ring age determined by three amateur ring counters. The precision of ring counts averaged better than {+-} 2 years. Accurate reconstruction of 20th century bomb-radiocarbon shows that (1) the growth rings are formed annually, (2) the gorgonin is derived from surface particulate organic matter (POM) and (3) useful environmental data are recorded in the organic endoskeletons of deep-sea octocorals. These results support the use of Primnoa resedaeformis as a long-term, high resolution monitor of surface ocean conditions, particularly in temperate and boreal environments where proxy data are lacking.
- Subjects :
- chemistry.chemical_classification
Delta
Calcite
Ecology
biology
Aquatic Science
biology.organism_classification
Deep sea
Gorgonin
law.invention
chemistry.chemical_compound
Oceanography
Gorgonian
Boreal
chemistry
law
biology.protein
Organic matter
Radiocarbon dating
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Geology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 16161599 and 01718630
- Volume :
- 301
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Marine Ecology Progress Series
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........8b766229240b9213dddff4cd938e7808