2017-08-30T02:06:33

No abstract

[1] We present here a potential new method to evaluate past variations of the mean intensity of Peruvian coastal upwelling and of the seasonal timing of phytoplankton blooms. This method uses a combination of the monthly carbon and oxygen isotopic signals preserved in fossil mollusk shells, and a series of corrections Copyright 2012 by the American Geophysical Union 1 of 17 to extract the variations of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) d 13 C. Based on the analysis of five shell samples (85 shells in total) from the southern Peruvian coast, we suggest that the mean coastal upwelling intensity can be determined from a linear relationship between average values of corrected shell d 13 C and d 18 O. This new potential proxy would bring additional independent information valuable to interpret paleoproductivity changes reconstructed from marine sediment of the nearby continental shelf. Results obtained on fossil samples from the middle Holocene show an increase in upwelling intensity during this period associated to a spatial reorganization of upwelling centers along the South Peruvian coast. At the seasonal scale, corrected shell d 13 C enrichment indicates a phytoplankton bloom. Seasonal timing of phytoplankton blooms can be estimated by the lag with the annual temperature cycle reproduced by shell d 18 O monthly variations. The results obtained with two modern shell samples indicate phytoplankton blooms occurring during summer and fall, consistently with in situ productivity observations. Our method relies on revisited assumptions about the influence of temperature and metabolism in mollusk shell d 13 C. We further discussed the validity of these assumptions and the potential implications for the interpretation of similar data sets.

The majority of coral geochemistry-based paleoclimate reconstructions in the Indo-Pacific are conducted on selectively cored colonies of massive Porites. This restriction to a single genus may make it difficult to amass the required paleoclimate data for studies that require deep reef coring techniques. Acropora, however, is a highly abundant coral genus in both modern and fossil reef systems and displays potential as a novel climate archive. Here we present a calibration study for Sr/Ca ratios recovered from interbranch skeleton in corymbose Acropora colonies from Heron Reef, southern Great Barrier Reef. Significant intercolony differences in absolute Sr/Ca ratios were normalized by producing anomaly plots of both coral geochemistry and instrumental water temperature records. Weighted linear regression of these anomalies from the lagoon and fore-reef slope provide a sensitivity of À0.05 mmol/mol°C À1 , with a correlation coefficient (r 2 = 0.65) comparable to those of genera currently used in paleoclimate reconstructions. Reconstructions of lagoon and reef slope mean seasonality in water temperature accurately identify the greater seasonal amplitude observed in the lagoon of Heron Reef. A longer calibration period is, however, required for reliable reconstructions of annual mean water temperatures.