Bivalve skeletons record sea-surface temperature and δ18O via Mg/Ca and 18O/16O ratios

Barium uptake into the shells of the common mussel (Mytilus edulis) and the potential for estuarine paleo-chemistry reconstruction

“…Unlike corals and foraminifera, much of the bivalve data presented suggests that many of these elemental profiles (e.g., Sr, Mn, Pb, U), which often largely differ from expected concentrations based on inorganic and other biogenic carbonates, cannot be used as proxies of environmental conditions (e.g., Stecher et al, 1996;Purton et al, 1999;Vander Putten et al, 2000; 70 Takesue and van Geen, 2004;Freitas et al, 2005;Gillikin et al, 2005a;Gillikin, 2005). There have been some promising reports of bivalve shell Mg/Ca ratios as a proxy of sea surface temperature (SST) (Klein et al, 1996), but other reports illustrate that this is not always the case, and is apparently strongly species specific (Vander Putten et al, 2000;Takesue and van Geen, 2004;Freitas et al, 2005;Gillikin, 2005;75 Lorrain et al, in press). Bivalve shell Ba/Ca ratios on the other hand have been shown to be highly reproducible between specimens and have been hypothesized to be a proxy of both particulate Ba (Stecher et al, 1996;Vander Putten et al, 2000;Lazareth et al, 2003) and dissolved Ba (Torres et al, 2001), and therefore could be particularly…”

High frequency Barium profiles in shells of the Great Scallop <i>Pecten maximus</i>: a methodical long-term and multi-site survey in Western Europe

“…Since 1965, trace elements in mollusc shells were investigated because bivalves form in their shells successive calcium carbonate layers, potential archives of conditions experienced by the organism during its life time (Dodd, 1965;Lorens and Bender, 1980;Klein et al, 1996aKlein et al, , 1996bStecher et al, 1996). The main aim of these studies was to use trace element records in shells as a bio indicator of environmental conditions.…”

Seasonal discharge of estuarine freshwater to the western Chukchi Sea shelf identified in stable isotope profiles of mollusk shells

“…Many previous investigations have explored the relationship between the stable isotopic composition of shell carbonate and the environmental conditions in which the organism grew. In particular, stable isotope profiles of living and fossil mollusk shells constructed utilizing a sequential sampling method provide high-resolution records of temporal changes in ambient seawater properties that are useful for interpreting annual temperature ranges, shelf hydrographic processes, and paleoceanographic conditions [Arthur et al, 1983;Krantz et al, 1987;Krantz, 1990;Weidman et al, 1994;Jones and Allmon, 1995;Jones and Quitmyer, 1996;Klein et al, 1996;Khim et al, 2000Khim et al, , 2001.…”