Refining trace metal temperature proxies in cold-water scleractinian and stylasterid corals

Stewart, Joseph A., Robinson, Laura F., Day, Russell D., Strawson, Ivo, Burke, Andrea, Rae, James W.B., Spooner, Peter T., Samperiz, Ana ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9553-1124, Etnoyer, Peter J., Williams, Branwen, Paytan, Adina, Leng, Melanie J., Häussermann, Vreni, Wickes, Leslie N., Bratt, Rachael and Pryer, Helena 2020. Refining trace metal temperature proxies in cold-water scleractinian and stylasterid corals. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 545 , 116412. 10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116412

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Abstract

The Li/Mg, Sr/Ca and oxygen isotopic (O) compositions of many marine biogenic carbonates are sensitive to seawater temperature. Corals, as cosmopolitan marine taxa with carbonate skeletons that can be precisely dated, represent ideal hosts for these geochemical proxies. However, efforts to calibrate and refine temperature proxies in cold-water corals (<20 °C) remain limited. Here we present skeletal Li/Mg, Sr/Ca, O and carbon isotope (C) data from live-collected specimens of aragonitic scleractinian corals (Balanophyllia, Caryophyllia, Desmophyllum, Enallopsammia, Flabellum, Lophelia, and Vaughanella), both aragonitic and high-Mg calcitic stylasterid genera (Stylaster and Errina), and shallow-water high-Mg calcite crustose coralline algae (Lithophyllum, Hydrolithon, and Neogoniolithon). We interpret these data in conjunction with results from previously explored taxa including aragonitic zooxanthellate scleractinia and foraminifera, and high-Mg calcite octocorals. We show that Li/Mg ratios covary most strongly with seawater temperature, both for aragonitic and high-Mg calcitic taxa, making for reliable and universal seawater temperature proxies. Combining all of our biogenic aragonitic Li/Mg data with previous calibration efforts we report a refined relationship to temperature: Li/MgAll Aragonite = (). This calibration now permits paleo-temperature reconstruction to better than ±3.4 °C (95% prediction intervals) across biogenic aragonites, regardless of taxon, from 0 to 30 °C. For taxa in this study, aragonitic stylasterid Li/Mg offers the most robust temperature proxy (Li/MgStylasterid (Arag) = ()) with a reproducibility of ±2.3 °C. For the first time, we show that high-Mg calcites have a similar exponential relationship with temperature, but with a lower intercept value (Li/Mg = ()). This calibration opens the possibility of temperature reconstruction using high-Mg calcite corals and coralline algae. The commonality in the relationship between Li/Mg and temperature transcends phylogeny and suggests a similar abiogenic trace metal incorporation mechanism.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Earth and Environmental Sciences
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0012-821X
Date of Acceptance:	8 June 2020
Last Modified:	10 Nov 2022 10:22
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/146577

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