Smith Struan R.

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Smith
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Struan R.
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  • Article
    Record of Little Ice Age sea surface temperatures at Bermuda using a growth-dependent calibration of coral Sr/Ca
    (American Geophysical Union, 2005-11-30) Goodkin, Nathalie F. ; Hughen, Konrad A. ; Cohen, Anne L. ; Smith, Struan R.
    Strontium to calcium ratios (Sr/Ca) are reported for a massive brain coral Diploria labyrinthiformis collected from the south shore of Bermuda and are strongly correlated with both sea surface temperature (SST) and mean annual skeletal growth rate. High Sr/Ca ratios correspond with cold SSTs and slow skeletal growth rate and vice versa. We provide a quantitative calibration of Sr/Ca to extension rate and SST along the axis of maximum growth and derive a growth-dependent Sr/Ca–SST calibration equation to reconstruct western subtropical North Atlantic SSTs for the past 223 years. When the influence of growth rate is excluded from the calibration, Sr/Ca ratios yield SSTs that are too cold during cool anomalies and too warm during warm anomalies. Toward the end of the Little Ice Age (∼1850), SST changes derived using a calibration that is not growth-dependent are exaggerated by a factor of 2 relative to those from the growth-corrected model that yields SSTs ∼1.5°C cooler than today. Our results indicate that incorporation of growth rate effects into coral Sr/Ca calibrations may improve the accuracy of SSTs derived from living and fossil corals.
  • Article
    Growth and composition of high-Mg calcite in the skeleton of a Bermudian gorgonian (Plexaurella dichotoma) : potential for paleothermometry
    (American Geophysical Union, 2005-08-31) Bond, Zoe A. ; Cohen, Anne L. ; Smith, Struan R. ; Jenkins, William J.
    We used Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) ion microprobe to analyze magnesium-to-calcium (Mg/Ca) and strontium-to-calcium (Sr/Ca) ratios of high-Mg calcite loculi within the skeleton of a shallow water gorgonian, Plexaurella dichotoma, from Bermuda. A cross-section of the gorgonian skeleton reveals loculi embedded within proteinaceous gorgonin arranged in concentric rings about the axial core. Viewed in cross-section, the loculi are fan-shaped, 10-140 μm in diameter, and composed of bundles of needle-shaped crystals that appear to radiate out from a calcification center. Discrete sample spots, each 20 μm diameter, were sputtered from successive loculi along a sample track 3 mm long. Over this distance, twenty-five bands of high-low density gorgonin couplets were encountered, estimated to represent the period 1963 to 1988. Mg/Ca ratios show an overall, positive correlation with annual sea surface temperatures (SSTs) that is strongest in the autumn months (October- December). High-resolution analyses along the growth axes of individual loculi reveal low variability and no trend, consistent with our interpretation of seasonal growth of these calcite inclusions. The sensitivity of Mg/Ca to interannual changes in average autumn temperatures is 0.47 mmol/mol per ºC. Conversely, interannual variability in calcite Sr/Ca does not follow the interannual variability in SST and may be influenced primarily by growth rate.