Growth and composition of high-Mg calcite in the skeleton of a Bermudian gorgonian (Plexaurella dichotoma) : potential for paleothermometry

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Date
2005-08-31Author
Bond, Zoe A.
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Cohen, Anne L.
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Smith, Struan R.
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Jenkins, William J.
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https://hdl.handle.net/1912/396As published
https://doi.org/10.1029/2005GC000911DOI
10.1029/2005GC000911Keyword
Gorgonian; Octocoral; Mg/Ca; Sr/Ca; Sea surface temperature; Biomineralization; Growth bands; SIMS ion microprobe; BermudaAbstract
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.
Description
Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2005. This article is posted here by permission of
American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published
in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 6 (2005): Q08010, doi:10.1029/2005GC000911.
Suggested Citation
Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 6 (2005): Q08010Related items
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