B22B-01
Nitrogen and carbon isotopic variations from Black Corals spanning the last 4.5kya
Tuesday, 15 December 2015: 10:20
2002 (Moscone West)
Stewart Fallon1, Aimée K Dixson1 and Ron Thresher2, (1)The Australian National University, Acton, Australia, (2)CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research Hobart, Hobart, Australia
Abstract:
The recent spin-up of the South Pacific subtropical gyre and the intensification of the East Australian Current (EAC) have caused the waters in the southwest Pacific Ocean to warm 4x faster than the global average. In an effort to understand the ecological significance of these changes we have examined nitrogen and carbon isotope variations recorded by black and bamboo corals. A series of corals have been collected and dated and provide a near continuous record over the past 4500 years. The data show increases in d15N since 1900s with concurrent decreases in d13C and longer-term variations over the entire dataset.
