open access

https://hdl.handle.net/2115/56464

Heterogeneity of chemical compositions in coral skeletons : Investigation of skeletal calcification and implications for coral thermometer (<Special Section>Coral annual bands and ocean environments in the low latitude)

日本語

palaeothermometer

2004-12-27

日本地球化学会

地球化学

38(4)

255-264

Massive corals have been widely used as proxies for past changes in sea surface temperature (SST) of the tropical and subtropical oceans because the oxygen isotopic (δ^<18>O) and strontium/calcium (Sr/Ca) ratios of their aragonitic skeletons are believed to vary quantitatively as a function of the temperature of the ambient sea water. However, recent microanalytical studies using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) have revealed large chemical heterogeneities for Sr/Ca and oxygen isotopic ratios in coral skeleton, which cannot be explained by temperature variation. The newly developed NanoSIMS has a potential to determine chemical variations within the two basic building blocks of the coral skeleton; centres of calcification and fibers. Such data can provide important new information about the biomineralization process and help constrain the degree to which temperature and/or biological processes affect the composition of skeleton in corals, as well as in biogenetic carbonates formed by other marine organisms.

学術雑誌論文

Version of Record

0386-4073