Glacial cold-water coral growth in the Gulf of Cádiz: Implications of increased palaeo-productivity

• Main Authors: Claudia Wienberg A, Norbert Frank B, Kenneth N. Mertens C, Jan-berend Stuut D, Margarita Marchant E
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Lophelia pertusa
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.455.9689; http://www.stuut.tv/wienberg_et_al_2010.pdf

Keywords: cold-water corals last glacial productivity aeolian dust Gulf of Cádiz NE Atlantic A set of 40 Uranium-series datings obtained on the reef-forming scleractinian cold-water corals Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata revealed that during the past 400 kyr their occurrence in the Gulf of Cádiz (GoC) was almost exclusively restricted to glacial periods. This result strengthens the outcomes of former studies that coral growth in the temperate NE Atlantic encompassing the French, Iberian and Moroccan margins dominated during glacial periods, whereas in the higher latitudes (Irish and Norwegian margins) extended coral growth prevailed during interglacial periods. Thus it appears that the biogeographical limits for sustained cold-water coral growth along the NE Atlantic margin are strongly related to climate change. By focussing on the last glacial–interglacial cycle, this study shows that palaeo-productivity was increased