Temperatures, salinity, and stable oxygen isotope values of bottom water and of the mollusc shell Arctica islandica from Nantucket Shoals ...

• Main Authors: Weidman, Christopher R, Jones, Glenn A
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 1994
• Subjects: AGE; Age; Salinity; Temperature, water; Arctica islandica, δ18O; δ18O, water; Tide gauge station; Counting; Measured; Isotope ratio mass spectrometry; Calculated; SeaLevel; Arctica islandica; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.415790; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.415790

The carbonate shell of the bivalve Arctica islandica has been recognized, for more than a decade, as a potentially important marine geochemical biorecorder owing to this species' great longevity (200+ years) and wide geographic distribution throughout the northern North Atlantic Ocean, a region vital to global climate and ocean circulation. However, until now this potential has not been realized owing to the difficulty of precisely sampling the shell of this slow growing species. Using newly available automated microsampling techniques combined with micromass stable isotope mass spectrometry, a stable oxygen isotope record (1956-1957 and 1961-1970) has been obtained from a live-captured, 38-year-old A. islandica specimen collected near the former position of the Nantucket Shoals Lightship (41°N. 69°W). The shell's delta18O signal is compared with an expected signal derived from ambient bottom temperature and salinity data recorded at the lightship for the same period. The results show that A islandica's ... : Supplement to: Weidman, Christopher R; Jones, Glenn A; Kyger (1994): The long-lived mollusc Arctica islandica: A new paleoceanographic tool for the reconstruction of bottom temperatures for the continental shelves of the northern North Atlantic Ocean. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 99(C9), 18305-18314 ...