Cold-Water Coral Mound Archive Provides Unique Insights Into Intermediate Water Mass Dynamics in the Alboran Sea During the Last Deglaciation
The Alboran Sea is widely recognized to host numerous cold-water coral ecosystems, including the East Melilla Coral Province. Yet, their development through time and response to climatic variability has still to be fully understood. Based on a combined investigation of benthic foraminiferal assembla...
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ftethz:oai:www.research-collection.ethz.ch:20.500.11850/424338 2023-06-11T04:12:03+02:00 Cold-Water Coral Mound Archive Provides Unique Insights Into Intermediate Water Mass Dynamics in the Alboran Sea During the Last Deglaciation Fentimen, Robin Feenstra, Eline Rüggeberg, Andres Vennemann, Torsten Hajdas, Irka Adatte, Thierry Van Rooij, David Foubert, Anneleen 2020 application/application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/424338 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000424338 en eng Frontiers Media info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3389/fmars.2020.00354 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/000540422600001 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/424338 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000424338 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Frontiers in Marine Science, 7 Benthic foraminifera Stable isotopes Grain size Mediterranean Paleoenvironment Bolling-Allerod Greenland Interstadial 1 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2020 ftethz https://doi.org/20.500.11850/42433810.3929/ethz-b-00042433810.3389/fmars.2020.00354 2023-05-28T23:48:28Z The Alboran Sea is widely recognized to host numerous cold-water coral ecosystems, including the East Melilla Coral Province. Yet, their development through time and response to climatic variability has still to be fully understood. Based on a combined investigation of benthic foraminiferal assemblages, foraminiferal stable isotope compositions, grain size analysis, sediment geochemistry, and macrofaunal quantification, this study identifies key events and processes having governed coldwater coral development at the East Melilla Coral Province between Greenland Stadial 2.1 and the Early Holocene. The transition from Greenland Stadial 2.1 to Greenland Interstadial 1 is associated to a decline of bryozoan communities and their replacement by cold-water corals, together with changes in benthic foraminiferal assemblages and a decrease in the sediment mean grain size. These results suggest that a rapid decrease in bottom currents and the establishment of dysoxic and mesotrophic conditions at the seafloor, possibly associated to enhanced fluvial input, resulted in the decline of bryozoans as the dominant suspension feeding organisms and their replacement by a thriving cold-water coral community. This transition from a bryozoan to a coral dominated environment is concomitant with the beginning of the African Humid Period, confirming that increasing fluvial input could have been a main factor triggering the establishment of cold-water corals in the East Melilla Coral Province during Greenland Interstadial 1. A change in benthic foraminiferal communities and an increase in the sediment mean grain size mark the passage from the Early to Late Greenland Interstadial 1. The current velocity of intermediate water masses is suggested to have increased during the Early to Late Greenland Interstadial 1, whilst simultaneously fluvial input would have reduced. Such changes suggest that the climate became more arid during the second phase of Greenland Interstadial 1. ISSN:2296-7745 Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland ETH Zürich Research Collection Greenland |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
ETH Zürich Research Collection |
op_collection_id |
ftethz |
language |
English |
topic |
Benthic foraminifera Stable isotopes Grain size Mediterranean Paleoenvironment Bolling-Allerod Greenland Interstadial 1 |
spellingShingle |
Benthic foraminifera Stable isotopes Grain size Mediterranean Paleoenvironment Bolling-Allerod Greenland Interstadial 1 Fentimen, Robin Feenstra, Eline Rüggeberg, Andres Vennemann, Torsten Hajdas, Irka Adatte, Thierry Van Rooij, David Foubert, Anneleen Cold-Water Coral Mound Archive Provides Unique Insights Into Intermediate Water Mass Dynamics in the Alboran Sea During the Last Deglaciation |
topic_facet |
Benthic foraminifera Stable isotopes Grain size Mediterranean Paleoenvironment Bolling-Allerod Greenland Interstadial 1 |
description |
The Alboran Sea is widely recognized to host numerous cold-water coral ecosystems, including the East Melilla Coral Province. Yet, their development through time and response to climatic variability has still to be fully understood. Based on a combined investigation of benthic foraminiferal assemblages, foraminiferal stable isotope compositions, grain size analysis, sediment geochemistry, and macrofaunal quantification, this study identifies key events and processes having governed coldwater coral development at the East Melilla Coral Province between Greenland Stadial 2.1 and the Early Holocene. The transition from Greenland Stadial 2.1 to Greenland Interstadial 1 is associated to a decline of bryozoan communities and their replacement by cold-water corals, together with changes in benthic foraminiferal assemblages and a decrease in the sediment mean grain size. These results suggest that a rapid decrease in bottom currents and the establishment of dysoxic and mesotrophic conditions at the seafloor, possibly associated to enhanced fluvial input, resulted in the decline of bryozoans as the dominant suspension feeding organisms and their replacement by a thriving cold-water coral community. This transition from a bryozoan to a coral dominated environment is concomitant with the beginning of the African Humid Period, confirming that increasing fluvial input could have been a main factor triggering the establishment of cold-water corals in the East Melilla Coral Province during Greenland Interstadial 1. A change in benthic foraminiferal communities and an increase in the sediment mean grain size mark the passage from the Early to Late Greenland Interstadial 1. The current velocity of intermediate water masses is suggested to have increased during the Early to Late Greenland Interstadial 1, whilst simultaneously fluvial input would have reduced. Such changes suggest that the climate became more arid during the second phase of Greenland Interstadial 1. ISSN:2296-7745 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fentimen, Robin Feenstra, Eline Rüggeberg, Andres Vennemann, Torsten Hajdas, Irka Adatte, Thierry Van Rooij, David Foubert, Anneleen |
author_facet |
Fentimen, Robin Feenstra, Eline Rüggeberg, Andres Vennemann, Torsten Hajdas, Irka Adatte, Thierry Van Rooij, David Foubert, Anneleen |
author_sort |
Fentimen, Robin |
title |
Cold-Water Coral Mound Archive Provides Unique Insights Into Intermediate Water Mass Dynamics in the Alboran Sea During the Last Deglaciation |
title_short |
Cold-Water Coral Mound Archive Provides Unique Insights Into Intermediate Water Mass Dynamics in the Alboran Sea During the Last Deglaciation |
title_full |
Cold-Water Coral Mound Archive Provides Unique Insights Into Intermediate Water Mass Dynamics in the Alboran Sea During the Last Deglaciation |
title_fullStr |
Cold-Water Coral Mound Archive Provides Unique Insights Into Intermediate Water Mass Dynamics in the Alboran Sea During the Last Deglaciation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cold-Water Coral Mound Archive Provides Unique Insights Into Intermediate Water Mass Dynamics in the Alboran Sea During the Last Deglaciation |
title_sort |
cold-water coral mound archive provides unique insights into intermediate water mass dynamics in the alboran sea during the last deglaciation |
publisher |
Frontiers Media |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/424338 https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000424338 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland |
genre_facet |
Greenland |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science, 7 |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3389/fmars.2020.00354 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/000540422600001 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/424338 doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000424338 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/20.500.11850/42433810.3929/ethz-b-00042433810.3389/fmars.2020.00354 |
_version_ |
1768387630860337152 |