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

• Published in: Earth and Planetary Science Letters
• Main Authors: Wienberg, Claudia, Frank, Norbert, Mertens, Kenneth, Stuut, Jan-Berend, Marchant, Margarita, Fietzke, Jan, Mienis, Furu, Hebbeln, Dierk
• Other Authors: Center for Marine Environmental Sciences Bremen (MARUM), Universität Bremen, Géochrononologie Traceurs Archéométrie (GEOTRAC), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universiteit Gent = Ghent University Belgium (UGENT), Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Universidad de Concepción - University of Concepcion Chile, Leibniz Institute of Marine Science at the University of Kiel (IFM-GEOMAR), Kiel University
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2010
• Subjects: cold-water corals; last glacial; productivity; aeolian dust; Gulf of Cádiz; NE Atlantic; [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography; [SDV.EE.BIO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology; environment/Bioclimatology; Lophelia pertusa
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02890246; https://hal.science/hal-02890246/document; https://hal.science/hal-02890246/file/2010_Wienbergetal_EPSL.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2010.08.017

International audience 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 during the last glacial. This was likely driven by the fertilisation effect of an increased input of aeolian dust and locally intensified upwelling. After the Younger Dryas cold event, the input of aeolian dust and productivity significantly decreased concurrent with an increase in water temperatures in the GoC. This primarily resulted in reduced food availability and caused a widespread demise of the formerly thriving coral ecosystems. Moreover, these climate induced changes most likely caused a latitudinal shift of areas with optimum coral growth conditions towards the northern NE Atlantic where more suitable environmental conditions established with the onset of the Holocene.