Variation in deglacial coralgal assemblages and their paleoenvironmental significance: IODP Expedition 310, "Tahiti Sea Level"

Abbey, Elizabeth, Webster, Jody, Braga, Juan, Sugihara, Kaoru, Wallace, Carden, Iryu, Yasufumi, Potts, Donald, Done, Terry, Camoin, Gilbert, and Seard, Claire (2011) Variation in deglacial coralgal assemblages and their paleoenvironmental significance: IODP Expedition 310, "Tahiti Sea Level". Global and Planetary Change, 76 (1). pp. 1-15.

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Abstract

Fossil reefs are valuable recorders of paleoenvironmental changes during the last deglaciation, and detailed characterizations of coralgal assemblages can improve understanding of the behavior and impacts of sea-level rise. Drilling in 2005 by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 310 explored submerged offshore reefs from three locations around Tahiti, French Polynesia and provides the first look at island-wide variability of coralgal assemblages during deglacial sea-level rise. We present the first detailed examination of coral and coralline algal taxonomy and morphology from two sites on Tahiti (offshore Tiarei and offshore Maraa). Sixteen cores ranging in depth from 122 m to 45 m below sea-level represent reef growth from 16 ka to ca. 8 ka (Camoin, G.F., Iryu, Y., McInroy, D.B. and the IODP Expedition 310 Scientists, 2007. IODP Expedition 310 reconstructs sea level, climatic, and environmental changes in the South Pacific during the last deglaciation. Scientific Drilling, 5: 4–12). Twenty-six coral species, twelve coral genera and twenty-eight coralline algal species were identified from 565 m of core and over 400 thin sections. Based on these data, and in comparison with modern and fossil analogs, seven coral and four algal assemblages have been identified in the deglacial sequences in Tahiti, representing a range of environments from less than 10 m to greater than 20–30 m water depth. Deglacial reef initiation varied at sites based on the available substrate, and early colonizers suggest water conditions at all sites were unfavorable to sensitive corals, such as Acropora, prior to ca. 12.5 ka. Mainly shallow water (b10–15 m) corals and coralline algal assemblages developed continuously throughout both sites from 16 ka to ca. 8 ka, suggesting that coralgal assemblage variation ismore influenced by factors such as turbidity and water chemistry than sea-level rise alone.

Item ID: 21278
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1872-6364
Keywords: IODP Expedition 310 "Tahiti Sea Level", Tahiti, coralgal assemblages, last deglaciation, paleoenvironmental change
Date Deposited: 26 Mar 2012 23:48
FoR Codes: 04 EARTH SCIENCES > 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience > 040605 Palaeoclimatology @ 100%
01 MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES > 0101 Pure Mathematics > 010103 Category Theory, K Theory, Homological Algebra @ 0%
SEO Codes: 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9603 Climate and Climate Change > 960310 Global Effects of Climate Change and Variability (excl. Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and the South Pacific) @ 100%
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