Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T17:06:24.663Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Regional Variability of Surface Ocean Radiocarbon from Southern Great Barrier Reef Corals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Ellen R. M. Druffel  and
Sheila Griffin
Ellen R. M. Druffel
Affiliation:
Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, California 92717 USA
Sheila Griffin
Affiliation:
Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, California 92717 USA
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

High-precision ∆14C and stable isotope (∆18O and ∆13C) records are reported for post-bomb corals from three sites off the eastern Australian coast. We observe that ∆14C values increased from ca. −50′ in the early 1950s to +130‰ by 1974, then decreased to 110‰ by 1991. There is general agreement between the coral results and ∆14C of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in seawater measured previously for locations in the South Pacific. ∆14C values at our southern hemisphere sites increased at a slower rate than those observed previously in the northern hemisphere. Small variations in the ∆14C records among our three sites are likely due to differences in circulation between the shallow coastal waters and the open ocean influenced by seasonal upwelling. Low ∆14C is associated with most El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events after 1970, indicating input of low 14C waters from the southern-shifted South Equatorial Current. The exception is the severe ENSO event of 1982–1983 when upwelling in the South Equatorial Current could have ceased, causing normal ∆14C values in the corals during this time.

Type
IV. 14C as a Tracer of the Dynamic Carbon Cycle in the Current Environment
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , 1995 , pp. 517 - 524
Copyright
Copyright © the Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona 

References

Andrews, J. C. and Gentien, P. 1982 Upwelling as a source of nutrients for the Great Barrier Reef Ecosystems: A solution to Darwin's question? Marine Ecology – Progress Series 8: 257–269.Google Scholar
Burling, R. W. and Garner, D. M. 1959 A section of 14C activities of sea water between 9S and 66S in the south-west Pacific Ocean. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 2: 799–824.Google Scholar
Druffel, E. M. and Linick, T. W. 1978 Radiocarbon in annual coral rings from Florida. Geophysical Research Letters 5: 913–916.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Druffel, E. R. M. 1987 Bomb radiocarbon in the Pacific: Annual and seasonal timescale variations. Journal of Marine Chemistry 45: 667–698.Google Scholar
Druffel, E. R. M. 1989 Decade time scale variability of ventilation in the North Atlantic determined from high precision measurements of bomb radiocarbon in banded corals. Journal of Geophysical Research 94: 3271–3285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Druffel, E. R. M. (ms.) Circulation in the southwestern Pacific as invoked from pre- and post-bomb records of radiocarbon in Australian corals. In preparation.Google Scholar
Druffel, E. R. M. and Griffin, S. 1993 Large variations of surface ocean radiocarbon: Evidence of circulation changes in the southwestern Pacific. Journal of Geophysical Research 98: 20249–20259.Google Scholar
Edwards, R. L., Chen, J. H. and Wasserburg, G. J. 1987 238U-234U-230Th-232Th systematics and the precise measurement of time over the past 500,000 years. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 81: 175–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffin, S. M. and Druffel, E. R. M. 1985 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Radiocarbon Laboratory: Sample treatment and gas preparation. Radiocarbon 27(1): 43–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levin, I., Kromer, B., Schoch-Fischer, H., Bruns, M., Munnich, M., Berdaun, D., Vogel, J. C. and Munnich, K. O. 1985 25 years of tropospheric 14C observations in Central Europe. Radiocarbon 27(1): 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyers, G. and Donguy, J. 1984 South equatorial current during the 1982–83 El Niño. Tropical Ocean-Atmosphere Newsletter 27: 10–11.Google Scholar
Nozaki, Y., Rye, D. M., Turekian, K. K. and Dodge, R. E. 1978 13C and 14C variations in a Bermuda coral. Geophysical Research Letters 5: 825–828.Google Scholar
Nydal, R. and Lovseth, K. 1983 Tracing bomb 14C in the atmosphere. Journal of Geophysical Research 88: 3621–3646.Google Scholar
Östlund, H. G. and Stuiver, M. 1980 GEOSECS Pacific radiocarbon. Radiocarbon 22(1): 25–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pickard, G. L., Donguy, J. R., Henin, C. and Rougerie, F. 1977 A Review of the Physical Oceanography of the Great Barrier Reef and Western Coral Sea. Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service: 135 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quay, P., Stuiver, M. and Broecker, W. 1983 Upwelling rates for the equatorial Pacific Ocean derived from the bomb 14C distribution. Journal of Marine Research 41: 769–792.Google Scholar
Quinn, W. H., Neal, V. T. and DeMayolo, S. E. A. 1987 El Niño occurrences over the past four and a half centuries. Journal of Geophysical Research 92: 14449–14461.Google Scholar
Rafter, T. A. 1968 14C variations in nature, Part 3,14C measurements in the South Pacific and Antarctic Oceans. New Zealand Journal of Science 11: 551–588.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. and Polach, H. A. 1977 Discussion: Reporting of 14C data. Radiocarbon 19(3): 355–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toggweiler, J. R., Dixon, K. and Broecker, W. S. 1991 The Peru upwelling and the ventilation of the South Pacific thermocline. Journal of Geophysical Research 96: 20467–20497.Google Scholar
Wyrtki, K. 1984 A southward displacement of the subtropical gyre in the South Pacific during the 1982–83 El Nino. Tropical Ocean-Atmosphere Newsletter 27: 14–15.Google Scholar