McCulloch, Malcolm T; Trotter, Julie; Montagna, Paolo; Falter, James L; Dunbar, Robert G; Freiwald, André; Försterra, Günter; López Correa, Matthias; Maier, Cornelia; Rüggeberg, Andres; Taviani, Marco (2012): Boron isotope composition and seawater characteristics of cold water scleratinian corals [dataset publication series]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.816120, Supplement to: McCulloch, MT et al. (2012): Resilience of cold-water scleractinian corals to ocean acidification: Boron isotopic systematics of pH and saturation state up-regulation. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 87, 21-34, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2012.03.027
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Abstract:
The boron isotope systematics has been determined for azooxanthellate scleractinian corals from a wide range of both deep-sea and shallow-water environments. The aragonitic coral species, Caryophyllia smithii, Desmophyllum dianthus, Enallopsammia rostrata, Lophelia pertusa, and Madrepora oculata, are all found to have relatively high d11B compositions ranging from 23.2 per mil to 28.7 per mil. These values lie substantially above the pH-dependent inorganic seawater borate equilibrium curve, indicative of strong up-regulation of pH of the internal calcifying fluid (pH(cf)), being elevated by ~0.6-0.8 units (Delta pH) relative to ambient seawater. In contrast, the deep-sea calcitic coral Corallium sp. has a significantly lower d11B composition of 15.5 per mil, with a corresponding lower Delta pH value of ~0.3 units, reflecting the importance of mineralogical control on biological pH up-regulation.
The solitary coral D. dianthus was sampled over a wide range of seawater pH(T) and shows an approximate linear correlation with Delta pH(Desmo) = 6.43 - 0.71 pH(T) (r**2 = 0.79). An improved correlation is however found with the closely related parameter of seawater aragonite saturation state, where Delta pH(Desmo) = 1.09 - 0.14 Omega(arag) (r**2 = 0.95), indicating the important control that carbonate saturation state has on calcification. The ability to up-regulate internal pH(cf), and consequently Omega(cf), of the calcifying fluid is therefore a process present in both azooxanthellate and zooxanthellate aragonitic corals, and is attributed to the action of Ca2+ -ATPase in modulating the proton gradient between seawater and the site of calcification. These findings also show that the boron isotopic compositions (d11Bcarb) of aragonitic corals are highly systematic and consistent with direct uptake of the borate species within the biologically controlled extracellular calcifying medium.
Project(s):
Funding:
Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), grant/award no. 226354: Hotspot Ecosystem Research and Mans Impact On European Seas
Coverage:
Median Latitude: 6.437453 * Median Longitude: 26.423044 * South-bound Latitude: -44.328330 * West-bound Longitude: -163.136180 * North-bound Latitude: 64.108830 * East-bound Longitude: 147.280000
Date/Time Start: 1997-01-01T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2006-10-15T07:11:00
Comment:
Data extracted in the frame of a joint ICSTI/PANGAEA IPY effort, see http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.150150
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0)
Size:
2 datasets
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Datasets listed in this publication series
- McCulloch, MT; Trotter, J; Montagna, P et al. (2012): (Table 2) Boron isotope composition of carbonate from cold-water scleractinian corals and seawater as well as internal pH. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.816119
- McCulloch, MT; Trotter, J; Montagna, P et al. (2012): (Table 1) Seawater characteristics at sampling sites of cold-water scleractinian corals. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.816118