Journal
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
Volume 400, Issue -, Pages 243-250Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2014.05.048
Keywords
nitrogen isotopes; deep-sea scleractinian corals; ocean nitrogen cycle; paleoceanography
Categories
Funding
- NSF [OCE-1234664]
- Grand Challenges Program of Princeton University
- Tuttle Fund of the Department of Geosciences at Princeton University
- European Research Council
- Marie Curie Reintegration Grant
- Leverhulme Trust
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Division Of Ocean Sciences [1234664] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Ocean Sciences
- Directorate For Geosciences [1060947, 1204211] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Over the last two decades, the skeletal remains of deep-sea corals have arisen as a geochemical archive of Pleistocene oceanographic change. Here we report the exploration of the isotopic composition of the carbonate-bound organic nitrogen (hereafter, CB-delta N-15) in the deep-sea scleractinian coral Desmophyllum dianthus as a possible tool for reconstructing past changes in the ocean nitrogen cycle. The measurement protocol is adapted from a high-sensitivity method for foraminifera shell-bound delta N-15. We explored the variability of CB-delta N-15 within specimens, among corals collected at different depths in a given ocean region, and among different ocean regions. Modern D. dianthus CB-delta N-15 is strongly correlated with the delta N-15 of N export as estimated from sediment traps, shallow subsurface nitrate, and surface sediments, suggesting that CB-delta N-15 is a reliable proxy for delta N-15 of N export. D. dianthus CB-delta N-15 is consistently 8-9 parts per thousand higher than delta N-15 of N export, indicating that D. dianthus acquires its nutrition primarily from suspended particulate organic matter (POM) that derives from sinking POM, not directly from sinking POM. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available