Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2018, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (6): 74-84.doi: 10.11978/2018008CSTR: 32234.14.2018008

• Marine Geology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Inter-species and inter-colony differences of Sr/Ca-SST calibration in Porites

Minhang HU1,2(), Tianran CHEN1(), Wenjing ZHANG1,2   

  1. 1. Key laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2018-01-11 Online:2018-11-20 Published:2018-12-24
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China (41476038, 41676049);Youth Innovation Promotion Association, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2015284)

Abstract:

Strontium-to-calcium (Sr/Ca) ratio in Porites corals is widely used as sea surface temperature (SST) proxy in tropical oceans. However, growth-related kinetic/metabolic effects in Porites may influence skeletal Sr/Ca and ultimately affect the accuracy of SST reconstruction. Here, Sr/Ca ratios in multiple Porites from Weizhou Island were measured using an Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES), to estimate the inter-species and inter-colony differences of Sr/Ca and the Sr/Ca-SST calibration with instrumental SST records. The results are as follows. (1) In this study, two species of Porites corals, Porites pukoensis and Porites lutea, were collected. Significant differences of Sr/Ca and Sr/Ca-SST equation were found between the two species. We suggest using the same species in coral-based paleo-climate reconstructions. (2) Inter-colony Sr/Ca differences were found in Porites pukoensis and Porites lutea, resulting from extreme warm and cold temperatures, which disturbed coral physiologies and caused anomalously Sr/Ca ratios, as well as sampling errors, especially in warm and cold periods. (3) No significant differences of Sr/Ca were found in different axes in a Porites colony. We established a Sr/Ca-SST thermometer as Sr/Ca (mmol/mol) = -0.04027×SST(℃)+9.623 based on multi-colony calibrations. The multi-colony approach can minimize individual biases or noise referred to growth related “vital effects” or other kinetic/metabolic effects, and eventually increase the accuracy of SST reconstruction. The error of the Sr/Ca-derived SST was ±0.6℃(1σ).

Key words: Porites, Sr/Ca, inter-species offset, inter-conoly offset, growth rate, SST

CLC Number: 

  • Q958.112+.4