The Suess Effect and Additional Impacts on the Carbon Isotope Composition of a Belizean Coral
Abstract
Recent work has shown that the geochemistry of coral skeletons can reflect large-scale changes in the ocean carbon isotope budget as influenced by the anthropogenic influx of fossil fuel carbon to the atmosphere (the Suess Effect). Yet not all coral carbon records reflect just atmospheric controls on carbon. This study assesses the relative influence of the Suess Effect on carbon chemistry within a Belizean Montastrea faveolota colony and interprets deviations from the Suess Effect signal. The coral sample used for this study was collected off Wee Wee Caye, in South-Central Belize offshore of the Sittee River, Stann Creek District in 2003. Coral carbonate was sampled at an average resolution of 15 samples per coral year. Carbon isotope data from the Belizean coral were compared with mean annual carbon isotope data from Atlantic corals in a study by Swart et. al (2010) to analyze the relative contribution of the Suess Effect and competing controls on the carbon isotope composition of Belizean waters. The observed pattern in the Belize coral suggested two distinct trends in carbon isotopic composition, and segmented regression analysis indicated a significant breakpoint occurs in this record in approximately 1965. Deforestation rates in Belize after the 1960's have been almost double that for the rest of Central America (2.3% vs. 1.2% annually) corresponding with a general shift from rural farming to large scale agriculture in Belize. Consequently, increased rates of deforestation in Belize may have been an important factor in carbon isotope budgets of the area over the last several decades. Compared with data averaged from Atlantic coral samples, annual carbon isotope values in Belizean coral declined more rapidly since the 1960's. We attribute this sharper decline in the Belizean coral to enhanced influx of terrestrial 'light' organic carbon to the reef over the study period.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2011
- Bibcode:
- 2011AGUFMPP43B1814G
- Keywords:
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- 1041 GEOCHEMISTRY / Stable isotope geochemistry;
- 4215 OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL / Climate and interannual variability;
- 4902 PALEOCEANOGRAPHY / Anthropogenic effects;
- 4916 PALEOCEANOGRAPHY / Corals