Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
6428785 Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2014 8 Pages PDF
Abstract

•Nitrogen isotopes of carbonate-bound organics in deep-sea Scleractinia are measured.•D. dianthus CB-δ15N is correlated with the δ15N of N export from the surface ocean.•D. dianthus acquires its nutrition primarily from suspended POM.

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-δ15N) 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 δ15N. We explored the variability of CB-δ15N within specimens, among corals collected at different depths in a given ocean region, and among different ocean regions. Modern D. dianthus CB-δ15N is strongly correlated with the δ15N of N export as estimated from sediment traps, shallow subsurface nitrate, and surface sediments, suggesting that CB-δ15N is a reliable proxy for δ15N of N export. D. dianthus CB-δ15N is consistently 8-9‰ higher than δ15N 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.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (General)
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