Radiocarbon-based ages and growth rates of bamboo corals from the Gulf of Alaska Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Deepsea coral communities have long been recognized by fisherman as areas that support large populations of commercial fish. As a consequence, many deepsea coral communities are threatened by bottom trawling. Successful management and conservation of this widespread deepsea habitat requires knowledge of the age and growth rates of deepsea corals. These organisms also contain important archives of intermediate and deepwater variability, and are thus of interest in the context of decadal to centuryscale climate dynamics. Here, we present 14C data that suggest that bamboo corals from the Gulf of Alaska are longlived (75126 years) and that they acquire skeletal carbon from two distinct sources. Independent verification of our growth rate estimates and coral ages is obtained by counting seasonal Sr/Ca cycles and probable lunar cycle growth bands.

published proceedings

  • GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS

altmetric score

  • 8.016

author list (cited authors)

  • Roark, E. B., Guilderson, T. P., Flood-Page, S., Dunbar, R. B., Ingram, B. L., Fallon, S. J., & McCulloch, M.

citation count

  • 96

complete list of authors

  • Roark, EB||Guilderson, TP||Flood-Page, S||Dunbar, RB||Ingram, BL||Fallon, SJ||McCulloch, M

publication date

  • February 2005