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Radiocarbon-based ages and growth rates of bamboo corals from the Gulf of Alaska
Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA
Department of Biological Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, USA
Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA
Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
Deep-sea coral communities have long been recognized by fisherman as areas that support large populations of commercial fish. As a consequence, many deep-sea coral communities are threatened by bottom trawling. Successful management and conservation of this widespread deep-sea habitat requires knowledge of the age and growth rates of deep-sea corals. These organisms also contain important archives of intermediate and deep-water variability, and are thus of interest in the context of decadal to century-scale climate dynamics. Here, we present Δ14C data that suggest that bamboo corals from the Gulf of Alaska are long-lived (75–126 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.
Received 4 November 2004; accepted 18 January 2005; published 19 February 2005.
Citation: (2005), Radiocarbon-based ages and growth rates of bamboo corals from the Gulf of Alaska, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L04606, doi:10.1029/2004GL021919.
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