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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 33, L11608, doi:10.1029/2006GL025968, 2006

Vital effects in coral skeletal composition display strict three-dimensional control

Anders Meibom

Laboratoire d'Etude de la Matiere Extraterrestre USM 0205 (LEME), Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France


Hiyayoshi Yurimoto

Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan


Jean-Pierre Cuif

UMR 8148/IDES Geologie, Bât. 504, Faculté des sciences, Université Paris Sud 11, Orsay, France


Isabelle Domart-Coulon

Département Milieux et Peuplements Aquatiques, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France


Fanny Houlbreque

Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA


Brent Constantz

Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA


Yannicke Dauphin

UMR 8148/IDES Geologie, Bât. 504, Faculté des sciences, Université Paris Sud 11, Orsay, France


E. Tambutté

Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco


Sylvie Tambutté

Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco


Denis Allemand

Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Monaco


Joseph Wooden

U. S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California, USA


Robert Dunbar

Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA


Abstract

Biological control over coral skeletal composition is poorly understood but critically important to paleo-environmental reconstructions. We present micro-analytical measurements of trace-element abundances as well as oxygen and carbon isotopic compositions of individual skeletal components in the zooxanthellate coral Colpophyllia sp. Our data show that centers of calcification (COC) have higher trace element concentrations and distinctly lighter isotopic compositions than the fibrous components of the skeleton. These observations necessitate that COC and the fibrous skeleton are precipitated by different mechanisms, which are controlled by specialized domains of the calicoblastic cell-layer. Biological processes control the composition of the skeleton even at the ultra-structure level.

Received 6 February 2006; accepted 1 May 2006; published 9 June 2006.

Index Terms: 0419 Biogeosciences: Biomineralization; 0424 Biogeosciences: Biosignatures and proxies; 0473 Biogeosciences: Paleoclimatology and paleoceanography (3344, 4900); 4954 Paleoceanography: Sea surface temperature.

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Citation: Meibom, A., et al. (2006), Vital effects in coral skeletal composition display strict three-dimensional control, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L11608, doi:10.1029/2006GL025968.