Anomalous Ba/Ca signals associated with low temperature stresses inPorites corals from Daya Bay, northern South China Sea
Tianran Chen , Kefu Yu , Shu Li , Tegu Chen , Qi Shi
DOI:
Received November 28, 2010,Revised April 07, 2011, Accepted , Available online
Volume 23,2011,Pages 1452-1459
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Barium to calcium (Ba/Ca) ratio in corals has been considered as a useful geochemical proxy for upwelling, river flood and other
oceanic processes. However, recent studies indicated that additional environmental or biological factors can influence the incorporation
of Ba into coral skeletons. In this study, Ba/Ca ratios of two Porites corals collected from Daya Bay, northern South China Sea were
analyzed. Ba/Ca signals in the two corals were ‘anomalous’ in comparison with Ba behaviors seen in other near-shore corals influenced
by upwelling or riverine runoff. Our Ba/Ca profiles displayed similar and remarkable patterns characterized by low and randomly
fluctuating background signals periodically interrupted by sharp and large synchronous peaks, clearly indicating an environmental
forcing. Further analysis indicated that the Ba/Ca profiles were not correlated with previously claimed environmental factors such as
precipitation, coastal upwelling, anthropogenic activities or phytoplankton blooms in other areas. The maxima of Ba/Ca appeared to
occur in the period of Sr/Ca maxima, coinciding with the winter minimum temperatures, which suggests that the anomalous high
Ba/Ca signals were related to winter-time low sea surface temperature. We speculated that the Ba/Ca peaks in corals of the Daya Bay
were most likely the results of enrichment of Ba-rich particles in their skeletons when coral polyps retracted under the stresses of
anomalous winter low temperatures. In this case, Ba/Ca ratio in relatively high-latitude corals can be a potential proxy for tracing the
low temperature stress.
