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Radiocarbon in annual coral rings of Florida
Author(s) -
Druffel Ellen M.,
Linick Timothy W.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl005i011p00913
Subject(s) - radiocarbon dating , oceanography , coral , reef , gulf stream , environmental science , coral reef , geology , paleontology
Radiocarbon measurements on a 175‐year (A.D. 1800 to 1974) growth of the coral Montastrea annularis from The Rocks reef off the Florida Keys reveal the rate of local uptake of fossil fuel CO 2 and bomb 14 C by surface ocean waters of the Gulf Stream. In the nineteenth century, the pre‐bomb, pre‐industrial Δ 14 C value of surface ocean waters as seen in these corals of the Gulf Stream in the Florida Straits was −51 ± 2‰. By 1955, uptake of industrial CO 2 by these waters had lowered the Δ 14 C values to about −61‰. The results can be used to make predictions regarding anthropogenic CO 2 that can be expected to enter the oceans in future decades. Bomb‐produced 14 C is found to be present in the corals in comparable concentrations to that found in the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIOC) of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans.