Reef coral δ18O thermometer in Hainan island waters, South China Sea

Reef coral δ¹⁸O thermometer in Hainan island waters, South China Sea

HE Xue-Xian，

PENG Zi-Cheng，

WANG Zhao-Rong，

HUO Wei-Guo，

TAN Jun，

NIE Bao-Fu，

CHEN Te-Gu，

ZHONG Jin-Liang

Nuclear Science and Techniques

Vol.11, No.3

pp.162-166

Published in print 01 Aug 2000

CLC：P736.4

20600

An 18-year-long (1981-1998) study was conducted in Hainan Island waters (22°20＇N, 110°39＇E) to determine the relationship between δ¹⁸O in skeletal aragonite carbonate and sea surface temperature (SST) in porites lutea of reef-building corals. δ¹⁸O values in skeletal aragonite carbonate were measured by means of mass spectrometry. Coral samples grew at 5m depth at Longwan Bay. Monthly measurements of the SST from 1960 to 1998 were taken at Qinglan Bay adjacent to the place of the collected samples. The thermometer shows that SST=-4.16 δ18O^PDB + 4.9 (r=0.80) and dδ¹⁸O/dT=-0.24 permil/℃. The δ¹⁸O thermometer is strongly influenced by the rainfall and runoff. Using the thermometer, the SST in the past hundred years with monthly resolution will be reconstructed and the climatic change in the northern area of South China Sea will be hindcasted

Reef-building coralOxygen isotopeThermometerMass spectrometry

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