The Flower Garden Banks Siderastrea siderea coral as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

作者：Kristine L. DeLong, Kylie Palmer, A. J. Wagner, Mudith M Weerabaddana, Niall C. Slowey, Achim D. Herrmann, Nicolas Duprey, Alfredo Martínez‐García, Jonathan Jung, Irka Hajdas, Neil L. Rose, Sarah Roberts, Lucy Roberts, Andrew B. Cundy, P. Gaca, James A. Milton, Handong Yang, Simon Turner, Chun‐Yuan Huang, Chuan‐Chou Shen, Jens Zinke · 发表于：The Anthropocene Review · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1177/20530196221147616 · 被引用次数：14 · 研究领域：Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies、Geology and Paleoclimatology Research、Marine and coastal ecosystems

The proposed Anthropocene Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) candidate site of West Flower Garden Bank (27.8762°N, 93.8147°W) is an open ocean location in the Gulf of Mexico with a submerged coral reef and few direct human impacts. Corals contain highly accurate and precise (<±1 year) internal chronologies, similar to tree rings, and their exoskeletons are formed of aragonite and can be preserved in the rock record. Here we present results from a large Siderastrea siderea coral (core 05WFGB3; 1755–2005 CE) sampled with annual and monthly resolutions that show clear markers of global and regional human impacts. Atmospheric nuclear bomb testing by-products ( 14 C, 239+240 Pu) have clear increases in this coral starting in 1957 for 14 C and the first increase in 1956 for 239+240 Pu (potential bases for the Anthropocene GSSP). Coral δ 13 C declined especially after 1956 consistent with the Suess effect resulting from the burning of fossil fuels. Coral skeletal δ 15 N starts to increase in 1963 corresponding with the increase in agricultural fertilizers. Coral Hg concentrations (1933–1980) loosely track fluctuations in industrial pollution and coral Ba/Ca increases from 1965–1983 when offshore oil operations expand after 1947. Coral temperature proxies contain the 20th-century global warming trend whereas coral growth declines during this interval.