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Are coral clasts from a turbid near-shore reef environment a suitable material for radiocarbon analysis?

Gulliver, P. , Palmer, S., Perry, C. and Smithers, S. (2013) Are coral clasts from a turbid near-shore reef environment a suitable material for radiocarbon analysis? Radiocarbon, 55(2-3), pp. 624-630. (doi: 10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16349)

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Abstract

Use of coral skeletons to determine growth histories of reefs situated in warm, clear tropical waters is well established. Recently, however, there has been increasing awareness of the significance of reefs occurring in environments that are considered as marginal for coral growth, such as turbid inshore settings characterized by episodes of elevated turbidity, low light penetration, and periodic sediment burial. While these conditions are generally considered as limiting for coral growth, coral reefs in these settings can exhibit high live coral cover and species diversity, and thus can be both ecologically and geologically significant. Turbid-zone reefs are also commonly concentrated along eroding shorelines with many analogues to erosional shorelines developed during the Holocene transgression. A growing number of studies of these previously undocumented reefs reveal that the reef deposits are detrital in nature, comprising a framework dominated by reef rubble and coral clasts and set within a fine-grained terrigenous sediment matrix. In addition to the recognized effects of diagenesis or algal encrustations on the radiocarbon signature of coral samples, episodic high-energy events may rework sediments and can result in age reversals in the same stratigraphic unit. As in other reef settings, the possibility of such reworking can complicate the reconstruction of turbid-zone reef growth chronologies. In order to test the accuracy of dating coral clasts for developing growth histories of these reef deposits, 5 replicate samples from 5 separate coral clasts were taken from 2 sedimentary units in a core collected from Paluma Shoals, an inshore turbid-zone reef located in Halifax Bay, central Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Results show that where care is taken to screen the clasts for skeletal preservation, primary mineralogical structures, and 13C values indicative of marine carbonate, then reliable 14C dates can be recovered from individual turbid reef coral samples. In addition, the results show that these individual clasts were deposited coevally.

Item Type:	Articles
Status:	Published
Refereed:	Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:	Gulliver, Dr Pauline
Authors:	Gulliver, P., Palmer, S., Perry, C., and Smithers, S.
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences Q Science > Q Science (General)
College/School:	College of Science and Engineering > Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre
Research Group:	NERC Radiocarbon Laboratory, SUERC
Journal Name:	Radiocarbon
Publisher:	University of Arizona
ISSN:	0033-8222
ISSN (Online):	1945-5755
Copyright Holders:	Copyright © 2013 Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona
First Published:	First published in Radiocarbon 55(2-3):624-630
Publisher Policy:	Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

University Staff: Request a correction | Enlighten Editors: Update this record

References

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Deposit and Record Details

ID Code:	105695
Depositing User:	Dr Pauline Gulliver
Datestamp:	30 Apr 2015 15:38
Last Modified:	13 Jun 2018 08:20
Date of first online publication:	2013
Date Deposited:	15 December 2015