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Published August 15, 2014 | Supplemental Material
Journal Article Open

Isotopic composition of carbonate-bound organic nitrogen in deep-sea scleractinian corals: A new window into past biogeochemical change

Abstract

Over the last two decades, the skeletal remains of deep-sea corals have arisen as a geochemical archive of Pleistocene oceanographic change. Here we report the exploration of the isotopic composition of the carbonate-bound organic nitrogen (hereafter, CB-δ^(15)N) in the deep-sea scleractinian coral Desmophyllum dianthus as a possible tool for reconstructing past changes in the ocean nitrogen cycle. The measurement protocol is adapted from a high-sensitivity method for foraminifera shell-bound δ^(15)N. We explored the variability of CB-δ^(15)N within specimens, among corals collected at different depths in a given ocean region, and among different ocean regions. Modern D. dianthus CB-δ^(15)N is strongly correlated with the δ^(15)N of N export as estimated from sediment traps, shallow subsurface nitrate, and surface sediments, suggesting that CB-δ^(15)N is a reliable proxy for δ^(15)N of N export. D. dianthus CB-δ^(15)N is consistently 8–9‰8–9‰ higher than δ^(15)N of N export, indicating that D. dianthus acquires its nutrition primarily from suspended particulate organic matter (POM) that derives from sinking POM, not directly from sinking POM.

Additional Information

© 2014 Elsevier B.V. Received 25 March 2014, Revised 10 May 2014, Accepted 26 May 2014, Available online 12 June 2014. We thank Stephen D. Cairns (Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History) and Ewann A. Bertson (NOAA) for providing D. dianthus samples and Eric D. Galbraith for providing the complete NICOPP data set. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for providing insightful comments. This work is supported by NSF grant OCE-1234664 to M.G.P. and B.W., the Grand Challenges Program of Princeton University, the Tuttle Fund of the Department of Geosciences at Princeton University, European Research Council, Marie Curie Reintegration Grant, and The Leverhulme Trust.

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