Arp, Gernot

Büsse, Sebastian

Eisenhauer, Anton

Gorb, Stanislav

Krause, Stefan

Leipe, Thomas

Liebetrau, Volker

Nehrke, Gernot

OceanRep

Geophysical Research AbstractsVol. 20, EGU2018-13145, 2018EGU General Assembly 2018© Author(s) 2018. CC Attribution 4.0 license.Influence of endolithic algae on coral carbonate chemistryStefan Krause (1), Volker Liebetrau (1), Anton Eisenhauer (1), Gernot Nehrke (2), Sebastian Büsse (3), ThomasLeipe (4), Gernot Arp (5), and Stanislav Gorb (3)(1) GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany , (2) Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre forPolar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany, (3) Zoological Institute, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Germany ,(4) IOW, Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde, Germany , (5) Geoscience Centre, University of Göttingen,GermanyCoral carbonates represent one of the most important geological archives for the reconstruction of sea surfacetemperatures. The reliability of these temperature records is largely dependent on the degree of experienceddiagenesis. While the main impact of physico-chemical carbonate mineral alteration is ascribed to post-mortemprocesses and intensely studied, the geochemical impact of biological driven diagenesis during reef build-up stillrequires identification and quantification.Here we show that endolithic organisms, as green algae, have the potential to induce considerable carbonatemineral alteration already during the coral’s life span and shortly after its decay. Pore space widening andsecondary carbonate mineral ingrowth into pore space voids is frequently correlated with the near-by presence ofsiphonal algae, indicating biological facilitation of this process.After removal of organic components internal coral skeleton previously inhabited by algae showed systematicallyhigher δ13C values than parts devoid of algae. To lesser extend a similar trend is observed for δ18O. In addition,areas inhabited by algae also differed in Sr/Ca molar ratios from the remaining skeleton. We present recentprogress in the field of combined approaches applying Raman mineral and element mapping, micro com-puted tomography imaging of pore space heterogeneity, scanning electron microscopy of organic remnants in thecoral skeleton pores pace, and epi-fluorescence microscopy constraining the boring mechanism of endolithic algae.

Influence of endolithic algae on coral carbonate chemistry

http://oceanrep.geomar.de/44925/1/EGU2018-13145.pdf

Influence of endolithic algae on coral carbonate chemistry

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