Living on the edge: environmental variability of a shallow late Holocene cold-water coral mound.

Similar to their tropical counterparts, cold-water corals (CWCs) are able to build large three-dimensional reef structures. These unique ecosystems are at risk due to ongoing climate change. In particular, ocean warming, ocean acidification and changes in the hydrological cycle may jeopardize the existence of CWCs. In order to predict how CWCs and their reefs or mounds will develop in the near future one important strategy is to study past fossil CWC mounds and especially shallow CWC ecosystems as they experience a greater environmental variability compared to other deep-water CWC ecosystems. We present results from a CWC mound off southern Norway. A sediment core drilled from this relatively shallow (~ 100 m) CWC mound exposes in full detail hydrographical changes during the late Holocene, which were crucial for mound build-up. We applied computed tomography, 230Th/U dating, and foraminiferal geochemical proxy reconstructions of bottom-water-temperature (Mg/Ca-based BWT), δ18O for seawater density, and the combination of both to infer salinity changes. Our results demonstrate that the CWC mound formed in the late Holocene between 4 kiloannum (ka) and 1.5 ka with an average aggradation rate of 104 cm/kiloyears (kyr), which is significantly lower than other Holocene Norwegian mounds. The reconstructed BWTMg/Ca and seawater density exhibit large variations throughout the entire period of mound formation, but are strikingly similar to modern in situ observations in the nearby Tisler Reef. We argue that BWT does not exert a primary control on CWC mound formation. Instead, strong salinity and seawater density variation throughout the entire mound sequence appears to be controlled by the interplay between the Atlantic Water (AW) inflow and the overlying, outflowing Baltic-Sea water. CWC growth and mound formation in the NE Skagerrak was supported by strong current flow, oxygen replenishment, the presence of a strong boundary layer and larval dispersal through the AW, but possibly inhibited by the influence of fresh Baltic Water during the late Holocene. Our study therefore highlights that modern shallow Norwegian CWC reefs may be particularly endangered due to changes in water-column stratification associated with increasing net precipitation caused by climate change. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00338-022-02249-4.

'Ten Years After'-a long-term settlement and bioerosion experiment in an Arctic rhodolith bed (Mosselbukta, Svalbard).

Rhodolith beds and bioherms formed by ecosystem engineering crustose coralline algae support the northernmost centres of carbonate production, referred to as polar cold-water carbonate factories. Yet, little is known about biodiversity and recruitment of these hard-bottom communities or the bioeroders degrading them, and there is a demand for carbonate budgets to include respective rates of polar carbonate build-up and bioerosion. To address these issues, a 10-year settlement and bioerosion experiment was carried out at the Arctic Svalbard archipelago in and downslope of a rhodolith bed. The calcifiers recorded on experimental settlement tiles (56 taxa) were dominated by bryozoans, serpulids and foraminiferans. The majority of the bioerosion traces (30 ichnotaxa) were microborings, followed by attachment etchings and grazing traces. Biodiversity metrics show that calcifier diversity and bioerosion ichnodiversity are both elevated in the rhodolith bed, if compared to adjacent aphotic waters, but these differences are statistically insignificant. Accordingly, there were only low to moderate dissimilarities in the calcifier community structure and bioerosion trace assemblages between the two depth stations (46 and 127 m), substrate orientations (up- and down-facing) and substrate types (PVC and limestone), in that order of relevance. In contrast, surface coverage as well as the carbonate accretion and bioerosion rates were all significantly elevated in the rhodolith bed, reflecting higher abundance or size of calcifiers and bioerosion traces. All three measures were highest for up-facing substrates at 46 m, with a mean coverage of 78.2% (on PVC substrates), a mean accretion rate of 24.6 g m-2   year-1 (PVC), and a mean bioerosion rate of -35.1 g m-2  year-1 (limestone). Differences in these metrics depend on the same order of factors than the community structure. Considering all limestone substrates of the two platforms, carbonate accretion and bioerosion were nearly in balance at a net rate of -2.5 g m-2  year-1 . A latitudinal comparison with previous settlement studies in the North Atlantic suggests that despite the harsh polar environment there is neither a depletion in the diversity of hard-bottom calcifier communities nor in the ichnodiversity of grazing traces, attachment etchings and microborings formed by organotrophs. In contrast, microborings produced by phototrophs are strongly depleted because of limitations in the availability of light (condensed photic zonation, polar night, shading by sea ice). Also, macroborings were almost absent, surprisingly. With respect to carbonate production, the Svalbard carbonate factory marks the low end of a latitudinal gradient while bioerosion rates are similar or even higher than at comparable depth or photic regime at lower latitudes, although this might not apply to shallow euphotic waters (not covered in our experiment), given the observed depletion in bioeroding microphytes and macroborers. While echinoid grazing is particularly relevant for the bioerosion in the rhodolith bed, respective rates are far lower than those reported from tropical shallow-water coral reefs. The slow pace of carbonate production but relatively high rates of bioerosion (both promoted by low carbonate supersaturation states in Arctic waters), in concert with high retention of skeletal carbonates on the seafloor and no calcite cements forming in open pore space created by microborers, suggest a low fossilisation potential for polar carbonates, such as those formed in the Mosselbukta rhodolith beds.

Controls on planktonic foraminifera apparent calcification depths for the northern equatorial Indian Ocean.

Within the world's oceans, regionally distinct ecological niches develop due to differences in water temperature, nutrients, food availability, predation and light intensity. This results in differences in the vertical dispersion of planktonic foraminifera on the global scale. Understanding the controls on these modern-day distributions is important when using these organisms for paleoceanographic reconstructions. As such, this study constrains modern depth habitats for the northern equatorial Indian Ocean, for 14 planktonic foraminiferal species (G. ruber, G. elongatus, G. pyramidalis, G. rubescens, T. sacculifer, G. siphonifera, G. glutinata, N. dutertrei, G. bulloides, G. ungulata, P. obliquiloculata, G. menardii, G. hexagonus, G. scitula) using stable isotopic signatures (δ18O and δ13C) and Mg/Ca ratios. We evaluate two aspects of inferred depth habitats: (1) the significance of the apparent calcification depth (ACD) calculation method/equations and (2) regional species-specific ACD controls. Through a comparison with five global, (sub)tropical studies we found the choice of applied equation and δ18Osw significant and an important consideration when comparing with the published literature. The ACDs of the surface mixed layer and thermocline species show a tight clustering between 73-109 m water depth coinciding with the deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM). Furthermore, the ACDs for the sub-thermocline species are positioned relative to secondary peaks in the local primary production. We surmise that food source plays a key role in the relative living depths for the majority of the investigated planktonic foraminifera within this oligotrophic environment of the Maldives and elsewhere in the tropical oceans.

Impact of industrial phosphate waste discharge on the marine environment in the Gulf of Gabes (Tunisia).

The marine environment in the Gulf of Gabes (southern Tunisia) is severely impacted by phosphate industries. Nowadays, three localities, Sfax, Skhira and Gabes produce phosphoric acid along the coasts of this Gulf and generate a large amount of phosphogypsum as a waste product. The Gabes phosphate industry is the major cause of pollution in the Gulf because most of the waste is directly discharged into the sea without preliminary treatment. This study investigates the marine environment in the proximity of the phosphate industries of Gabes and the coastal marine environment on the eastern coast of Djerba, without phosphate industry. This site can be considered as "pristine" and enables a direct comparison between polluted and "clean" adjacent areas. Phosphorous, by sequential extractions (SEDEX), Rock-Eval, C, H, N elemental analysis, and stable carbon isotope composition of sedimentary organic matter, X-ray diffraction (qualitative and quantitative analysis) were measured on sediments. Temperature, pH and dissolved oxygen were measured on the water close to the sea floor of each station to estimate environmental conditions. These analyses are coupled with video surveys of the sea floor. This study reveals clear differentiations in pollution and eutrophication in the investigated areas.

Microfossils, a Key to Unravel Cold-Water Carbonate Mound Evolution through Time: Evidence from the Eastern Alboran Sea.

Cold-water coral (CWC) ecosystems occur worldwide and play a major role in the ocean's carbonate budget and atmospheric CO2 balance since the Danian (~65 m.y. ago). However their temporal and spatial evolution against climatic and oceanographic variability is still unclear. For the first time, we combine the main macrofaunal components of a sediment core from a CWC mound of the Melilla Mounds Field in the Eastern Alboran Sea with the associated microfauna and we highlight the importance of foraminifera and ostracods as indicators of CWC mound evolution in the paleorecord. Abundances of macrofauna along the core reveal alternating periods dominated by distinct CWC taxa (mostly Lophelia pertusa, Madrepora oculata) that correspond to major shifts in foraminiferal and ostracod assemblages. The period dominated by M. oculata coincides with a period characterized by increased export of refractory organic matter to the seafloor and rather unstable oceanographic conditions at the benthic boundary layer with periodically decreased water energy and oxygenation, variable bottom water temperature/density and increased sediment flow. The microfaunal and geochemical data strongly suggest that M. oculata and in particular Dendrophylliidae show a higher tolerance to environmental changes than L. pertusa. Finally, we show evidence for sustained CWC growth during the Alleröd-Younger-Dryas in the Eastern Alboran Sea and that this period corresponds to stable benthic conditions with cold/dense and well oxygenated bottom waters, high fluxes of labile organic matter and relatively strong bottom currents.