Sclerochronology

The term sclerochronology dates from the early 1970s, and was coined in 1974 [1] following pioneering work on nuclear test atolls by Knutson and Buddemeier[2]. Sclerochronology is the study of physical and chemical variations in the accretionary hard tissues of invertebrates and coralline red algae, and the temporal context in which they formed. The term comes from the three Greek words scleros – hard, chronos – time and logos – science, and refers to the science of ordering events in time. Sclerochronology focuses primarily upon growth patterns reflecting annual, monthly, fortnightly, tidal, daily, and sub-daily (ultradian) increments of time. The regular time increments are controlled by biological clocks which - in turn - are entrained by environmental and astronomical pacemakers.

Familiar examples include annual bandings in reef coral skeletons or annual, fortnightly, daily and ultradian growth increments in mollusk shells as well as annual bandings fish otoliths. Sclerochronology is analogous to dendrochronology, the study of annual rings in trees, and equally seeks to deduce organismal life history traits as well as to reconstruct records of environmental and climatic change through space and time.

The science of sclerochronology as applied to hard parts of various organism groups is now routinely used for paleoceanographic and paleoclimate reconstructions[3][4][5][6][7].

Improvements in imaging techniques have now realised the potential to decipher coral banding at daily resolution[8], although biological 'vital' effects may blur the climate signal at such a high resolution[9].

References

  1. ^ Buddemeier, R. W., Maragos, J. E., and Knutson, D. W. 1974. Radiographic studies of reef coral exoskeletons: Rates and patterns of coral growth. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 14, 179-199.
  2. ^ Knutson, D. W., Buddemeier, R. W., and Smith, S. V. 1972. Coral Chronometers: Seasonal Growth Bands in Reef Corals. Science 177, 270-272.
  3. ^ Schöne, B.R., Oschmann, W., Kröncke, I., Dreyer, W., Janssen, R., Rumohr, H., Houk, S.D., Freyre Castro, A.D., Dunca, E. and Rössler, J. (2003). North Atlantic Oscillation dynamics recorded in shells of a long-lived bivalve mollusk. Geology 31, 1237–1240.
  4. ^ Wanamaker, A.D. Jr., Kreutz, K.J., Schöne, B.R., Pettigrew, N., Borns, H.W., Introne, D.S., Belknap, D., Maasch, K.A. and Feindel, S. 2008. Coupled North Atlantic slopewater forcing on Gulf of Maine temperatures over the past millennium. Climate Dynamics 31, 183-194.
  5. ^ Corrège, T., Gagan, M.K., Beck, J.W., Burr, G.S., Cabioch, G & Le Cornec, F. 2004. Interdecadal variation in the extent of South Pacific tropical waters during the Younger Dryas event. Nature 428, 927-929.
  6. ^ Halfar, J., Steneck, R.S., Joachimski, M, Kronz, A. & Wanamaker A.D. Jr. 2008. Coralline red algae as high-resolution climate recorders. Geology, 36, 463-466.
  7. ^ Black, B.A., Copenheaver, C.A., Frank, D.C., Stuckey, M.J. and Kormanyos, R.E. 2009. Multi-proxy reconstructions of northeastern Pacific sea surface temperature data from trees and Pacific geoduck. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 278, 40–47.
  8. ^ Gill, I. P., Dickson, J. A. D., and Hubbard, D. K. 2006. Daily banding in corals: Implications for paleoclimatic reconstruction and skeletonization. Journal of Sedimentary Research 76, 683-688.
  9. ^ Juillet-Leclerc, A., Reynaud, S., Rollion-Bard, C., Cuif, J. P., Dauphin, Y., Blamart, D., Ferrier-Pagès, C., and Allemand, D. 2009. Oxygen isotopic signature of the skeletal microstructures in cultured corals: Identification of vital effects. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 73, 5320-5332.