Carbonate budget of cold-water coral mounds along a latitudinal transect

• Applicant: Dr. Jürgen Titschack
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2010 to 2013
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 150447233

Cold-water coral (CWC) ecosystems are represented along the world’s continental margins and have the potential to build mounds, which reach sizes of up to several kilometres in elongation and heights of up to 350 m. So far, research on these modern sedimentary systems concentrated on their ecology, morphology and oceanography. Little is known about the CWC ecosystem as carbonate factory and sink, its role in the global carbon, hence CO2, cycle and how the system developed through time and responded to past climate changes.The latter is limited by the shortness of gravity cores and the lack of reliable dating methods for deposits older than 500 ka. Based on existing core material, the proposed project will evaluate for the first time the carbonate budget of the cold-water coral factory along a latitudinal transect from northern Norway down to Mauritania including also examples from the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Mexico/Strait of Florida. Beside the influence of different oceanographic settings on the carbonate budget, a focus is set on intra and inter CWC mound province variations. Additionally, electron spin resonance will be tested for dating cold-water corals. The method provides the opportunity to date corals older than 500 ka and might provide an import prerequisite for further deep drilling CWC mound campaigns.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants