TY - JOUR
T1 - Instability of sea water pH in the South China Sea during the mid-late Holocene; evidence from boron isotopic composition of corals
AU - Liu Yi, Liu Weiguo
AU - Peng, Zicheng
AU - Xiao Yingkai, Wei
AU - Gangjian, Sun Weidong
AU - He Jianfeng, Liu Guijian
AU - Chou, Chen-Lin
N1 - Funding Information:
This research is supported by the Innovation Project Fund (KZCX-2-YW-318), the NKBRSF Project Fund (2004CB720208) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40830852, 40676069). This paper benefited greatly from constructive reviews by Dr. A. K. Gupta, two anonymous reviewers, and Associate Editor, Dr. Alfonso Mucci.
PY - 2009/3/1
Y1 - 2009/3/1
N2 - We used positive thermal ionization mass spectrometry (PTIMS) to generate high precision δ
11B records in Porites corals of the mid-late Holocene from the South China Sea (SCS). The δ
11B values of the Holocene corals vary significantly, ranging from 22.2‰ to 25.5‰. The paleo-pH records of the SCS, reconstructed from the δ
11B data, were not stable as previously thought but show a gradual increase from the Holocene thermal optimal and a sharp decrease to modern values. The latter is likely caused by the large amount of anthropogenic CO
2 emissions since the Industrial Revolution but variations of atmospheric pCO
2 cannot explain the pH change of the SCS before the Industrial Revolution. We suggest that variations of monsoon intensity during the mid-late Holocene may have driven the sea surface pH increase from the mid to late Holocene. Results of this study indicate that the impact of anthropogenic atmospheric CO
2 emissions may have reversed the natural pH trend in the SCS since the mid-Holocene. Such ocean pH records in the current interglacial period can help us better understand the physical and biological controls on ocean pH and possibly predict the long-term impact of climate change on future ocean acidification.
AB - We used positive thermal ionization mass spectrometry (PTIMS) to generate high precision δ
11B records in Porites corals of the mid-late Holocene from the South China Sea (SCS). The δ
11B values of the Holocene corals vary significantly, ranging from 22.2‰ to 25.5‰. The paleo-pH records of the SCS, reconstructed from the δ
11B data, were not stable as previously thought but show a gradual increase from the Holocene thermal optimal and a sharp decrease to modern values. The latter is likely caused by the large amount of anthropogenic CO
2 emissions since the Industrial Revolution but variations of atmospheric pCO
2 cannot explain the pH change of the SCS before the Industrial Revolution. We suggest that variations of monsoon intensity during the mid-late Holocene may have driven the sea surface pH increase from the mid to late Holocene. Results of this study indicate that the impact of anthropogenic atmospheric CO
2 emissions may have reversed the natural pH trend in the SCS since the mid-Holocene. Such ocean pH records in the current interglacial period can help us better understand the physical and biological controls on ocean pH and possibly predict the long-term impact of climate change on future ocean acidification.
KW - ISGS
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U2 - 10.1016/j.gca.2008.11.034
DO - 10.1016/j.gca.2008.11.034
M3 - Article
SN - 0016-7037
VL - 73
SP - 1264
EP - 1272
JO - Geochmica et Cosmochimica Acta
JF - Geochmica et Cosmochimica Acta
IS - 5
ER -