Lodestone Reef, Great Barrier Reef Coral Data Set --------------------------------------------------------------------- NOAA Paleoclimatology Program and World Data Center for Paleoclimatology, Boulder --------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: PLEASE CITE ORIGINAL REFERENCE WHEN USING THIS DATA!!!!! NAME OF DATA SET: Great Barrier Reef Coral Data Set LAST UPDATE: 3/2001 (Original Receipt by WDC Paleo) CONTRIBUTORS: Janice Lough, Australian Institute of Marine Science IGBP PAGES/WDCA CONTRIBUTION SERIES NUMBER: 2001-024 SUGGESTED DATA CITATION: Lough, J.M. and D.J. Barnes, 2001, Great Barrier Reef Coral Data Set, IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series #2001-024. NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA. ORIGINAL REFERENCES: Lough, J.M. and D.J. Barnes, 2000. Environmental controls on growth of the massive coral Porites. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 245: 225-243. Lough, J.M. and D.J. Barnes, 1997. Several centuries of variation in skeletal extension, density and calcification in massive Porites colonies from the Great Barrier Reef: a proxy for seawater temperature and a background of variability against which to identify unnatural change. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 211: 29-67. Chalker, B.E. and D.J. Barnes, 1990. Gamma densitometry for the measurement of coral skeletal density. Coral Reefs, 4: 95-100. GEOGRAPHIC REGION: subtropical southwestern Pacific PERIOD OF RECORD: 1479-1991 AD DESCRIPTION: Great Barrier Reef Coral Data Set Extension, Density, and Calcification data from 35 Porites coral cores covering the entire length of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Data set contains 35 individual core data sets plus time series 1746-1982 of average calcification rate for 10 of these sites. The Australian Institute of Marine Science began collecting cores from very large massive colonies of Porites on the Great Barrier Reef in the early 1980s. Such cores cannot normally be identified to species. The cores were mounted and sawn to remove slices that were about 6-7mm thick. All slices were X-rayed and skeletal density measured along a central track on each slice using a gamma densitometer. The high density portion of annual density bands in Porites from the Great Barrier Reef appears to form usually between October and March, the Southern Hemisphere summer. Peaks in the density profiles were successively counted backwards from the last (outermost or youngest) peak. Density was assumed to peak in January and the most recent peak was dated from the date of collection of the core. Dates were then assigned to all peaks in the series. Time series of the following skeletal growth parameters were then obtained: 1) Average annual density (g.cm-3) 2) Annual linear extension measured between high density peaks (cm.yr-1) 3) Annual calcification (g.cm-2.yr-1_; the product of annual average density and annual linear extension These data were obtained from coral cores taken at 35 sites on the Great Barrier Reef. The density profiles do not always display regular, obvious annual peaks and we could not be absolutely sure of the dating for some profiles. We consider there may be errors of + or - 2-3 years in the starting data of some of these series. Reef Latitude Longitude Species Collected Start Year End Year Core ID Lodestone Reef 18.70S 147.10E Porites 1984 1615 1983 LOD01A Year Ext Density Calcification 1934 2.921 1.150 3.359 1935 2.286 1.207 2.760 1936 1.778 1.224 2.177 1937 2.032 1.170 2.378 1938 2.007 1.197 2.402 1939 1.778 1.170 2.080 1940 1.651 1.197 1.977 1941 1.651 1.198 1.978 1942 2.997 1.080 3.237 1943 1.346 1.175 1.582 1944 1.702 1.230 2.094 1945 2.108 1.114 2.350 1946 1.981 1.159 2.297 1947 1.930 1.260 2.432 1948 2.032 1.207 2.452 1949 1.803 1.142 2.059 1950 1.803 1.133 2.044 1951 1.194 1.165 1.390 1952 2.591 1.325 3.432 1953 1.118 1.393 1.557 1954 2.210 1.362 3.010 1955 1.270 1.291 1.639 1956 1.981 1.224 2.424 1957 1.346 1.284 1.729 1958 2.235 1.332 2.977 1959 1.651 1.334 2.202 1960 1.778 1.296 2.305 1961 1.626 1.317 2.141 1962 2.489 1.217 3.031 1963 2.261 1.182 2.672 1964 2.083 1.157 2.409 1965 2.591 1.115 2.888 1966 2.210 1.117 2.468 1967 2.108 1.141 2.405 1968 2.032 1.155 2.347 1969 2.032 1.159 2.356 1970 1.854 1.195 2.217 1971 1.702 1.109 1.887 1972 2.210 1.113 2.460 1973 1.829 1.194 2.183 1974 1.956 1.188 2.323 1975 2.108 1.222 2.575 1976 1.829 1.123 2.053 1977 2.489 1.009 2.511 1978 2.845 1.023 2.909 1979 2.159 1.167 2.521 1980 2.819 1.214 3.424 1981 1.880 1.174 2.206 1982 1.168 1.263 1.476 1983 1.753 1.252 2.195 1984 1.981 1.218 2.413