Seasonal Delta 18 O and Sr/Ca Records from Submerged Pleistocene Fossil Corals in the Western Equatorial Pacific

Abstract

Five fossil Porites corals from the Huon Gulf have been analyzed for monthly Sr/Ca and ẟ18O variations. Additionally, two nearby modern Porites corals from Sanaroa Island and New Britain, both located within the Solomon Sea (Figure 1-2), have been collected and analyzed for monthly Sr/Ca and ẟ18O variations so that we can better understand how modern Porites corals are recording environmental conditions in the Solomon Sea. The mean ẟ18O and Sr/Ca values, combined with seasonal amplitudes preserved in the geochemical signals in the fossil corals have been compared to those in the modern corals in order to address the following questions: (1) What was the eustatic sea level when the fossil corals were living? Did the fossil corals grow in times of low to intermediate rapidly rising sea level or at high and stable sea level? and (2) What was the climate in terms of SST and SSS in the western equatorial Pacific when the fossil corals were living?