Browsing by Author "Dutton, A"

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    IODP Expedition 325 to the Great Barrier Reef: unlocking the history of reef growth and demise since the Last Glacial Maximum
    (Australian Geosciences Council, 2012-08-05) Webster, JM; Braga, JC; Humblet, M; Potts, DC; Iryu, Y; Hinestrosa, G; Bourillot, R; Seard, C; Camoin, G; Yokayama, Y; Thomas, AL; Thompson, B; Esat, TM; Fallon, SJ; Dutton, A
    Predicting how the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) will respond to future global climate changes and over what time frame is crucial. Fossil reefs record critical data on geomorphic and ecological consequences of both long-term and abrupt centennial-millennial scale environmental changes. The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Exp. 325 investigated a succession of submerged fossil reefs on the shelf edge of the GBR to establish the course of sea-level change, define sea-surface temperature variations but also analyse the impact of these environmental changes on reef growth since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Thirty-four boreholes were cored from 17 sites along four transects at three locations (Hydrographers Passage, Noggin Pass and Ribbon Reef) in water depths between 42 to 167 m. These cores record responses of the GBR to past environmental stresses similar to current scenarios of future climate change (i.e. changing sea-levels, SST’s, water quality). Initial lithologic, biologic and chronologic data document an active coral reef system that grew, drowned and backstepped up-slope as sea level rose since the LGM. We present an overview of the main Exp. 325 results, including a synthesis of the dating, paleoclimate and reef response team’s findings, in the context of the available site survey data (bathymetry, seismic, seabed imagery). Finally, we discuss the broader implications of these data for understanding how the geometry, composition and development of the GBR responded to repeated and major environmental disturbances since the LGM.
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    Morphology and evolution of drowned carbonate terraces during the last two interglacial cycles, off Hilo, NE Hawaii
    (Elsevier, 2016-01-01) Puga-Bernabéu, Á; Webster, JM; Braga, JC; Clague, DA; Dutton, A; Eggins, SM; Fallon, SJ; Jacobsen, GE; Paduan, JB; Potts, DC
    The eastern side of Hawaii Island is a rapidly subsiding margin dominated by drowned carbonate platforms. We present detailed bathymetric and backscatter data, remotely operated vehicle and submersible observations, sedimentological and 14C accelerator mass spectrometry and U/Th age data from seven submerged terraces (H7, H2a–d, H1a–b) in water depths between 1100 and 25 m off Hilo, north-eastern Hawaii. The main carbonate deposits on these terraces are coral deposits, rhodolith beds, coralline algal mounds, crusts, pavements and tabular sheets. We identified five previously described sedimentary shallow- to deep-water facies and one new facies type that are consistent with reef drowning on a rapidly subsiding margin. We used palaeobathymetric data derived from the sedimentary facies, age versus depth relationships, and published sea-level curves, to estimate a uniform long-term subsidence rate of 2.80 ± 0.36 m/ky for the eastern side of Hawaii over the last 150 ky. Terrace H7 developed about 380 ka based on data from the western side of the island. Active coral growth on terrace H2d occurred during the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 to 5 transition, and the terrace drowned during the peak of MIS 5e when sea level rose faster than reefs could grow. Favoured by the gentle platform gradient, reefs established progressively landwards with a backstepping pattern during MIS 5e to form the terraces H2c and H2b 122 ka. Final turn-off of shallow water carbonate production on terraces H2b–d coincided with the relative sea-level rise of the interstadial MIS 5a. Bathymetry and submersible data suggest that carbonate sediments on terraces H2a and H1b were deposited over an antecedent topography of local lava deltas emplaced during rising sea levels at ca. 85 and 65 ka, while terrace H1a established on lava delta substrates of the Mauna Loa volcano ca. 11 ka. We conclude that the initiation, growth and drowning of coral-reef terraces off Hilo differ in some ways from the pattern observed in the submerged terraces in the western side of Hawaii and that the platform evolution off Hilo is more strongly influenced by emplacement of offshore lava flows. © 2015, Elsevier B.V
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    Phasing and amplitude of sea-level and climate change during the penultimate interglacial
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2009-05) Dutton, A; Bard, E; Antonioli, F; Esat, TM; Lambeck, K; McCulloch, MT
    Earth's climate has oscillated between short-lived interglacial and extended glacial periods for the past million years. Before the last interglacial, absolutely dated markers of sea level become increasingly rare; hence, our knowledge of sea-level change driven by the waxing and waning of continental ice sheets before that time is largely based on proxy records from deep-sea cores(1-3) that lack direct age control. Here we present precise U-Th ages for a remarkable collection of submerged speleothems(4,5) from Italy, which record three sea-level highstands during the penultimate interglacial period, Marine Isotope Stage 7, from 245,000 to 190,000 years ago. We find that sea level rose above-18m (relative to modern sea level) several thousand years before maximum Northern Hemisphere insolation during the first and third highstands. In contrast, the second highstand, Marine Isotope Stage 7.3, is essentially synchronous with the insolation maximum, and sea level during this highstand only peaked at about 18 m, even though the concurrent insolation forcing was the strongest of the three highstands. We attribute the different phasing and amplitude of the Marine Isotope Stage 7.3 highstand to the extensive continental glaciation that preceded it. This finding highlights the significance of cryosphere response time to the climate system. © 2009, Nature Publishing Group.
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    Uplift rates defined by U-series and C-14 ages of serpulid-encrusted speleothems from submerged caves near Siracusa, Sicily (Italy)
    (Elsevier, 2009-02) Dutton, A; Scicchitano, G; Monaco, C; Desmarchelier, JM; Antonioli, F; Lambeck, K; Esat, TM; Fifield, LK; McCulloch, MT; Mortimer, GE
    We have established a plausible rate of uplift near Siracusa in southeastern Sicily (Italy) over the last glacial-interglacial cycle using U-series ages of submerged speleothem calcite and C-14 ages of calcite serpulid layers that encrust the speleothems during cave submergence. The precisely determined ages of these sea level benchmarks were compared with expected relative sea level position based on glaciohydro-isostatic modeling to assess the rate of uplift in this region. When combined with the age of various late Holocene archaeological sites that have been recently described and characterized in terms of their functional position relative to sea level these data collectively define a rate of uplift <= 0.4 mm a(-1) along this portion of the Sicilian coastline. These results are consistent with an age assignment of marine isotope stage (MIS) 5.3 or 5.5 for the Akradina terrace. which in turn places temporal constraints on paleoshorelines above and below this level. © 2008, Elsevier Ltd.