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Postglacial carbonate production by cold-water corals on the Norwegian Shelf and their role in the global carbonate budget

¹ Department of Geology, University of Tromsø, 9037 Tromsø, Norway

Cold-water coral reefs have been neglected in calculations of global carbonate production. We present the first calculations of the amount of CaCO₃ produced by cold-water corals on the Norwegian Shelf in postglacial time, showing that the reef-building Lophelia pertusa in Norwegian waters contributes 54–188 g/m²/ yr locally, or 0.03–0.38 g/m²/yr averaged over the entire shelf. These estimates indicate that cold-water reef CaCO₃ flux is 4%– 12% of the tropical reefs. A first tentative global estimate indicates that cold-water coral CaCO₃ production could add >1% to the total marine CaCO₃ production. The spatial and temporal evolution of cold-water reefs, and thus their influence on atmospheric CO₂, is difficult to reconstruct, but factors that dominantly influence the rate of coral growth include sea-level and oceanographic changes, submarine slides, and anthropogenic activity. The results show that other shelf and slope environments should be assessed in a similar manner to further constrain and evaluate the global CaCO₃ production by cold-water corals and their possible contribution to the CaCO₃ budget.

Key Words: cold-water coral reefs • carbonate production • Holocene • Norwegian Shelf