Analytical Artefacts Preclude Reliable Isotope Ratio Measurement of Internal Water in Coral Skeletons

Stefan de Graaf; Hubert B. Vonhof; John J.G. Reijmer; Eline Feenstra; Furu Mienis; Charlotte Prud'Homme; Jens Zinke; Jeroen H.J.L. van der Lubbe; Peter K. Swart; Gerald Haug

doi:10.1111/ggr.12445

Analytical Artefacts Preclude Reliable Isotope Ratio Measurement of Internal Water in Coral Skeletons

Stefan de Graaf^*
, Hubert B. Vonhof
, John J.G. Reijmer
, Eline Feenstra
, Furu Mienis
, Charlotte Prud'Homme
, Jens Zinke
, Jeroen H.J.L. van der Lubbe
, Peter K. Swart
, Gerald Haug

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Internal water in cold-water and tropical coral skeletons was extracted and measured for its oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios. Water was extracted by crushing pieces of coral hard tissue in a percussion device connected to either a cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) system or an isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) system. Despite most samples yielding sufficient water, each analytical system produces distinct isotope patterns. Experiments show that several characteristics specific to biominerals give rise to discrepancies and analytical artefacts that preclude the acquisition of reproducible isotope data. The main complication is that internal water in biogenic carbonates is distributed in an open interconnected micro-network that readily exchanges with external water and potentially facilitates interaction with hydration water in the finely dispersed organic matrix in the coral skeleton. Furthermore, only an isotopically fractionated part of the internal water is released from the coral skeletons upon crushing. Altogether, isotope ratio measurement of internal water in corals with bulk crushing techniques does not give primary fluid isotope ratios useful for (palaeo-)environmental or microbiological studies. As the resulting isotope patterns can show systematic behaviour per technique, isotope data may be erroneously interpreted to reflect the original calcifying fluid when using only a single technique to isotopically characterise internal fluids in coral skeletons.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	563-577
Number of pages	15
Journal	Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research
Volume	46
Issue number	3
Early online date	12 Jun 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/ggr.12445
Publication status	Published - Sept 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We would like to thank the Scientific Shipboard Party of Cruise M95 CICARB for their help in collecting the Santaren Channel CWC‐core. We thank Pierre Antoine (CNRS, UMR8591) for providing the earthworm calcite granules from the Caours sequence. We thank Bouke Lacet (VU Amsterdam) for manufacturing thin sections. Tropical coral core collection support comes from the NWO ALW project CLIMATCH, grant 820.01.009, and the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association through the Marine Science for Management program under grant MASMA/CC/2010/02. We thank the team of SHOALS Rodrigues for their excellent support in fieldwork logistics and in the organisation of the research and CITES permits. We would also like to thank the Rodrigues Assembly and the Mauritius Ministry for Fisheries for granting the research and CITES permits. A Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship and an Honorary Fellowship with the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, supported J. Zinke. Lastly, we are grateful to Suzan Verdegaal, who assisted with the fluid inclusion isotope analyses at the VU Amsterdam. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the International Association of Geoanalysts.

Funding

We would like to thank the Scientific Shipboard Party of Cruise M95 CICARB for their help in collecting the Santaren Channel CWC-core. We thank Pierre Antoine (CNRS, UMR8591) for providing the earthworm calcite granules from the Caours sequence. We thank Bouke Lacet (VU Amsterdam) for manufacturing thin sections. Tropical coral core collection support comes from the NWO ALW project CLIMATCH, grant 820.01.009, and the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association through the Marine Science for Management program under grant MASMA/CC/2010/02. We thank the team of SHOALS Rodrigues for their excellent support in fieldwork logistics and in the organisation of the research and CITES permits. We would also like to thank the Rodrigues Assembly and the Mauritius Ministry for Fisheries for granting the research and CITES permits. A Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship and an Honorary Fellowship with the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, supported J. Zinke. Lastly, we are grateful to Suzan Verdegaal, who assisted with the fluid inclusion isotope analyses at the VU Amsterdam. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. We would like to thank the Scientific Shipboard Party of Cruise M95 CICARB for their help in collecting the Santaren Channel CWC‐core. We thank Pierre Antoine (CNRS, UMR8591) for providing the earthworm calcite granules from the Caours sequence. We thank Bouke Lacet (VU Amsterdam) for manufacturing thin sections. Tropical coral core collection support comes from the NWO ALW project CLIMATCH, grant 820.01.009, and the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association through the Marine Science for Management program under grant MASMA/CC/2010/02. We thank the team of SHOALS Rodrigues for their excellent support in fieldwork logistics and in the organisation of the research and CITES permits. We would also like to thank the Rodrigues Assembly and the Mauritius Ministry for Fisheries for granting the research and CITES permits. A Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship and an Honorary Fellowship with the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, supported J. Zinke. Lastly, we are grateful to Suzan Verdegaal, who assisted with the fluid inclusion isotope analyses at the VU Amsterdam. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

Funders	Funder number
Mauritius Ministry for Fisheries
Santaren Channel CWC-core
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Royal Society
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek	820.01.009
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique	UMR8591
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association	MASMA/CC/2010/02
Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 14 Life Below Water

Keywords

biogenic minerals
corals
CRDS
fluid inclusion water
IRMS
isotope ratio measurement

Access to Document

10.1111/ggr.12445

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Cite this

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title = "Analytical Artefacts Preclude Reliable Isotope Ratio Measurement of Internal Water in Coral Skeletons",

abstract = "Internal water in cold-water and tropical coral skeletons was extracted and measured for its oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios. Water was extracted by crushing pieces of coral hard tissue in a percussion device connected to either a cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) system or an isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) system. Despite most samples yielding sufficient water, each analytical system produces distinct isotope patterns. Experiments show that several characteristics specific to biominerals give rise to discrepancies and analytical artefacts that preclude the acquisition of reproducible isotope data. The main complication is that internal water in biogenic carbonates is distributed in an open interconnected micro-network that readily exchanges with external water and potentially facilitates interaction with hydration water in the finely dispersed organic matrix in the coral skeleton. Furthermore, only an isotopically fractionated part of the internal water is released from the coral skeletons upon crushing. Altogether, isotope ratio measurement of internal water in corals with bulk crushing techniques does not give primary fluid isotope ratios useful for (palaeo-)environmental or microbiological studies. As the resulting isotope patterns can show systematic behaviour per technique, isotope data may be erroneously interpreted to reflect the original calcifying fluid when using only a single technique to isotopically characterise internal fluids in coral skeletons.",

keywords = "biogenic minerals, corals, CRDS, fluid inclusion water, IRMS, isotope ratio measurement",

author = "\{de Graaf\}, Stefan and Vonhof, \{Hubert B.\} and Reijmer, \{John J.G.\} and Eline Feenstra and Furu Mienis and Charlotte Prud'Homme and Jens Zinke and \{van der Lubbe\}, \{Jeroen H.J.L.\} and Swart, \{Peter K.\} and Gerald Haug",

note = "Funding Information: We would like to thank the Scientific Shipboard Party of Cruise M95 CICARB for their help in collecting the Santaren Channel CWC‐core. We thank Pierre Antoine (CNRS, UMR8591) for providing the earthworm calcite granules from the Caours sequence. We thank Bouke Lacet (VU Amsterdam) for manufacturing thin sections. Tropical coral core collection support comes from the NWO ALW project CLIMATCH, grant 820.01.009, and the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association through the Marine Science for Management program under grant MASMA/CC/2010/02. We thank the team of SHOALS Rodrigues for their excellent support in fieldwork logistics and in the organisation of the research and CITES permits. We would also like to thank the Rodrigues Assembly and the Mauritius Ministry for Fisheries for granting the research and CITES permits. A Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship and an Honorary Fellowship with the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, supported J. Zinke. Lastly, we are grateful to Suzan Verdegaal, who assisted with the fluid inclusion isotope analyses at the VU Amsterdam. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Authors. Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research published by John Wiley \& Sons Ltd on behalf of the International Association of Geoanalysts.",

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AU - de Graaf, Stefan

AU - Vonhof, Hubert B.

AU - Reijmer, John J.G.

AU - Feenstra, Eline

AU - Mienis, Furu

AU - Prud'Homme, Charlotte

AU - Zinke, Jens

AU - van der Lubbe, Jeroen H.J.L.

AU - Swart, Peter K.

AU - Haug, Gerald

N1 - Funding Information: We would like to thank the Scientific Shipboard Party of Cruise M95 CICARB for their help in collecting the Santaren Channel CWC‐core. We thank Pierre Antoine (CNRS, UMR8591) for providing the earthworm calcite granules from the Caours sequence. We thank Bouke Lacet (VU Amsterdam) for manufacturing thin sections. Tropical coral core collection support comes from the NWO ALW project CLIMATCH, grant 820.01.009, and the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association through the Marine Science for Management program under grant MASMA/CC/2010/02. We thank the team of SHOALS Rodrigues for their excellent support in fieldwork logistics and in the organisation of the research and CITES permits. We would also like to thank the Rodrigues Assembly and the Mauritius Ministry for Fisheries for granting the research and CITES permits. A Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship and an Honorary Fellowship with the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, supported J. Zinke. Lastly, we are grateful to Suzan Verdegaal, who assisted with the fluid inclusion isotope analyses at the VU Amsterdam. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the International Association of Geoanalysts.

PY - 2022/9

Y1 - 2022/9

N2 - Internal water in cold-water and tropical coral skeletons was extracted and measured for its oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios. Water was extracted by crushing pieces of coral hard tissue in a percussion device connected to either a cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) system or an isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) system. Despite most samples yielding sufficient water, each analytical system produces distinct isotope patterns. Experiments show that several characteristics specific to biominerals give rise to discrepancies and analytical artefacts that preclude the acquisition of reproducible isotope data. The main complication is that internal water in biogenic carbonates is distributed in an open interconnected micro-network that readily exchanges with external water and potentially facilitates interaction with hydration water in the finely dispersed organic matrix in the coral skeleton. Furthermore, only an isotopically fractionated part of the internal water is released from the coral skeletons upon crushing. Altogether, isotope ratio measurement of internal water in corals with bulk crushing techniques does not give primary fluid isotope ratios useful for (palaeo-)environmental or microbiological studies. As the resulting isotope patterns can show systematic behaviour per technique, isotope data may be erroneously interpreted to reflect the original calcifying fluid when using only a single technique to isotopically characterise internal fluids in coral skeletons.

AB - Internal water in cold-water and tropical coral skeletons was extracted and measured for its oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios. Water was extracted by crushing pieces of coral hard tissue in a percussion device connected to either a cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) system or an isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) system. Despite most samples yielding sufficient water, each analytical system produces distinct isotope patterns. Experiments show that several characteristics specific to biominerals give rise to discrepancies and analytical artefacts that preclude the acquisition of reproducible isotope data. The main complication is that internal water in biogenic carbonates is distributed in an open interconnected micro-network that readily exchanges with external water and potentially facilitates interaction with hydration water in the finely dispersed organic matrix in the coral skeleton. Furthermore, only an isotopically fractionated part of the internal water is released from the coral skeletons upon crushing. Altogether, isotope ratio measurement of internal water in corals with bulk crushing techniques does not give primary fluid isotope ratios useful for (palaeo-)environmental or microbiological studies. As the resulting isotope patterns can show systematic behaviour per technique, isotope data may be erroneously interpreted to reflect the original calcifying fluid when using only a single technique to isotopically characterise internal fluids in coral skeletons.

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KW - IRMS

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ER -

Analytical Artefacts Preclude Reliable Isotope Ratio Measurement of Internal Water in Coral Skeletons

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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