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20,000 days in the life of a giant clam reveal late Miocene tropical climate variability

20,000 days in the life of a giant clam reveal late Miocene tropical climate variability
20,000 days in the life of a giant clam reveal late Miocene tropical climate variability
Giant clams (Tridacna) are well-suited archives for studying past climates at (sub-)seasonal timescales, even in ‘deep-time’ due to their high preservation potential. They are fast growing (mm-cm/year), live several decades and build large aragonitic shells with seasonal to daily growth increments. Here we present a multi-proxy record of a late Miocene Tridacna that grew on the western margin of the Makassar Strait (Indonesia). By analysing daily elemental cycle lengths using our recently developed Python script Daydacna, we build an internal age model, which indicates that our record spans 20,916 ± 1220 days (2 SD), i.e. ∼57 ± 3 years. Our temporally resolved dataset of elemental ratios (El/Ca at sub-daily resolution) and stable oxygen and carbon isotopes (δ18O and δ13C at seasonal to weekly resolution) was complemented by dual clumped isotope measurements, which reveal that the shell grew in isotopic equilibrium with seawater. The corresponding Δ47 value yields a temperature of 27.9 ± 2.4 °C (2 SE) from which we calculate a mean oxygen isotopic composition of late Miocene tropical seawater of −0.43 ± 0.50 ‰. In our multi-decadal high temporal resolution records, we found multi-annual, seasonal and daily cycles as well as multi-day extreme weather events. We hypothesise that the multi-annual cycles (slightly above three years) might reflect global climate phenomena like ENSO, with the more clearly preserved yearly cycles indicating regional changes of water inflow into the reef, which together impact the local isotopic composition of water, temperature and nutrient availability. In addition, our chronology indicates that twice a year a rainy and cloudy season, presumably related to the passing of the ITCZ, affected light availability and primary productivity in the reef, reflected in decreased shell growth rates. Finally, we find irregularly occurring extreme weather events likely connected to heavy precipitation events that led to increased runoff, high turbidity, and possibly reduced temperatures in the reef.
(Sub-seasonal) palaeoclimate reconstruction, Dual clumped isotopes, Elemental ratio analysis via LA-ICPMS, ENSO, Internal age model, Sub-daily resolution
0031-0182
Arndt, Iris
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Bernecker, Miguel
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Erhardt, Tobias
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Evans, David
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Fiebig, Jens
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Fursman, Maximilian
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Kniest, Jorit
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Renema, Willem
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Schlidt, Vanessa
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Staudigel, Philip
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Voigt, Silke
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Müller, Wolfgang
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Arndt, Iris
ad2fc17a-1f31-4abe-a6ce-9af2a8282ecd
Bernecker, Miguel
3b1cccb6-2fbb-4467-b335-28b019e8f285
Erhardt, Tobias
c05cf564-91b5-4b37-b674-ad08f866fc61
Evans, David
878c65c7-eab9-4362-896b-166e165eb94b
Fiebig, Jens
2002fcc6-8c97-4f72-9f07-76efa9bd89ee
Fursman, Maximilian
fc97cefc-1abc-452f-8170-41c338db3db7
Kniest, Jorit
eb0b180d-ec5e-4051-b602-36c19bc74b09
Renema, Willem
735cca3b-96d5-47e6-8411-d607520afa78
Schlidt, Vanessa
6366019f-53d8-4cf3-bb79-8f73d7c29fe4
Staudigel, Philip
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Voigt, Silke
5a9a2192-017e-44f8-ac46-ef545a3b5237
Müller, Wolfgang
360a71f7-0b47-4ff3-8c32-1912d70401aa

Arndt, Iris, Bernecker, Miguel, Erhardt, Tobias, Evans, David, Fiebig, Jens, Fursman, Maximilian, Kniest, Jorit, Renema, Willem, Schlidt, Vanessa, Staudigel, Philip, Voigt, Silke and Müller, Wolfgang (2025) 20,000 days in the life of a giant clam reveal late Miocene tropical climate variability. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 661, [112711]. (doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2024.112711).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Giant clams (Tridacna) are well-suited archives for studying past climates at (sub-)seasonal timescales, even in ‘deep-time’ due to their high preservation potential. They are fast growing (mm-cm/year), live several decades and build large aragonitic shells with seasonal to daily growth increments. Here we present a multi-proxy record of a late Miocene Tridacna that grew on the western margin of the Makassar Strait (Indonesia). By analysing daily elemental cycle lengths using our recently developed Python script Daydacna, we build an internal age model, which indicates that our record spans 20,916 ± 1220 days (2 SD), i.e. ∼57 ± 3 years. Our temporally resolved dataset of elemental ratios (El/Ca at sub-daily resolution) and stable oxygen and carbon isotopes (δ18O and δ13C at seasonal to weekly resolution) was complemented by dual clumped isotope measurements, which reveal that the shell grew in isotopic equilibrium with seawater. The corresponding Δ47 value yields a temperature of 27.9 ± 2.4 °C (2 SE) from which we calculate a mean oxygen isotopic composition of late Miocene tropical seawater of −0.43 ± 0.50 ‰. In our multi-decadal high temporal resolution records, we found multi-annual, seasonal and daily cycles as well as multi-day extreme weather events. We hypothesise that the multi-annual cycles (slightly above three years) might reflect global climate phenomena like ENSO, with the more clearly preserved yearly cycles indicating regional changes of water inflow into the reef, which together impact the local isotopic composition of water, temperature and nutrient availability. In addition, our chronology indicates that twice a year a rainy and cloudy season, presumably related to the passing of the ITCZ, affected light availability and primary productivity in the reef, reflected in decreased shell growth rates. Finally, we find irregularly occurring extreme weather events likely connected to heavy precipitation events that led to increased runoff, high turbidity, and possibly reduced temperatures in the reef.

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Accepted/In Press date: 30 December 2024
e-pub ahead of print date: 2 January 2025
Published date: 11 January 2025
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Authors
Keywords: (Sub-seasonal) palaeoclimate reconstruction, Dual clumped isotopes, Elemental ratio analysis via LA-ICPMS, ENSO, Internal age model, Sub-daily resolution

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 502309
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/502309
ISSN: 0031-0182
PURE UUID: 888b6fa5-7991-4fea-9706-9293160d5ac2
ORCID for David Evans: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8685-671X

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Date deposited: 23 Jun 2025 16:30
Last modified: 22 Aug 2025 02:38

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Contributors

Author: Iris Arndt
Author: Miguel Bernecker
Author: Tobias Erhardt
Author: David Evans ORCID iD
Author: Jens Fiebig
Author: Maximilian Fursman
Author: Jorit Kniest
Author: Willem Renema
Author: Vanessa Schlidt
Author: Philip Staudigel
Author: Silke Voigt
Author: Wolfgang Müller

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