Thesis (M.S.)--University of Maryland, College Park, 2018
Includes bibliographical references
Standard methods of reconstructing past sea surface temperatures with coral skeletal Sr/Ca ratios assume that the seawater Sr/Ca ratio is constant. However, data to support this assumption are sparse in coral reef environments, in part because analytical techniques capable of determining seawater Sr/Ca with sufficient accuracy and precision are time-consuming and not widely available. This work presents a new method to measure seawater Sr/Ca based on inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry that can be easily adopted by many coral paleothermometry laboratories. The work also presents a spatially gridded study of summer and winter seawater Sr/Ca from the middle Florida Keys Reef Tract. The results indicate that seawater Sr/Ca in nearshore waters influenced by the Florida Bay varies by ∼0.1 mmol/mol. The observed variation could lead to errors of ∼2°C in temperature reconstructions and suggests that corals growing in waters influenced by Florida Bay are less suited for paleoclimate studies
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest, 2019
