For the first time, a team of researchers from Australia has uncovered the history of climate change revolts on the Great Barrier Reef over the past eight thousand years.
Led Queensland University dr. Marcos Salas-Savetra, the research team studied rare earth elements in drilled reef cores. It reveals a deep history of wild weather.
Eight thousand years ago, the intense flow of the Indo-Australian summer monsoon affected water quality in the South Seas.. The water in the GBR is extremely dirty, and poor water quality is known to be a major cause of rockfall worldwide..
dr. Marcos Salas-Chavedra, graduate, University of Queensland
Salas-Chavedra continued, “But 1,000 years later, the monsoon has receded and water quality has improved tremendously.. We saw a decline in water quality during the southwest El Niோo wet frequency, which may have led to more La Nina-dominated wet weather in Queensland – similar to the weather we saw in Queensland this year.. “
“But with the formation of an El Nio-dominated weather pattern, the water quality of the Southern Great Barrier Reef has improved again, giving us the beautiful rocks we know and love.“Salas-Chavedra added.
This new data will help scientists understand for the first time what water quality on the Great Barrier Reef has been like for a long time.
According to Professor Gregory Webb, this research provides new and unique polyclimate data not only for the Great Barrier Reef but also for reefs around the world.
Learning more about how the Great Barrier Reef has responded to environmental changes in the past will help us better manage coral reefs in the future.. We have developed a set of tools to understand subtle differences in water quality – even on coastal reefs..
Gregory Webb, Professor, University of Queensland
Webb added, “Importantly, this type of analysis helps to examine how ancient water quality has affected coral growth rates, overall reef growth rates, and changes in rock ecosystems at the same time.. “
Reef cores were recovered from the Heron and One Tree reefs by UQ’s research vessel Dorothy Hill before exploring the cores at UQ’s Professor Zion Zhao’s radiogenic isotope facility.
Rocks formed by microorganisms – Analysis focuses on rare earth elements preserved in microorganisms. This is on the rise in the history of the Great Barrier Reef.
The study was conducted as part of an ARC-funded consortium between UQ (Professors Gregory Webb and Jianxin Zhao), the University of Sydney (Professor Jody Webster) and Queensland University of Technology (Dr. Luke Notreft).
Pers conference:
Salas-Chavedra, M., And others. (2022) Geochemical Records of Holocene Microbes >6000 Years of Secular Impact of Terrible Fluxes on Water Quality for the Southern Great Barrier Reef. Chemical Geography. doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2022.120871.
Source: https://www.uq.edu.au/
–
