Dataset: Modern deep-sea coral (Desmophyllum dianthus) nitrogen isotopes
Deployment: DeepSeaCoralNitrogen_corals

Deep-sea coral (Desmophyllum dianthus) nitrogen isotope data

Principal Investigator:

Maria Prokopenko (Pomona College, Pomona)

Co-Principal Investigator:

Daniel M. Sigman (Princeton University)

Contact:

Xingchen Wang (California Institute of Technology, Caltech)

BCO-DMO Data Manager:

Amber D. York (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI BCO-DMO)

Project:

Nitrogen isotopic (d15N) composition of carbonate-bound organic nitrogen in Deep Sea Corals: A new, high resolution proxy for N cycle studies (DeepSeaCoralNitrogen)

Data URL:

https://osprey.bco-dmo.org/dataset-deployment/710959/data

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Description

This dataset contains d15N isotope data and nitrogen content from scleractinian coral (Desmophyllum dianthus) samples obtained from various specimen collections. The original coral samples were collected at a variety of sites worldwide between 1961 and 2009. Coral age from radiocarbon dating and Uranium-Thorium dating, sample depth, latitude, and longitude are also included.

These data were published as supplemental table S1 in:

Wang, X. T., Prokopenko, M. G., Sigman, D. M., Adkins, J. F., Robinson, L. F., Ren, H., ... & Haug, G. H. (2014). Isotopic composition of carbonate-bound organic nitrogen in deep-sea scleractinian corals: A new window into past biogeochemical change. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 400, 243-250. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2014.05.048

Methods & Sampling

Dataset acquisition description

Nitrogen isotopes were generated using the persulfate oxidation and denitrified method in the Sigman Lab at Princeton University. The precision of this method is 0.2 permil (d15N vs. air)].

For the Smithsonian samples, we chose only those specimens that had a clear boundary visible on the outer surface of the coral cup between the part which had been covered by the coral tissue vs. the part exposed to seawater. This feature indicates the corals were modern/near modern samples.

For more methodology details see Wang et al. 2014.

Data Processing Description

Dataset Processing Description

These data are raw nitrogen isotope data generated in the Sigman Lab at Princeton University.

The standard deviations were calculated from replicates or triplicates from one specimen, not the analytical error.

BCO-DMO Data Manager Processing Notes:
* added a conventional header with dataset name, PI name, version date
* modified parameter names to conform with BCO-DMO naming conventions
* blank values replaced with no data value 'nd'

More information about this dataset deployment

Funding

Award Number	Funding Source
OCE-1234664	NSF Division of Ocean Sciences

Instruments

Gas Chromatograph

Supplied Name: Gas chromatography

Supplied Description:

Instrument Type

Generic Name: Gas Chromatograph

Community Identifier: http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L05/current/LAB02/

Generic Description:

Instrument separating gases, volatile substances, or substances dissolved in a volatile solvent by transporting an inert gas through a column packed with a sorbent to a detector for assay. (from SeaDataNet, BODC)

Isotope-ratio Mass Spectrometer

Supplied Name: isotope ratio mass spectrometry

Supplied Description:

Instrument Type

Generic Name: Isotope-ratio Mass Spectrometer

Acronym: IR Mass Spec; IRMS

Community Identifier: http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L05/current/LAB16/

Generic Description:

The Isotope-ratio Mass Spectrometer is a particular type of mass spectrometer used to measure the relative abundance of isotopes in a given sample (e.g. VG Prism II Isotope Ratio Mass-Spectrometer).

Parameters

Supplied Name	Supplied description	Supplied Units	Standard Name
catalog_num	Catalog number used in museum or lab specified as the source	unitless	sample_descrip
source	Source of coral sample; museum or name of collection owner	unitless	sample_descrip
sci_name	Coral scientific name	unitless	species
year_collected	Year or range of years of sample collection	unitless	sample_descrip
age	Coral age	years	age
ocean_region	Ocean region where sample was collected	unitless	region
lat	Latitude of sample collection	decimal degrees	lat
lon	Longitude of sample collection	decimal degrees	lon
depth	Depth of sample collecction	meters	depth
d15N	d15N (ratio of stable isotopes 15N:14N)	dimensionless	d15N
d15N_sd	Standard deviation of d15N; Calculated from replicates or triplicates from one specimen	dimensionless	d15N
N_content	Total nitrogen content in coral skeleton	micromoles N per gram carbonate (umol/g)	N
N_content_sd	Total nitrogen content in coral skeleton	micromoles N per gram carbonate (umol/g)	N

Database

Contribute Data

Dataset: Modern deep-sea coral (Desmophyllum dianthus) nitrogen isotopes
Deployment: DeepSeaCoralNitrogen_corals

Dataset acquisition description

Dataset Processing Description

Database

Contribute Data

Dataset: Modern deep-sea coral (Desmophyllum dianthus) nitrogen isotopesDeployment: DeepSeaCoralNitrogen_corals

Dataset acquisition description

Dataset Processing Description

Dataset: Modern deep-sea coral (Desmophyllum dianthus) nitrogen isotopes
Deployment: DeepSeaCoralNitrogen_corals