Skeletal Biology

Gordon Research Conferences - Proctor Academy, Andover, New Hampshire, USA

The environmental interpretation of the 13C/12C variations in the skeletons of massive corals is still a matter of debate. A 19-year seasonal skeletal 13C/12C record of a shallow-water Pontes coral from the northern Red Sea (Gulf of Aqaba) documents interannual events of extraordinarily large plankton blooms, indicated by anomalous 13C depletions in the coral skeleton. These blooms are caused by deep vertical water mass mixing, convectively driven in colder winters, which results in increased supplies of nutrients to the surface waters.

Siliceous sponge spicules are present and often diverse in sediments drilled by Ocean Drilling Program Leg 120. The sponge spicule assemblages are tabulated for Holes 748A and 748B. Neogene assemblages consist mostly of monaxons, whereas chelae, amphidiscs, discorhabds, polyaxons, and other spicule morphologies are often abundant in middle Eocene to upper Oligocene sediments.

Psephitic particles in the region of the Iceland-Faeroe-Ridge have been transported and deposited by means of a complex interplay of glacier movements and drifting icebergs. The composition of the particle association is controlled by the sedimentation of basaltic rock particles derived from the ridge itself and, in addition to that and in southern parts of the ridge, from the Faeroe Islands, the Faeroe-Bank and the Bill Baileys-Bank. Besides, there are crystalline and sedimentary dropstones showing a very varied petrography and a wide range of particle sizes.

Gordon Research Conference - Proctor Academy, Andover, New Hampshire, USA

Florence, Italy

Athens Greece

International Bone & Mineral Society - Davos, Switzerland

Sun Valley, Idaho, USA

online PDF document - Marine Biology 152