NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - Chalet Caribe Reef - Radiocarbon Data

Measurements of bomb-produced radiocarbon and 210Pb provide concordant estimates of the growth rate of the sclerosponge Ceratoporella nicholsoni collected from the reef slope of northern Jamaica. Radiocarbon measurements of older growth bands in the same specimen are similar to the time history of radiocarbon in coral bands from two sites in the northwestern Atlantic. Furthermore, 210Pb and stable Pb analyses reveal that the sclerosponge incorporates this element at much higher concentrations than corals.