Paleoenvironmental reconstruction through geochemical analysis of long-lived bivalve shells (Mercenaria stimpsoni)

Unlike the tropical to subtropical areas where reef-building corals are distributed, high latitude paleoenvironmental records with high temporal resolution over the past centuries are scarce. Long-living bivalve shells can be a good candidate for paleoenvironmental recorders. In such a situation, it...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inFossils Vol. 111; pp. 5 - 16
Main Author Kubota, Kaoru
Format Journal Article
LanguageJapanese
Published Palaeontological Society of Japan 31.03.2022
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

Loading…
More Information
Summary:Unlike the tropical to subtropical areas where reef-building corals are distributed, high latitude paleoenvironmental records with high temporal resolution over the past centuries are scarce. Long-living bivalve shells can be a good candidate for paleoenvironmental recorders. In such a situation, it has recently been revealed that modern cold-water bivalve Mercenaria stimpsoni (Stimpson's hard clam) living in shallow seafloors of North Japan have a lifespan of over 100 years. In this review, details of sclerochronological analysis and analytical procedures oxygen stable isotope and radiocarbon measurements of M. stimpsoni shells collected from shallow seafloors of Funakoshi Bay and Otsuchi Bay are described. Then, ecological (e.g., shell growth patterns) and paleoenvironmental (e.g., oceanic currents, tsunamis) findings that were obtained through these analyses are described.
ISSN:0022-9202
2424-2632
DOI:10.14825/kaseki.111.0_5