- journal_title：Geology
- Contributor：Norbert Frank ; André Freiwald ; Matthias López Correa ; Claudia Wienberg ; Markus Eisele ; Dierk Hebbeln ; David Van Rooij ; Jean-Pierre Henriet ; Christophe Colin ; Tjeerd van Weering ; Henk de Haas ; Pål Buhl-Mortensen ; J. Murray Roberts ; Ben De Mol ; Eric Douville ; Dominique Blamart ; Christine Hatté
- Publisher：Geological Society of America
- Date：2011-
- Format：text/html
- Language：en
- Identifier：10.1130/G31825.1
- journal_abbrev：Geology
- issn：0091-7613
- volume：39
- issue：8
- firstpage：743
- section：Articles
U-series age patterns obtained on reef framework–forming cold-water corals collected over a nearly 6000-km-long continental margin sector, extending from off Mauritania (17°N; northwest Africa) to the southwestern Barents Sea (70°N; northeastern Europe), reveal strong climate influences on the geographical distribution and sustained development of these ecosystems. Over the past three glacial-interglacial cycles, framework-forming cold-water corals (Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata) seem to have predominantly populated reefs, canyons, and patches in the temperate East Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. Above 50°N corals colonize reefs in the northern East Atlantic primarily during warm climate periods with the biogeographic limit advancing from ∼50°N to ∼70°N. We propose that north-south oscillations of the biogeographic limit of reef developments are paced by ice ages and may occur synchronously with north-south displacement of cold nutrient-rich intermediate waters and surface productivity related to changes of the polar front.