Palaeohydrological variation in a tropical river catchment: a reconstruction using fluorescent bands in corals of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

被引:70
作者
Isdale, PJ
Stewart, BJ
Tickle, KS
Lough, JM
机构
[1] Australian Inst Marine Sci, Townsville MC, Qld 4810, Australia
[2] Bur Meteorol, Hydrol Unit, Melbourne, Vic 3001, Australia
[3] Univ Cent Queensland, Dept Math & Comp, Rockhampton MC, Qld 4702, Australia
关键词
palaeohydrology; tropical rivers; runoff; reconstruction; coral fluorescence; Fl Nino; Southern Oscillation; ENSO; Great Barrier Reef; Australia;
D O I
10.1191/095968398670905088
中图分类号
P9 [自然地理学];
学科分类号
0705 ; 070501 ;
摘要
Massive, long-lived corals in inshore waters of the Great Barrier Reef contain yellow-green fluorescent bands. These bands are due to terrestrial humic and fulvic compounds incorporated into the coral skeleton during high river flow events. Fluorescence measurements are presented for two colonies of Porites spp. from locations in the path of the Burdekin River floodwaters - the major river in north Queensland draining into the Coral Sea. The records extend from AD 1737 to 1980 and 1644 to 1986, respectively. The two independent coral records show a high degree of similarity. The two series are combined and used to reconstruct Burdekin River runoff for the period Ao 1644 to 1980. The regression model accounts for 83% of the annual (water year) variability of Burdekin River flow and is verified over independent data. The 337-year reconstruction thus increases by threefold the length of record for considering interannual to decadal climate variations in northeast Australia. Instrumental and reconstructed Burdekin River runoff are closely related to an index of summer monsoon rainfall in Queensland. Thus, the reconstruction provides insights into the behaviour over the past three centuries of both a major tropical river system and the highly variable summer monsoon rainfall in northeast Australia. The reconstructed series shows wetter conditions (higher runoff) in the late-seventeenth to mid-eighteenth centuries and in the late-nineteenth century. Drier conditions (lower runoff) are reconstructed in the late-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries and in the mid-twentieth century.
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页码:1 / 8
页数:8
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