Barnacle-rich facies as a tool for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions

Palaeoenvironmental data are fundamental in determining the manifold impacts of climate change. This paper argues that sessile barnacles are an excellent palaeoenvironmental proxy: they are present in nearly all nearshore environments, and their shell consists of diagenetically stable low-magnesium calcite and grows fast enough to record short-term variations. To demonstrate their utility, specimens from several Western Mediterranean Pliocene and Pleistocene barnacle-rich deposits are analysed herein, using for the first time a combination of sedimentology, taphonomy, stable isotope geochemistry and detailed comparisons with modern counterparts. Within shelf carbonate systems, barnacle diversity is highest in the shallow, nearshore waters and decreases moving offshore, thus providing a good proxy for the reconstruction of water depth and distance from the coastline. Barnacle taphonomy is also informative. Well-preserved complete specimens are characteristic of protected areas, whereas less well-preserved specimens occur in high-energy areas. The presence/absence of opercular plates is also particularly relevant for evaluating hydrodynamic conditions. As regards the C and O stable isotope ratios, due to the porous and coarse-grained nature of the deposits in which barnacle remains are usually found, the shells are often exposed to meteoric water percolation during diagenesis. Among the analysed specimens, only those collected from fine-grained deposits display no evidence of alteration and have isotopic ratios in line with those of their modern counterparts. These fossils display intra-shell variations that in modern barnacles have been related to short-term environmental changes (e.g., seasonal cycles). These results demonstrate that barnacles can always be useful for detailed palaeoenvironmental reconstructions based on skeletal assemblages. Furthermore, with further research aimed at gathering more data and assessing potentially interfering signals, they could become useful proxies for palaeoseasonality.