Matos, LeliaWienberg, ClaudiaTitschack, JuergenSchmiedl, GerhardFrank, NorbertAbrantes, FatimaCunha, Marina R.Hebbeln, Dierk2019-11-202019-11-202017-100025-32271872-6151http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/12975Coral mounds formed by framework-forming scleractinian cold-water corals (CWC; mainly Lopheliapertusa) are a common seabed feature along the Atlantic continental margins. While coral mound areas in the NE Atlantic reveal a climate-dependent temporal pattern of CWC occurrence and mound aggradation that is related to distinct environmental conditions (e.g., productivity, water mass properties, hydrodynamics), the long-term development of CWC and coral mounds at the western side of the Atlantic is less well documented and understood. Here, we present a 260-kyr coral record from the recently described Campeche CWC province in the southern Gulf of Mexico, combined with a reconstruction of the paleo-environmental conditions for the last 140 kyr. Uranium-series dating of 26 coral samples reveals that CWC growth predominantly coincided with interglacial periods. Highest vertical mound aggradation rates of 34 to 40 cm kyr(-1) occurred during the Holocene. The reduced occurrence of CWC and the concurrent almost complete stagnation in mound aggradation during glacial periods could be linked to a diminished presence of Antarctic Intermediate Water at those intermediate depths in which the coral mounds occur. Such setting would have caused a less dynamic bottom current regime resulting in a reduced food supply to the CWC along the Campeche Bank.engDeep-Sea coralsRecent benthic foraminiferaCovered carbonate moundNe Atlantic-OceanNortheast AtlanticPorcupine seabightGrowth historyBoundary-conditionsContinental-marginLophelia-pertusajournal article10.1016/j.margeo.2017.08.012