Weerabaddana M.MDeLong K.LWagner A.JLoke D.W.YKilbourne K.HSlowey NHu H.-MCHUAN-CHOU SHEN2022-04-252022-04-2520210025326Xhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85116054053&doi=10.1016%2fj.marpolbul.2021.112930&partnerID=40&md5=92eeacbb69694d94364f15300c69019ehttps://scholars.lib.ntu.edu.tw/handle/123456789/606209Coral Ba/Ca is a proxy for seawater barium concentration that varies with upwelling, terrigenous input, and marine productivity whereas coral Sr/Ca varies with temperature. We examine monthly coral Ba/Ca and Sr/Ca before and during offshore oil exploration in a Siderastrea siderea coral from West Flower Garden Bank located on the continental shelf edge in the Gulf of Mexico. Coral Ba/Ca variations lack pulses driven by upwelling or river outflow and are not in sync with coral Sr/Ca that exhibit a different seasonal pattern. Seasonal variations in chlorophyll-a concentration negatively correlate with coral Ba/Ca explaining 25% of that variability. A significant increase in mean coral Ba/Ca of 1.76 μmol/mol between 1931–1944 and 1976–2004 corresponds to the increase in the United States barite production and consumption primarily used in offshore oil drilling, which escalated in the 1970s, suggesting oil drilling operations are increasing seawater Ba concentration in the Gulf of Mexico. ? 2021 The AuthorsBariteCoral Ba/CaCoral Sr/CaDrilling mudFlower Garden BanksProductivityBariumInfill drillingOffshore drillingOffshore oil well productionOffshore oil wellsSeawaterBarium concentrationsContinental shelfsCoral ba/caCoral sr/caFlower garden bankGulf of MexicoMarine productivityOffshore oil explorationShelf edgesTerrigenous inputsbariumcalciumchlorophyllstrontiumsea waterbaritechlorophyll acoralmarine pollutionmudseasonal variationArticleconcentration (parameter)environmental temperaturegeochemistrygeographic distributioninductively coupled plasma mass spectrometrymeasurement accuracymeasurement precisionnonhumanoffshore oil industryreproducibilitySiderastrea sidereaanimalAnthozoacoral reefriverAtlantic OceanUnited StatesAnimalsCoral ReefsRivers[SDGs]SDG13[SDGs]SDG14journal article10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112930345925032-s2.0-85116054053