Showing papers in "Paleoceanography in 2000"

Phase relationships between millennial-scale events 64,000–24,000 years ago

Abstract: A core recovered on the Iberian margin off southern Portugal can be correlated with Greenland ice cores using oxygen isotope variability in planktonic foraminifera which closely matches the ice core records of temperature over Greenland. Our age model identifies the base of every interstadial between 64,000 and 24,000 years ago and uses the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) timescale. The oxygen isotope signal in benthic foraminifera (on this GRIP-based timescale) is quite different from the planktonic record and resembles the temperature record over Antarctica when this is synchronized with Greenland using the record of methane in the atmospheric air in the polar ice cores. We interpret the benthic record as indicating significant fluctuations in ice volume during millennial events, and we suggest that Antarctic temperature changed as a function of ice volume.

Suppression of El Niño during the Mid‐Holocene by changes in the Earth's orbit

Abstract: A number of recent reports have interpreted paleoproxy data to describe the state of the tropical Pacific, especially changes in the behavior of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), over the Holocene. These interpretations are often contradictory, especially for the eastern tropical Pacific and adjacent areas of South America. Here we suggest a picture of the mid-Holocene tropical Pacific region which reconciles the data. ENSO variability was present throughout the Holocene but underwent a steady increase from the mid-Holocene to the present. In the mid-Holocene, extreme warm El Nino events were smaller in amplitude and occurred less frequently about a mean climate state with a cold eastern equatorial Pacific and largely arid coastal regions as in the present climate. This picture emerges from an experiment in which a simple numerical model of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system in the tropical Pacific was driven by orbital forcing. We suggest that the observed behavior of the tropical Pacific climate over the mid- to late Holocene is largely the response to orbitally driven changes in the seasonal cycle of solar radiation in the tropics, which dominates extratropical influences.

Black shale deposition and faunal overturn in the Devonian Appalachian Basin: Clastic starvation, seasonal water-column mixing, and efficient biolimiting nutrient recycling

Abstract: Integrated geochemical data suggest that black shale deposition in the Devonian Geneseo Formation of western New York was initiated by the coincidence of siliciclastic starvation and the intensification of seasonal water column stratification and mixing. Once established, however, black shale deposition was maintained through efficient recycling of biolimiting nutrients which enhanced primary productivity. Recycling efficiency was achieved through a positive feedback loop of oscillating benthic redox conditions that enhanced N and P regeneration from sediments, sustained high primary productivity by returning nutrients to the photic zone during mixing, and ensured a downward flux of organic matter that drove or enhanced the episodic development of benthic anoxia during stratification. This feedback was ultimately disrupted by rising siliciclastic influx, which diluted organic matter and restored benthic redox stability. The abrupt overturn of diverse, long-standing Appalachian basin marine communities may have been the result of trophic resource destabilization during Geneseo deposition.

Potential links between surging ice sheets, circulation changes, and the Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles in the Irminger Sea, 60-18 kyr

Abstract: Surface and deepwater paleoclimate records in Irminger Sea core SO82-5 (59oN, 31 oW) and Icelandic Sea core PS2644 (68oN, 22oW) exhibit large fluctuations in thermohaline circulation (THC) from 60 to 18 calendar kyr B.P., with a dominant periodicity of 1460 years from 46 to 22 calendar kyr B.P., matching the Dansgaard- Oeschger (D-O) cycles in the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) temperature record (Grootes and $tuiver, 1997). During interstadials, summer sea surface temperatures (SSTsu) in the Irminger Sea averaged to 8oC, and sea surface salinities (SSS) averaged to -36.5, recording a strong Irminger Current and Atlantic THC. During stadials, SSTsu dropped to 2o-4oC, in phase with SSS drops by -1-2. They reveal major meltwater injections along with the East Greenland Current, which turned off the North Atlantic deepwater convection and hence the heat advection to the north, in harmony with various ocean circulation and ice models. On the basis of the IRD composition, icebergs came from Iceland, east Greenland, and perhaps Svalbard and other northern ice sheets. However, the southward drifting icebergs were initially jammed in the Denmark Strait, reaching the Irminger Sea only with a lag of 155-195 years. We also conclude that the abrupt stadial terminations, the D-O warming events, were tied to iceberg melt via abundant seasonal sea ice and brine water formation in the meltwater-covered northwestern North Atlantic. In the 1/1460-year frequency band, benthic 1580 brine water spikes led the temperature maxima above Greenland and in the Irminger Sea by as little as 95 years. Thus abundant brine formation, which was induced by seasonal freezing of large parts of the northwestern Atlantic, may have finally entrained a current of warm surface water from the subtropics and thereby triggered the sudden reactivation of the THC. In summary, the internal dynamics of the east Greenland ice sheet may have formed the ultimate pacemaker of D-O cycles.

Glacial-interglacial variability in denitrification in the World's Oceans: Causes and consequences

Abstract: The late Quaternary history of water-column denitrifcation of the eastern Pacific margins and the Arabian Sea is reconstructed using sedimentary δ15N measurements. The δ15N values in six piston cores raised from these regions show remarkably similar cyclic variations, being heavy (9–10.5‰) during the interglacials and 2–3‰ lighter during the glacials. This implies that denitrification in these regions decreased substantially during the glacial periods. The glacial decline in denitrification is attributed to reduced upwelling and flux of organic material through the oxygen minimum zone. Since water-column denitrification in these areas accounts for about half of the fixed-nitrogen loss in the modern ocean, the inferred decrease in denitrification should have increased the oceanic nitrate inventory during glacial periods. Because nitrate is a limiting nutrient, oceanic productivity and attendant changes in CO2 may therefore have been modulated on glacial-interglacial timescales by variations in the oceanic NO3 content.

Incorporation and preservation of Mg in Globigerinoides sacculifer: implications for reconstructing the temperature and 18O/16O of seawater

Abstract: Using bathymetric transects of surface sediments underlying similar sea surface temperatures but exposed to increasing dissolution, we examined the processes which affect the relationship between foraminiferal Mg/Ca and δ18O. We found that Globigerinoides saccculifer calcifies over a relatively large range of water depth and that this is apparent in their Mg content. On the seafloor, foraminiferal Mg/Ca is substantially altered by dissolution with the degree of alteration increasing with water depth. Selective dissolution of the chamber calcite, formed in surface waters, shifts the shell's bulk Mg/Ca and δ18O toward the chemistries of the secondary crust acquired in colder thermocline waters. The magnitude of this shift depends on both the range of temperatures over which the shell calcified and the degree to which it is subsequently dissolved. In spite of this shift the initial relationship between Mg/Ca and δ18O, determined by their temperature dependence, is maintained. We conclude that paired measurements of δ18O and Mg/Ca can be used for reconstructing δ18Owater, though care must be taken to determine where in the water column the reconstruction applies.

Climatically sensitive eolian and hemipelagic deposition in the Cariaco Basin, Venezuela, over the past 578,000 years: Results from Al/Ti and K/Al

Abstract: Al/Ti and K/Al ratios in bulk sediment are used to interpret wind-blown and hemipelagic sources of deposition to a 578 kyr record in the Cariaco Basin, Venezuela (Ocean Drilling Program site 1002). Graphical and cross-spectral analyses indicate that these ratios vary extremely closely with planktonic foraminiferal δ18O, with both ratios being significantly higher during interglacials and lower during glacials. K/Al indicates that during glacials the lower sea level that results in relative basin isolation increases the relative proportion of kaolinite derived from local rivers draining the relatively humid Venezuelan margin. Al/Ti decreases during glacials, suggesting greater proportions of eolian rutile sourced from the northern Sahara (due to increased wind strength and/or aridity). This interpretation is consistent with previous studies of the chemistry and mineralogy of Saharan-derived eolian matter in the Caribbean and with a mass balance determining the effect of changes in eolian rutile accumulation on the bulk sedimentary Al/Ti ratio.

Pliocene-Pleistocene ice rafting history and cyclicity in the Nordic Seas during the last 3.5 Myr

Abstract: A continuous 3.5 Myr IRD record was produced from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 907. A timescale based on magnetic polarity chrons, oxygen isotope stratigraphy (for the last 1Myr) and orbital tuning was developed. The record documents a stepwise inception of large-scale glacial cycles in the Nordic Seas region, the first being a marked expansion of the Greenland ice sheet at 3.3 Ma. A second step occurred at 2.74 Ma by an expansion of large scale ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere. Ice sheet variability around the Nordic Seas was tightly coupled to global ice volume over the past 3.3 Myr. Between 3 and 1 Ma, most of the variance of the IRD signal is in the 41 kyr band, whereas the last 1 Myr is characterized by stronger 100 kyr variance. The Gamma Ray Porosity Evaluator (GRAPE) density record is closely linked with IRD variations and documents sub orbital variability resembling the late Quaternary Heinrich/Bond cycles.

A coral oxygen isotope record from the northern Red Sea documenting NAO, ENSO, and North Pacific teleconnections on Middle East climate variability since the year 1750

Abstract: A 245-year coral oxygen isotope record from the northern Red Sea (Ras Umm Sidd/Egypt, ∼28°N) in bimonthly resolution is presented. The mean annual coral δ18O signal apparently reflects varying proportions of both sea surface temperature and δ18Oseawater variability. In conjunction with instrumental observations of climate the coral record suggests for interannual and longer timescales that colder periods are accompanied by more arid conditions in the northern Red Sea but increased rainfall in the southeastern Mediterranean, whereas warmer periods are accompanied by decreased rainfall in the latter and less arid conditions in the northern Red Sea. A ∼70-year oscillation of probably North Atlantic origin dominates the coral time series. Interannual to interdecadal variability is correlated with instrumental indices of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and North Pacific climate variability. The results suggest that these modes contributed consistently to Middle East climate variability since at least 1750, preferentially at a period of ∼5.7 years.

Sea ice as the glacial cycles' climate switch: Role of seasonal and orbital forcing

Abstract: A box model of the coupled ocean, atmosphere, sea ice, and land ice climate system is used to study glacial-interglacial oscillations under seasonally and orbitally varying solar forcing. The dominant 100 kyr oscillation in land ice volume has the familiar sawtooth shape of climate proxy records, and to zeroth order, it does not depend on the seasonal and Milankovitch forcing. The sea ice controls, via its albedo and insulating effects, the atmospheric moisture fluxes and precipitation that enable the land ice sheet growth. This control and the rapid growth and melting of the sea ice allow the sea ice to rapidly switch the climate system from a growing ice sheet phase to a retreating ice sheet phase and to shape the oscillation's sawtooth structure. A specific physical mechanism is proposed by which the insolation changes act as a pacemaker, setting the phase of the oscillation by directly controlling summer melting of ice sheets. This mechanism is shown to induce deglaciations during periods of lower summer insolation. Superimposed on the 100 kyr are the linear Milankovitch-forced frequencies of 19, 23, and 41 kyr. The transition from 41 kyr glacial cycles to 100 kyr cycles one million years ago may be explained as being due to the activation of the sea ice switch at that time. This would be the case if sea ice extent was more limited during the warmer climate of the early Pleistocene.

Dansgaard-Oeschger Cycles and the California Current System: Planktonic foraminiferal response to rapid climate change in Santa Barbara Basin, Ocean Drilling Program Hole 893A

Abstract: High-resolution planktonic foraminiferal census data from Santa Barbara Basin (Ocean Drilling Program hole 893A) demonstrate major assemblage switches between 25 and 60 ka that were associated with Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles. Stadials dominated by Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sinistral), and Globigerinoides glutinata suggest a strong subpolar California Current influence, while interstadials marked by abundant N. pachyderma (dextral) and G. bulloides indicate a relative increase in subtropical countercurrent influence. Modern analog technique and transfer function (F-20RSC) temperature reconstructions support δ18O evidence of large rapid (70 years or less) sea surface temperature shifts (3° to 5°C) between stadials and interstadials. Changes in the vertical temperature gradient and water column structure (thermocline depth) are recorded by planktonic faunal oscillations suggest bimodal stability in the organization of North Pacific surface ocean circulation. Santa Barbara Basin surface water demonstrates the rapid response of the California Current System to reorganization of North Pacific atmospheric circulation during rapid climate change. Supporting assemblage data are, available on diskette or via Anonymous FTP from Kosmos.agu.org, Directory APEND (username = anonymous, Password = guest). Diskette may be ordered from American Geophysical Union, 2000 Florida Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20009 or by phone at 800-966-2481; $5.00. Payment must accompany order.

Evidence for stronger El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Events in a Mid-Holocene massive coral

Abstract: We present a 47-year-long record of sea surface temperature (SST) derived from Sr/Ca and U/Ca analysis of a massive Porites coral which grew at ∼ 4150 calendar years before present (B.P.) in Vanuatu (southwest tropical Pacific Ocean). Mean SST is similar in both the modern instrumental record and paleorecord, and both exhibit El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) frequency SST oscillations. However, several strong decadal-frequency cooling events and a marked modulation of the seasonal SST cycle, with power at both ENSO and decadal frequencies, are observed in the paleorecord, which are unprecedented in the modern record.

Duration of S1, the most recent sapropel in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, as indicated by accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon and geochemical evidence

Abstract: Slowly accumulated (<5 cm kyr '1) and rapidly accumulated (5-20 cm kyr -1) sediments have been compared to define the initiation and termnation times of the most recent sapropel (S1) in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The Ba/A1 ratio has been employed as a more persistent index of productivity than Cg. Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating of pelagic foraminifera indicates a maximum duration for increased Ba/A1 levels in S 1 from -9500- 6000 (uncorrected radiocarbon convention years B.P.) in the rapidly accumulated sediments and -9500-5300 years B.P. in the slowly accumulated sediments. This difference is ascribed to bioturbation affecting the slower accumulated S1 sediments. In the two most rapidly accumulated S1 units, from the Adriatic and Aegean Seas, there is a "saddle" of lower values centered on 7500 years B.P. in the Corg and Ba/AI profiles, so that the visual S 1 unit appears as a doublet. Geochemical evidence indicates that this intervening period is best interpreted as an episode of increased ventilation and bottom water oxygenation during the period of sapropel accumulation.

Paleo‐sea surface temperature calculations in the equatorial east Atlantic from Mg/Ca ratios in planktic foraminifera: A comparison to sea surface temperature estimates from U37K′, oxygen isotopes, and foraminiferal transfer function

Abstract: We present two ∼270 kyr paleo-sea surface temperature (SST) records from the Equatorial Divergence and the South Equatorial Current derived from Mg/Ca ratios in the planktic foraminifer Globigerinoides sacculifer. The present study suggests that the magnesium signature of G. sacculifer provides a seasonal SST estimate from the upper ∼50 m of the water column generated during upwelling in austral low-latitude fall/winter. Common to both down-core records is a glacial-interglacial amplitude of ∼3°–3.5°C for the last climatic changes and lower Holocene and glacial oxygen isotope stage 2 temperatures compared with interglacial stage 5.5 and glacial stage 6 temperatures, respectively. The comparison to published SST estimates from alkenones, oxygen isotopes, and foraminiferal transfer function from the same core material pinpoints discrepancies and conformities between methods.

Calibration of stable isotopic data: An enriched δ18O standard used for source gas mixing detection and correction

Abstract: We present empirically based calibrations of our measurements made on a Finnigan MAT252 equipped with a Kiel Device to Vienna Pee Dee belemnite, using an enriched δ18O standard. Calibrations include corrections for biases caused by the differences in isotopic composition of carbonate standards measured on the two parallel extraction lines of the Kiel Device and for decreases in the isotopic difference between the reference and sample gas caused by mixing in the source. After correcting for these biases, the precision of 2200 NBS19 analyses (10–300 µg ) is ±0.07 for δ18O and ±0.03 for δ13C. We have shared our standard enriched in δ18O with 18 laboratories engaged in paleoceanographic research, producing the first large-scale interlaboratory calibrations for this community. Using correction procedures reported here, water mass reconstructions using data produced on multiple mass spectrometers may now be possible with a precision approaching the level necessary to reconstruct temperature-salinity and density variability in the deep ocean.

Ocean thermohaline circulation and sedimentary 231Pa/230Th ratio

Abstract: Holocene sediments from the Atlantic are characterized by 231Pa/230Th ratios below the production ratio of the two radionuclides in the water column (0.093), whereas Holocene sediments from the Southern Ocean have 231Pa/230Th > 0.093. This pattern of 231Pa deficit and excess was ascribed to southward 231Pa export from the Atlantic by the Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC) as Pa is scavenged less efficiently by marine particles and more effectively transported by the THC than Th. The same pattern is observed in deposits of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), which led to a previous contention that the THC strength did not vary markedly through the last glacial termination. Here we embed a description of trace metal scavenging into a zonally averaged, circulation-biogeochemistry ocean model to explore the sensitivity of 231Pa/230Th in Atlantic and Southern Ocean sediments to THC changes. Our results show that the production of biogenic opal (which, unlike other marine particles, poorly fractionates Th and Pa) in the Southern Ocean water column determines the spatial pattern of the sensitivity. Also, 231Pa/230Th increases in the North Atlantic but changes little in the South Atlantic and decreases in the Southern Ocean as THC is reduced. The mean 231Pa/230Th of the whole Atlantic is therefore less sensitive to THC changes than the mean 231Pa/230Th of the North Atlantic. The current uncertainties in Atlantic mean 231Pa/230Th are too large to rule out a twofold reduction of the THC at the LGM. However, the increase in North Atlantic mean 231Pa/230Th simulated in response to a twofold THC reduction is larger than the observed change in the North Atlantic mean 231Pa/230Th from the LGM to Holocene. Comparing this change with the modeled sensitivity of North Atlantic 231Pa/230Th to THC variations indicates that the THC at the LGM could not have been reduced by >30% of its present strength. Experiments of transient THC changes indicate that high-resolution 231Pa/230Th records from North Atlantic sediments could also document thermohaline oscillations on century-to-millennial timescales.

Nitrogen isotope variations in Santa Barbara Basin sediments: Implications for denitrification in the eastern tropical North Pacific during the last 50,000 years

Abstract: Nitrogen isotope variations preserved in Santa Barbara Basin sediments are used to evaluate changes in denitrification in the eastern tropical North Pacific (ETNP) during the last 50,000 years. A significant component of the subsurface waters (∼100–400 m) that presently fill the Santa Barbara Basin is derived from the low-oxygen, denitrifying zone in the ETNP, and the nitrate in these waters has a δ15N value of 8–9‰. During the last glacial, the δ15N values of Santa Barbara Basin sediments were typically 6–7‰, indicating decreased denitrification in the ETNP and a better oxygenated intermediate water mass in the Santa Barbara Basin at this time. This reduced denitrification during the last glacial would have increased the pool of fixed nitrogen and may have contributed to the higher productivity previously reported for various regions of the global ocean during this period. At the onset of deglaciation, sediment δ15N values increase by more than 2‰, indicating increased denitrification in the ETNP. During Younger Dryas time, δ15N values decreased by 3‰ and record a brief return to better ventilated conditions in the subsurface waters of the ETNP. This is followed by an increase in δ15N to over 9‰ at ∼10,000 years ago, indicating intense denitrification at the beginning of the Holocene.

Role of increased marine silica input on paleo-pCO2 levels

Abstract: Changing the supply of silica to the ocean may alter pCO2 levels. The increase in dust delivered to the ocean during glacial times increased the availability of silica for biological uptake. The increased silica levels shifted species composition: Diatom populations increased and coccolith populations decreased. Decreasing the population of coccoliths decreased the flux of calcite to the sediments, which, in turn, lowered pCO2 levels enough to explain the glacial-interglacial pCO2 transition. Furthermore, the contemporary increase in dust delivered to the ocean's mixed layer may be removing significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at present. To set the stage, this silica hypothesis is compared with the iron fertilization and nitrogen fixation hypotheses.

Orbitally Induced Climate and Geochemical Variability Across the Oligocene/Miocene Boundary

Abstract: To assess the influence of orbital-scale variations on late Oligocene to early Miocene climate and ocean chemistry, high-resolution (∼5 kyr) benthic foraminiferal carbon and oxygen isotope and percent coarse fraction time series were constructed for Ocean Drilling Program site 929 on Ceara Rise in the western equatorial Atlantic. These time series exhibit pervasive low- to high-frequency variability across a 5-Myr interval (20.5–25.4 Ma). The records also reveal several large-scale secular variations including two positive (∼1.6‰) oxygen isotope excursions at 22.95 and 21.1 Ma, suggestive of large but brief glacial maxima (Mi-1 and Mi-1a events of Miller et al. [1991]), and a long-term cyclical increase in the carbon isotopic composition of seawater (shift of ∼1.52‰) that reaches a maximum coincident with peak δ18O values at 22.95 Ma. Lower-resolution (∼25 kyr) records constructed from benthic and planktonic foraminifera as well as bulk carbonate at a shallower site on Ceara Rise (site 926) for the period 21.7–24.9 Ma covary with site 929 δ18O values reflecting changes in Antarctic ice-volume. Likewise, covariance among carbon isotopic records of bulk sediment, benthic, and planktonic foraminifera suggest that the low-frequency cycles (∼400 kyr) and long-term increase in δ13C values represent changes in the mean carbon composition of seawater ΣCO2. The time series presented here constitute the longest, most continuous, and highest-resolution records of pre-Pliocene climate and oceanography to date. The site 929 carbon and oxygen isotope power spectra show significant concentrations of variance at ∼400, 100, and 41 kyr, demonstrating that orbitally induced oscillations have been a normal characteristic of the global climate system since at least the Oligocene, including periods of equable climate and times with no apparent Northern Component Water production.

Similar glacial and interglacial export bioproductivity in the Atlantic Sector of the Southern Ocean: Multiproxy evidence and implications for glacial atmospheric CO2

Abstract: We present time series of export productivity proxy data including 230Thex-normalized deposition rates (rain rates) of 10Be, dissolution-corrected biogenic Ba, and biogenic opal as well as authigenic U concentrations which are complemented by rain rates of total (detrital) Fe and sea ice indicating diatom abundances from five sediment cores across the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean covering the past 150,000 years The results suggest that 10Be rain rates and authigenic U concentration cannot serve as quantitative paleoproductivity proxies because they have also been influenced by detrital particle fluxes in the case of 10Be and bulk sedimentation rates (sediment focussing) and deep water oxygenation in the case of U The combined results of the remaining productivity proxies of this study (rain rates of biogenic opal and biogenic Ba in those sections without authigenic U) and other previously published proxy data from the Southern Ocean (231Pa/230Th and nitrogen isotopes) suggest that a combination of sea ice cover, shallow remineralization depth, and stratification of the glacial water column south of the present position of the Antarctic Polar Front and possibly Fe fertilization north of it have been the main controlling factors of export paleoproductivity in the Southern Ocean over the last 150,000 years An overall glacial increase of export paleoproductivity is not supported by the data, implying that bioproductivity variations in the Southern Ocean are unlikely to have contributed to the major glacial atmospheric CO2 drawdown observed in ice cores

Pliocene development of the east‐west hydrographic gradient in the equatorial Pacific

Abstract: Foraminifer count and multispecies isotopic data from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Sites 806 (0°N, 165°E) and 847 (0°N, 95°W) are presented for the last 6.4 m.y. Faunal evidence shows a decline of taxa of Miocene origin between 4.5 and 4.0 Ma at both sites. Prior to this decline, Globoturborotalita species and Neogloboquadrina acostaensis dominated Sites 806 and 847 assemblages, respectively. Globoturborotalitids were not replaced by other thermocline dwellers after 4.2 Ma, which suggests a deepening of the thermocline and thickening of the warm pool at Site 806. At Site 847 in the eastern “cold tongue,” N. acostaensis was gradually replaced by N. dutertrei. After 4.2 Ma, there was also a large increase (from 0.7 to 1.3‰) in the difference between the δ18O values of Globigerinoides sacculifer, a surface dweller, and Neogloboquadrina dutertrei, a seasonal thermocline dweller at Site 847; these data, in conjunction with faunal evidence, suggest that the temperature gradient in the upper photic zone increased significantly, largely because of subsurface cooling. The events in planktonic foraminifer evolution and ecology suggest that between 4.5 and 4.0 Ma a significant step was made toward development of the modern east-west gradient in surface hydrography. The timing of these events suggests that they were related to the closing of the Central American Seaway and subsequent changes in meridional temperature gradients and/or changes in air-sea interactions that modified tropical winds.

Zinc concentrations in benthic foraminifera reflect seawater chemistry

Abstract: We have measured Zn/Ca ratios in two taxa of Holocene-aged benthic foraminifera from throughout the world's oceans. Zn/Ca is controlled by bottom water dissolved Zn concentration and, like Cd/Ca and Ba/Ca, by bottom water saturation state with respect to calcite. Measurements on “live-collected” foraminifera suggest that the saturation effect occurs during growth and is not a postdepositional artifact. Zn/Ca could be a sensitive paleoceanographic tracer because deep water masses have characteristic Zn concentrations that increase about tenfold from the deep North Atlantic to the deep North Pacific. In addition, since Zn/Ca responds to a different range of saturation states than Cd/Ca, the two may be used together to evaluate changes in deep water carbonate ion (CO32−) concentration.

Evaluation of Mg/Ca thermometry in foraminifera: Comparison of experimental results and measurements in nature

Abstract: We studied Mg/Ca in high-Mg, shallow-water benthic foraminifera in culture and in samples from natural environments, in order to evaluate the expression of latitudinal and seasonal temperature variability in Mg/Ca in their tests. We cultured Planoglabratella opercularis (d'Orbigny) and Quinqueloculina yabei Asano under controlled temperature (10°–25°C) and salinity (30–38) conditions. Both species show a linear correlation between Mg/Ca and temperature, but they differ in temperature sensitivity. Salinity does not significantly influence Mg/Ca. In the samples collected in nature, Mg/Ca and seawater temperatures are positively correlated, but there are more complexities than in the records for cultured specimens due to such factors as seasonal fluctuations in temperature. We conclude that Mg/Ca ratios in monospecific benthic foraminiferal samples may be used as a reliable temperature proxy, if the lifetime of the species is taken into account.

Oxygenation history of bottom waters in the Cariaco Basin, Venezuela, over the past 578,000 years: Results from redox‐sensitive metals (Mo, V, Mn, and Fe)

Abstract: We present results from analyses of the redox-sensitive metals Mo, V, Mn, and Fe in sediment recovered from the Cariaco Basin (Ocean Drilling Program Leg 165, site 1002). Results are interpreted in the context of previous studies of δ15N, export production (percent total organic carbon), eolian input, and hemipelagic deposition in the basin. Variations in redox metal ratios over the past ∼578,000 years were compared to variations in δ18O at Milankovitch frequencies and show a strong relationship between glacial-interglacial cycles in sea level, governed by the shallow sills encircling Cariaco Basin, and bottom water oxygen content. During 100 kyr and 41 kyr cyclicity, enrichments of Mo and V occur during highly productive interglacials, indicating bottom water anoxia. During glacials, sediments are less depleted or enriched in Mn and Fe relative to the interglacials, reflecting oxic conditions. During 23 kyr and 19 kyr cyclicity, however, these redox metal patterns are not observed, indicating that the Cariaco Basin responds differently to the higher-frequency climate changes.

On sharp spectral lines in the climate record and the millennial peak

Abstract: The existence of a narrow spectral line in the internal oscillations of the climate system would be a physical discovery of the first order. Thus the appearance of such a spectral peak, with a Q > 20 near 1500 years period, in the physical properties of the Greenland ice core is intriguing (bandwidth less than two cycles in 110,000 years). Apparently similar phenomena exist in some deep sea cores. It is shown, however, that the peak appears at precisely the period predicted as a simple alias of the seasonal cycle inadequately (under the Nyquist criterion) sampled at integer multiples of the common year. If this peak is therefore discounted, climate variability appears, as expected, to be a continuum process in the millennial band. More generally, however, aliasing of high frequencies must be a concern in any core analysis.

Intensification of the Northeast Pacific oxygen minimum zone during the Bölling-Alleröd Warm Period

Abstract: Although climate records from several locations around the world show nearly synchronous and abrupt changes, the nature of the inferred teleconnection is still poorly understood. On the basis of preserved laminations and molybdenum enrichments in open margin sediments we demonstrate that the oxygen content of northeast Pacific waters at 800 m depth during the Bolling-Allerod warm period (15–13 kyr) was greatly reduced. Existing oxygen isotopic records of benthic and planktonic foraminifera suggest that this was probably due to suppressed ventilation at higher latitudes of the North Pacific. Comparison with ventilation records for the North Atlantic indicates an antiphased pattern of convection relative to the North Pacific over the past 22 kyr, perhaps due to variations in water vapor transport across Central America.

Unchanged nitrogen isotopic composition of organic matter in the South China Sea during the last climatic cycle: Global implications

Abstract: The δ15N of surface and down-core sediments spanning the last 20–200 kyr from the entire South China Sea (SCS) ranges only from ∼3.0 to ∼6.5‰, with no correlation with discernible paleoclimatic/oceanographic changes. Detailed profiles of the uppermost sediment column, including fluff samples, indicate a minor diagenetic overprint of 0.3–1.2‰ at the sediment-water interface. The absence of any correlation with reconstructed (glacial-interglacial) changes in primary production, terrigenous input, and/or sea level related basin configuration is attributed to a complete consumption of nitrate during primary production in this marginal basin during at least the last 140,000 years. This, in turn, implies that the δ15N of the nitrate used during primary production remained approximately constant during the last climatic cycle. The proposed scenario infers an unchanged nitrogen isotopic composition of the western Pacific subsurface nitrate between glacial and interglacial stages as well as during terminations and thus constrains proposed changes in the oceanic N inventory.

Climate‐induced variations in productivity and planktonic ecosystem structure from the Younger Dryas to Holocene in the Cariaco Basin, Venezuela

Abstract: A high-resolution molecular organic geochemical study of sediments in the anoxic Cariaco Basin indicates significant changes in primary productivity and planktonic community structure associated with the transition from the Younger Dryas to the Holocene. Variations in climate conditions over the past 12 14C kyr have induced large-scale changes in upwelling intensity, which directly affected levels of primary productivity as reflected in accumulation rates of bulk productivity proxies. Concentrations and accumulation rates of sterol and alkenone biomarkers have been used to identify how productivity changes affected the structure of the planktonic ecosystem. A shift in the dominant primary producer from diatoms (Younger Dryas) to coccolithophores (Holocene) is identified. If productivity and ecosystem variations like those identified in the tropical upwelling zone of the Cariaco Basin region, occur throughout the tropical oceans, they have the potential to affect global climate through perturbations in the biogeochemical cycle of carbon.

El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and decadal-scale climate variability at 10°N in the eastern Pacific from 1893 to 1994: A coral-based reconstruction from Clipperton Atoll

Abstract: We have developed a 101 year (1893–1994) subseasonal oxygen (δ18O) and carbon (δ13C) isotopic time series from Clipperton Atoll in the eastern Pacific using the coral Porites lobata. In agreement with Linsley et al. [1999] we find that seasonal and interannual coral δ18O variability at Clipperton results from variability in both water temperature and salinity. Three new coral time series demonstrate the reproducibility of a secular coral δ18O trend of −0.35‰ since 1910 but show varying δ13C trends. Strong decadal-scale variability in the δ18O record appears related to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) through postulated changes in the strengths of the Equatorial Counter Current and North Equatorial Current. Interannual variability in this coral δ18O record is directly related to the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and isolation of this frequency band indicates reduced ENSO variability in the eastern equatorial Pacific in the period 1925 to ∼1940, in agreement with instrumental and other Pacific coral records.

North Atlantic Intermediate to Deep Water circulation and chemical stratification during the past 1 Myr

Abstract: Benthic foraminiferal carbon isotope records from a suite of drill sites in the North Atlantic are used to trace variations in the relative strengths of Lower North Atlantic Deep Water (LNADW), Upper North Atlantic Deep Water (UNADW), and Southern Ocean Water (SOW) over the past 1 Myr. During glacial intervals, significant increases in intermediate-to-deep δ13C gradients (commonly reaching >1.2‰) are consistent with changes in deep water circulation and associated chemical stratification. Bathymetric δ13C gradients covary with benthic foraminiferal δ18O and covary inversely with Vostok CO2, in agreement with chemical stratification as a driver of atmospheric CO2 changes. Three deep circulation indices based on δ13C show a phasing similar to North Atlantic sea surface temperatures, consistent with a Northern Hemisphere control of NADW/SOW variations. However, lags in the precession band indicate that factors other than deep water circulation control ice volume variations at least in this band.