Cadmium/Calcium and stable isotope ratios of benthic foraminifera from the northeast Atlantic Ocean

The delta13C and Cd measurements from benthic foraminifera from Biogeochemical Ocean Flux Study (BOFS) northeast Atlantic Ocean sediment cores are presented. The delta13C values in glacial foraminifera are consistent with those from elsewhere in the North Atlantic Ocean. For intermediate water (1000 - 2000 m water depth), delta13C values were higher at the last glacial maximum than in present North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW), whereas for deep water (>2000 m) they were lower during the glacial maximum. The Cd concentrations of glacial northeast Atlantic intermediate water were lower than those of present NADW. However, deepwater Cd concentrations increased to values between NADW and present Pacific Deep Water (PDW). The delta13C and Cd data are consistent and show that the northeast Atlantic Ocean was strongly stratified with 13C enriched, low Cd intermediate water overlying 13C depleted, high Cd deep water. The glacial water column comprised two different water masses: deep water, similar in character to present Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), and intermediate water, different in character from both AABW and NADW, and any present intermediate-depth North Atlantic water. The characteristics of glacial intermediate water were, however, similar to present near-surface waters in the North Atlantic, which suggests rapid ventilation of the glacial ocean to depths of up to 2000 m by cold, nutrient-depleted young surface waters.

Benthic foraminifera of cores from ODP Leg 117

The relative abundances of benthic foraminifers from the Oman margin have been analyzed from ODP Sites 725 and 726 near the upper boundary of the oxygen-minimum zone (OMZ) and 728 near the lower boundary. The relative abundance pattern of the benthic foraminiferal species in the two shallow sites show synchronous changes, which, together with variations in the faunal composition, may be attributed to changes in the location of the upper boundary of the OMZ during the last 7 million years. At the deeper site, the relative abundance pattern shows considerable variation in the faunal composition during the last 8 million years. The strong dominance of the shallow-water species Ammonia beccarii during the early Pliocene at Site 728 suggests a water depth less than 400 m during the early Pliocene and subsequent subsidence during the middle and late Pliocene to the present > 1400 m water depth.

Late Miocene-early Pliocene stable isotope record of benthic foraminifera from ODP Site 177-1088 in the sub-Antarctic South Atlantic

Benthic foraminiferal stable isotope records for the past 11 Myr from a recently drilled site in the sub-Antarctic South Atlantic (Site 1088, Ocean Drilling Program Leg 177, 41°S, 15°E, 2082 m water depth) provide, for the first time, a continuous long-term perspective on deep water distribution patterns and Southern Ocean climate change from the late Miocene through the early Pliocene. I have compiled published late Miocene through Pliocene stable isotope records to place the new South Atlantic record in a global framework. Carbon isotope gradients between the North Atlantic, South Atlantic, and Pacific indicate that a nutrient-depleted watermass, probably of North Atlantic origin, reached the sub-Antarctic South Atlantic after 6.6 Ma. By 6.0 Ma the relative proportion of the northern-provenance watermass was similar to today and by the early Pliocene it had increased to greater than the modern proportion suggesting that thermohaline overturn in the Atlantic was relatively strong prior to the early Pliocene interval of inferred climatic warmth. Site 1088 oxygen isotope values display a two-step increase between ~7.4 Ma and 6.9 Ma, a trend that parallels a published delta18O record of a site on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. This is perhaps best explained by a gradual cooling of watermasses that were sinking in the Southern Ocean. I speculate that relatively strong thermohaline overturn at rates comparable to the present day interglacial interval during the latest Miocene may have provided the initial conditions for early Pliocene climatic warmth. The impact of an emerging Central American Seaway on Atlantic-Pacific Ocean upper water exchange may have been felt in the North Atlantic beginning in the latest Miocene between 6.6 and 6.0 Ma, which would be ~1.5 Myr earlier than previously thought.

Planktonic foraminifera, nannofossils and stable isotope record across tghe Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum of ODP Hole 113-690B

The carbonate saturation profile of the oceans shoaled markedly during a transient global warming event known as the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) (circa 55 Ma). The rapid release of large quantities of carbon into the ocean-atmosphere system is believed to have triggered this intense episode of dissolution along with a negative carbon isotope excursion (CIE). The brevity (120-220 kyr) of the PETM reflects the rapid enhancement of negative feedback mechanisms within Earth's exogenic carbon cycle that served the dual function of buffering ocean pH and reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas levels. Detailed study of the PETM stratigraphy from Ocean Drilling Program Site 690 (Weddell Sea) reveals that the CIE recovery period, which postdates the CIE onset by ~80 kyr, is represented by an expanded (~2.5 m thick) interval containing a unique planktic foraminiferal assemblage strongly diluted by coccolithophore carbonate. Collectively, the micropaleontological and sedimentological changes preserved within the CIE recovery interval reflect a transient state when ocean-atmosphere chemistry fostered prolific coccolithophore blooms that suppressed the local lysocline to relatively deeper depths. A prominent peak in the abundance of the clay mineral kaolinite is associated with the CIE recovery interval, indicating that continental weathering/runoff intensified at this time as well (Robert and Kennett, 1994). Such parallel stratigraphic changes are generally consonant with the hypothesis that enhanced continental weathering/runoff and carbonate precipitation helped sequester carbon during the PETM recovery period (e.g., Dickens et al., 1997, doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1997)025<0259:ABOGIT>2.3.CO;2 ; Zachos et al., 2005, doi:10.1126/science.1109004).

Quaternary oxygen isotope record of planktonic foraminifera from ODP Site 805 on the Ontong Java Plateau

The oxygen isotope records of G. sacculifer and Pulleniatina in the uppermost three cores at Ocean Drilling Program Hole 805C span the last 1.6 m.y., an estimate based on Fourier stratigraphy. The last 700,000 yr are dominated by both eccentricity and obliquity-related orbital fluctuations. The range of variation of delta18O values is about 1.5?, of which ca. 75% may be assigned to global ice-volume effect. The remainder of the range is shared by the effects of surface temperature variation, thermocline depth change (in the case of Pulleniatina, especially), and differential dissolution. Before 1 Ma, obliquity-related fluctuations dominate. The transition between obliquity- and eccentricity-dominated time occurs between ca. 1 and 0.7 Ma. It is marked by irregularities in phase relationships, the source of which is not clear. The age of the Brunhes/Matuyama boundary is determined as 794,000 yr by obliquity counting. However, an age of 830,000 yr also is compatible with the counts of both eccentricity and obliquity cycles. In the first case, Stage 19 (which contains the boundary) is coincident with the crest of the 19th obliquity cycle, setting the first crest downcore equal to zero, and counting backward (o19). In the second, Stage 19 coincides with o20. No evidence was found for fluctuations related to precession (23 and 19 k.y.) rising above the noise level, using plain Fourier expansion on the age model of the entire series. Detailed stratigraphic comparison with the Quaternary record of Hole 806B allows the recognition of major dissolution events (which increase the difference in delta18O values of G. sacculifer at the two sites). These occur at Stages 11-13, 16-17, and near 1.5 Ma (below o33).

Planktonic foraminifera of Oligocene sediments from DSDP Hole 77-538A in the Gulf of Mexico

A relatively extended Oligocene pelagic sequence with good to medium recovery, drilled during DSDP Leg 77 in the Gulf of Mexico, yielded rich and well diversified planktonic foraminiferal faunas. Planktonic foraminifera recorded in Hole 538A span the interval from Zone P19 through P22. Evolutionary lineages were observed among the globoquadrinids, the globigerinitids, and the "Globigerina" ciperoensis and Globigerinoides primordius groups. Quantitative analysis of planktonic foraminiferal assemblages shows that faunas fluctuate in abundance and species diversity throughout the sequence. A few of these fluctuations that could be related to selective dissolution are mainly confined to the early-mid Oligocene. A climatic curve was constructed using as warmer indicators, Turborotalia pseudoampliapertura, Globoquadrina tripartita, Dentoglobigerina globularis, Dentoglobigerina baroemoenensis,. "Globigerina" ciperoensis and Globigerinoides groups, and Cassigerinella chipolensis; and as coller indicators, Catapsydrax spp., Globorotaloides spp., Subbotina angiporoides group, Globigerina s. str., and the tenuitellides. Three major intervals are identifiable in the climatic curve: Interval 1 (lower) up to Zone P20 predominantly cooler: Interval 2 (intermediate) up to the upper part of Zone P21a with warm and cool fluctuations: and lnterval 3 (upper), warmer, with a large positive peak, due to abundant "G." angulisuturalis, at the beginning of Zone P21b with recooling midway in Zone P22. In Intervals 1 and 2 planktonic foraminiferal faunas are dominated by temperate forms. Interpretation of planktonic foraminiferal data suggests that cooler water conditions characterize the early-mid Oligocene: during the mid Oligocene (most of Zone P21a) water masses exhibit peculiar characteristics transitional to the warmer waters prevailing during the late Oligocene. Warmer conditions were not definitely settled in Zone P22, however, as indicated by the cooler episode following the warmest peak. These climatic trends are inconsistent with those inferred from oxygen isotopes except at small scale. In fact, oxygen isotope values for Oligocene Atlantic Ocean are too heavy (thus too cool) in comparison with the high abundance and diversity of warm taxa, expecially in Zone P22. When values are lighter (warmer), as in Zone P19 abundance and diversity of warm indices are too low. To explain such a cool isotope values in presence of highly diversified and abundant warm planktonic foraminifera, we suggest (1) that the oxygen isotope ratio used for estimating Oligocene paleotemperatures might be 1? heavier than Eocene values and further increased for the late Oligocene. This hypothesis implies the presence of a relatively extended ice cap in Antarctica in the early and mid Oligocene, and probably an increase in ice volume during the late Oligocenc: (2) heavier isotope values might be related to an increase in salinity, or (3) by a combination of both ice cap and increase in salinity.

Stable oxygen and carbon isotope ratios of Pliocene benthic foraminifera in the Atlantic Ocean

Large changes in benthic foraminiferal delta180 and delta13C occurred during the Pliocene (between 3.0 and 2.0 Ma) at Hole 665A. Oxygen isotopic compositions increased to maximum values at 2.4 Ma, correlating with an 18O enrichment observed at Hole 552A and other locations (Shackleton et al., 1984). As at Hole 606 (Keigwin, 1986), however, maximum delta180 values at 2.4 Ma were not as great as at Hole 552A, and enrichments in delta180 also occurred before 2.4 Ma. We believe that the section representing sediments from 2.5 to 2.7 or 2.8 Ma is missing at Hole 552A because of incomplete core recovery. Consequently, the older delta180 increases are not found at Hole 552A. Benthic foraminiferal delta13C values are much lower at Hole 665A than at Hole 552A, approaching the low values observed in the Pliocene Pacific Ocean. This geographic distribution of delta13C suggests that, like late Quaternary glaciations, the equatorial Atlantic Ocean was dominated during the Pliocene by deep water that originated in the Southern Ocean and had chemical characteristics very similar to the Pacific Ocean. Reduced O2 values were probably associated with low delta13C values and contributed to increased preservation of organic carbon during enriched 180 intervals of the Pliocene equatorial Atlantic.

Stable isotope record, Mg/Ca ratios and age model of St. Stephens Quarry, Alabama

In the largest global cooling event of the Cenozoic Era, between 33.8 and 33.5 Myr ago, warm, high-CO2 conditions gave way to the variable 'icehouse' climates that prevail today. Despite intense study, the history of cooling versus ice-sheet growth and sea-level fall reconstructed from oxygen isotope values in marine sediments at the transition has not been resolved. Here, we analyse oxygen isotopes and Mg/Ca ratios of benthic foraminifera, and integrate the results with the stratigraphic record of sea-level change across the Eocene-Oligocene transition from a continental-shelf site at Saint Stephens Quarry, Alabama. Comparisons with deep-sea (Sites 522 (South Atlantic) and 1218 (Pacific)) d18O and Mg/Ca records enable us to reconstruct temperature, ice-volume and sea-level changes across the climate transition. Our records show that the transition occurred in at least three distinct steps, with an increasing influence of ice volume on the oxygen isotope record as the transition progressed. By the early Oligocene, ice sheets were ~25% larger than present. This growth was associated with a relative sea-level decrease of approximately 105 m, which equates to a 67 m eustatic fall.

Cretaceous planktonic foraminifera of DSDP Hole 71-511

Lower and Upper Cretaceous sediments of the Maurice Ewing Bank, Site 511 (black shales, mudstones, zeolitic clays, and nannofossil chalk and ooze, 361 m thick) are characterized by an assemblage of planktonic foraminifers of low systematic diversity, including over 50 species. Representatives of Hedbergella, Globigerinelloides, Archaeoglobigerina, Whiteinella, Rugoglobigerina, and Heterohelix are predominant; species of Ticinella, Praeglobotruncana, Globotruncana, Schackoina, and Planoglobulina associated with some interbeds occur in smaller numbers. Planktonic foraminifers enable us to subdivide the Cretaceous sediments into Barremian-Aptian, Albian, upper Cenomanian, Turonian, Coniacian-Santonian, Santonian, Campanian, and upper Campanian-Maestrichtian intervals. The Lower Cretaceous (Albian) and Upper Cretaceous (upper Cenomanian-Turonian) are separated by a distinct hiatus and unconformity. In the Upper Cretaceous section, a hiatus may be present at the top of the Campanian. The upper Cenomanian-Santonian sediments are reduced in thickness, whereas the Campanian-Maestrichtian interval is expanded. In the Barremian-Aptian black shales, planktonic foraminifers are very rare: they were deposited in shallow water under anoxic conditions. In the Albian, when sedimentation conditions became oxidizing and the depth increased to 200-400 meters, they became more common. By the end of the Upper Cretaceous, depths appear to increase to 2000 meters. In the interbeds of calcareous sediments, planktonic foraminifers are common; in interbeds of zeolitic clays they are rare or absent (dissolution facies). Alternation of these types of sediments is especially characteristic of the Coniacian-lower Campanian, testifying to abrupt CCD fluctuations. The planktonic foraminifers of the Falkland Plateau belong to the Austral Province of the Southern Hemisphere. In their systematic composition they are extremely similar to microfauna of the Boreal Province of the Northern Hemisphere.

Oxygen isotope composition of benthic and planktonic foraminifera from ODP Holes 146-893A and 167-1017B

The detailed structure and timing of the penultimate deglaciation are insufficiently defined yet critical for understanding mechanisms responsible for abrupt climate change. Here we present oxygen isotope records (from planktonic and benthic foraminifera) at unprecedented resolution encompassing late marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 6 and Termination II (ca. 150-120 ka) from the Santa Barbara Basin, supported by additional southern California margin records, a region highly sensitive to millennial-scale climate oscillations during the last deglaciation. These records reveal millennial- and centennial-scale climate variability throughout the interval, including an interstadial immediately preceding the deglaciation, a brief warm event near the beginning of Termination II, and a Bølling-Allerød-Younger Dryas-like climate oscillation midway through the deglaciation. Recognition of these events in an oxygen isotope record from a 230Th-dated stalagmite allows the adoption of this radiometric chronology for the California margin records. This chronology supports the Milankovitch theory of deglaciation. The suborbital history of climate variability during Termination II may account for records of early deglaciation.

Planktonic foraminifera at DSDP Holes 72-516 and 72-518

Quantitative analysis was performed on the Quaternary planktonic foraminiferal fauna from Site 516, near the crest of the Rio Grande Rise, and Site 518, on the lower western flank of the Rise. From Hole 516, 46 samples were taken, and from Hole 518, 80 samples were taken. The mean interval between samples is 20 to 25 cm. About 50 species of Quaternary and Pliocene planktonic foraminifers were identified. Quaternary sediments, dated by the initial evolutionary appearance of Globorotalia truncatulinoides and other criteria, have thickness, of 9.8 m in Hole 516 and 16 m in Hole 518. The Globorotalia truncatulinoides Zone is subdivided into four subzones or biostratigraphic horizons (from lower to upper): (1) Globorotalia crassaformis viola, (2) Globorotalia crassaformis hessi, (3) Globigerina calida calida, and (4) Globigerinoides ruber (pink). Thickness of these horizons in Hole 516 establishes the age of the boundaries between them as 1.47, 0.81, and 0.28 Ma, respectively. All the Quaternary planktonic foraminiferal complexes sampled are subtropical. The region of the Rio Grande Rise, therefore, has been within the southern subtropical gyre continuously for the last 2 Ma. The average annual surface water temperatures were reconstructed for the Quaternary at both sites. A micropaleontologic method for the paleotemperature analysis of the thanatocoenosis registers an average Quaternary temperature of 21.2°C at Site 516 and 21.7°C at Site 518. The temperature fluctuations increase up to 3.5°C during the accumulation of the two last horizons (since 0.81 Ma). Temperature peaks are tentatively compared with oxygen isotopic stages and with continental glaciations. Levels at which planktonic foraminiferal species disappear correspond to coldwater intervals. In the Quaternary of Site 518, some layers show signs of dissolution. Corrosive to CaCO3, the northward flow of Antarctic Bottom Water through the Vema Channel increases during the cold periods. Site 518 has two layers of redeposited foraminiferal sand with Pliocene foraminifers. The average rate of the Quaternary sedimentation in Hole 516 is 0.52 cm per thousand years, and in Hole 518 it is 0.84 cm per thousand years.

Cenozoic planktonic foraminifera of the Falkland Plateau and Argentine Basin

Sites 511 and 512 (Falkland Plateau) and 513 (Argentine Basin) penetrated calcareous-siliceous oozes of the middle and upper Eocene and lower Oligocene with rather numerous planktonic foraminifers. Upper Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, and Quaternary sections are composed mostly of siliceous sediments (Sites 511-514) where planktonic foraminifers are rare or absent. High-latitude planktonic foraminifers of the Austral Province are characterized by impoverished assemblages - only representatives of Globigerina, Globigerinita, Globorotaloides, and Globorotalia with a rounded peripheral margin are found. In the Paleogene, these species are supplemented, in lesser amounts, by representatives of Globigerapsis, Acarinina, Pseudogloboquadrina, Pseudohastigerina, and Chiloguembelina. Assemblages of planktonic foraminifers have low stratigraphic resolution, especially in the upper Oligocene-Quaternary. This reflects the generally deteriorating Cenozoic climate, which evinced a sharp change in the upper Oligocene that is connected with initiation of the circum-Antarctic current near the Paleogene/Neogene boundary. Comparison of Paleogene and Neogene planktonic foraminifers of the South Atlantic (Falkland Plateau, Argentine Basin, 46-51°S) and the North Atlantic (Rockall Plateau, 55-56°N) indicates that the South Atlantic climate was much colder than that of the same latitudes of the North Atlantic. Paleogene oozes of the Falkland Plateau rest unconf ormably on Maestrichtian sediments and in their turn are overlain unconformably by Neogene-Quaternary oozes. Cenozoic sections are stratigraphically discontinuous: periods of intensive biogenic sedimentation resulting in a thick succession of sediments alternated with periods of nondeposition and strong erosion that resulted in hiatuses and unconformities. In the Argentine Basin, Oligocene calcareous-siliceous oozes rest on basalts of the oceanic basement; they are replaced upward in the section by Neogene-Quaternary siliceous oozes with some hiatuses. Planktonic foraminifers here clearly demonstrate the processes of oceanic subsidence and CCD fluctuations as well as Polar Front migrations during Cenozoic time. Fifty species of planktonic foraminifers are discussed and illustrated.

Stable isotope ratios and abundances of selected foraminifera taxa from ODP Leg 172 sites

This data report describes the results of post-Leg 172 sampling of Sites 1054, 1055, and 1063 for two purposes: to investigate the climatic significance of red-colored intervals in the hemipelagic sediments cored during Leg 172 and to better understand the stratigraphy and chronology of Carolina Slope Sites 1054 and 1055. Gravity cores collected from the Carolina Slope on site survey cruise Knorr 140/2 show very high rates of sedimentation during the Holocene and lower rates during the last glacial maximum (LGM). Because of the high rates, many of the sediments in the recovered cores never reached the LGM. In other cores, it is possible that deglacial oscillations have been mistaken for the LGM. Although radiocarbon dating could solve that problem, some of the gravity cores are at or very close to the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) sites, and it is useful to compare the isotope stratigraphies among them before proceeding with dating. Furthermore, some of the site survey cores have red-colored intervals and others do not, even though there is some indication they are time equivalent. Either the stratigraphy is wrong, diagenesis has affected the color of the sediment, or red sediment is carried to some sites but not to others that differ in depth by only a few hundred meters.