Magnesium/calcium and stable isotope ratios of planktonic foraminifera from the Timor Sea

We present sea surface and upper thermocline temperature records (60-100 yr temporal resolution) spanning Marine Isotope Stage 3 (~24-62 kyr BP) from IMAGES Core MD01-2378 (121°47.27'E and 13°04.95'S; 1783 m water depth) located in the outflow area of the Indonesian Throughflow within the Timor Sea. Stable isotopes and Mg/Ca of the near surface dwelling planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides ruber (white) and the upper thermocline dwelling Pulleniatina obliquiloculata reveal rapid changes in the thermal structure of the upper ocean during Heinrich Events. Thermocline warming and increased delta18Oseawater (P. obliquiloculata record) during Heinrich Events 3, 4, and 5 reflect weakening of the relatively cool and fresh thermocline flow and reduced export of less saline water from the North Pacific and Indonesian Seas to the tropical Indian Ocean. Three main factors influenced Indonesian Throughflow variability during Marine Isotope Stage 3: (1) global slow-down in thermohaline circulation during Heinrich Events triggered by northern hemisphere cooling; (2) increased freshwater export from the Java Sea into the Indonesian Throughflow controlled by rising sea level from ~60 to 47 ka and (3) insolation related changes in Australasian monsoon with associated migration of hydrological fronts between Indian Ocean and Indonesian Throughflow derived water masses at ~46-40 ka.

Oxygen and carbon isotopic composition in Eocene and Oligocene planktonic and benthic foraminifera from DSDP sediments

Oxygen and carbon isotope ratios in Eocene and Oligocene planktonic and benthic foraminifera have been investigated from Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Ocean locations. The major changes in Eocene-Oligocene benthic foraminiferal oxygen isotopes were enrichment of up to 1 per mil in 18O associated with the middle/late Eocene boundary and the Eocene/Oligocene boundary at locations which range from 1- to 4-km paleodepth. Although the synchronous Eocene-Oligocene 18O enrichment began in the latest Eocene, most of the change occurred in the earliest Oligocene. The earliest Oligocene enrichment in 18O is always larger in benthic foraminifera than in surface-dwelling planktonic foraminifera, a condition that indicates a combination of deep-water cooling and increased ice volume. Planktonic foraminiferal d18O does not increase across the middle/late Eocene boundary at our one site with the most complete record (Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 363, Walvis Ridge). This pattern suggests that benthic foraminiferal d18O increased 40 m.y. ago because of increased density of deep waters, probably as a result of cooling, although glaciation cannot be ruled out without more data. Stable isotope data are averaged for late Eocene and earliest Oligocene time intervals to evaluate paleoceanographic change. Average d18O of benthic foraminifera increased by 0.64 per mil from the late Eocene to the early Oligocene d18O maximum, whereas the average increase for planktonic foraminifera was 0.52 per mil. This similarity suggests that the Eocene/Oligocene boundary d18O increase was caused primarily by increased continental glaciation, coupled with deep sea cooling by as much as 2°C at some sites. Average d18O of surface-dwelling planktonic foraminifera from 14 upper Eocene and 17 lower Oligocene locations, when plotted versus paleo-latitude, reveals no change in the latitudinal d18O gradient. The Oligocene data are offset by ~0.45 per mil, also believed to reflect increased continental glaciation. At present, there are too few deep sea sequences from high latitude locations to resolve an increase in the oceanic temperature gradient from Eocene to Oligocene time using oxygen isotopes.

Stable carbon and oxygen isotope record of planktonic and benthic foraminifera at ODP Site 111-677 in the Panama Basin

Oxygen and carbon isotope ratio measurements are presented for Globigerinoides ruber and for benthic species (mainly Uvigerina spp.) in the Pleistocene and uppermost Pliocene section of ODP Hole 677A in the Panama Basin. This provides the best available continuous Pleistocene stable isotope records from any location, fully justifying the recoring of DSDP Site 504. Oxygen isotope stage 22 (age about 0.85 Ma) was of similar magnitude to the most extensive glacials of the Brunhes and constitutes a logical base for the middle Pleistocene. Oxygen isotope stages as defined by Ruddiman et al. (1986, doi:10.1016/0012-821X(86)90024-5) and by Raymo et al. (1989, doi:10.1029/PA004i004p00413) back to stage 104 are recognized. Although the internationally agreed base of the Quaternary at or near stage 62 (about 1.6 Ma) is not marked by a major isotopic event, it does approximate the base of a regime characterized by highly regular 41,000-yr climate cycles. The records at Site 677 are ideal for time-series analyses and will permit a new attempt to develop a chronology for the early Pleistocene based on tuning to the orbital frequencies. The carbon isotope records also appear to contain considerable variance at orbital frequencies throughout the sequence analyzed.

Paleogene and early Neogene planktonic foraminifera of ODP sites 119-738 and 119-744

A virtually complete composite history of Cenozoic pelagic sedimentation was recovered from ODP Sites 738 (62°43' S) and 744 (61°35' S), drilled during Leg 119 on the Kerguelen Plateau. An excellent magnetobiochronologic record was obtained from upper Eocene through Holocene sediments at Site 744, and an expanded lower Paleocene through lower Oligocene sequence was cored at Hole 738. Analysis of the stratigraphic distribution of over 125 planktonic foraminifer taxa from these sites reveals changes in species composition that were strongly influenced by the climatic evolution of Antarctic water masses. Early Paleocene planktonic foraminifer assemblages are nearly identical in species composition to coeval assemblages from low and middle latitude sites, showing the same patterns of post-extinction recovery and taxonomic radiation. Biogeographic isolation, revealed by the absence of tropical keeled species, became apparent by late early Paleocene time. Diversity increased near the Paleocene/Eocene boundary when keeled morozovellids immigrated to the Kerguelen Plateau. Greatest diversity (23 species) was achieved by early Eocene time, corresponding to a Cenozoic warming maximum that has been recognized in lower Eocene deep sea and terrestrial sediments worldwide. A gradual decline in diversity from the late early through middle Eocene, primarily due to the disappearance of acarininids, parallels the record of cooling paleotemperatures in Southern Ocean surface waters. Chiloguembelina-dominated assemblages appeared in the late middle Eocene and persisted through the early Oligocene as Antarctic surface waters became thermally isolated. Late Eocene and early Oligocene assemblages exhibit considerably lower diversity than the older Eocene faunas, and were dominated by chiloguembelinids, subbotinids, and catapsydracids during a time of pronounced climatic cooling and development of continental glaciation on East Antarctica. The small foraminifer Globigerinit? juvenilis replaced chiloguembelinids as the dominant taxon during the late Oligocene. Diversity increased slightly toward the end of the late Oligocene with new appearances of several tenuitellid, globoturborotalitid, and globigerinid species. The trend toward diminishing planktonic foraminifer diversity was renewed during the late early Miocene as siliceous productivity increased in the Antarctic surface waters, culminating with the reduction to nearly monospecific assemblages of Neogloboqu?drin? p?chyderm? that occur in Pliocene-Holocene biosiliceous sediments. An Antarctic Paleogene zonal scheme previously devised for ODP Sites 689 and 690 in the Weddell Sea is used to biostratigraphically subdivide the Kerguelen Plateau sequence. The definition of one Antarctic Paleogene biozone is modified in the present study to facilitate correlation within the southern high latitudes. The ages of 13 late Eoceneearly Miocene datum events are calibrated based on a magnetobiochronologic age model developed for Site 744.

Oxygen and carbon isotopes from benthic and planktonic foraminifers at DSDP Leg 74 Holes

Oxygen and carbon isotope measurements have been made in picked planktonic and benthonic foraminifers from the five sites drilled on Leg 74, covering the whole Cenozoic. For the Neogene, the coverage gives good information on the development of the vertical temperature structure of Atlantic deep water. For the Paleogene, vertical gradients were weak and it is possible to combine data from different sites to obtain a very detailed record of both the temperature and carbon isotope history of Atlantic deep waters.

Planktonic foraminifera and stable isotope record of ODP Site 162-980

Detailed faunal, isotopic, and lithic marine records provide new insight into the stability and climate progression of the last interglacial period, Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5, which peaked approximately 125,000 years ago. In the eastern subpolar North Atlantic, at the latitude of Ireland, interglacial warmth of the ice volume minimum of substage 5e (MIS 5e) lasted ~10,000 years (10 ka) and its demise occurred in two cooling steps. The first cooling step marked the end of the climatic optimum, which was 2-3 ka long. Minor ice rafting accompanied each cooling step; the second, larger, step encompassing cold events C26 and C25 was previously identified in the northwestern Atlantic. Approximately 4 °C of cooling occurred between peak interglacial warmth and C25, and the region experienced an additional temporary cooling of at least 1-2 °C during C24, a cooling event associated with widespread ice rafting in the North Atlantic. Beginning with C24, MIS 5 was characterized by oscillations of at least 1-2 °C superimposed on a generally cool baseline. The results of this study imply that the marine climatic optimum of the last interglacial was shorter than previously thought. The finding that the eastern subpolar North Atlantic cooled significantly before C24 reconciles terrestrial evidence for progressive climate deterioration at similar and lower latitudes with marine conditions. Our results also demonstrate a close association between modest ice rafting, cooling, and deep ocean circulation even during the peak of MIS 5e and in the earliest stages of ice growth.

Age determination and planktonic foraminifera og ODP Site 159-958

Site 958 was drilled to monitor the late Neogene history of both continental aridity in northwestern Africa and the Canary Current distant from nearshore upwelling. Based on magnetostratigraphy, biostratigraphic datums, variations in carbonate, coarse fraction components, and the species composition of planktonic foraminifers, as well as using the d18O records of Globigerinoides ruber (white), we established a splice between Holes 958A and 958B and a stratigraphic age scale deciphering Milankovitch cycles. Over the last 630 k.y., sedimentation rates amount to 2.9 cm/k.y., and to 2.05-2.53 cm/k.y. back to the base of the Pleistocene. Extremely low rates of 0.4 cm/k.y. and a reworking of fossils mark the late Pliocene. The first continuous, long, sea-surface temperature (SST) record from the center of the Canary Current, which is based on foraminifer species census data, depicts a general temperature decrease in the late Pliocene, lower SST and high seasonalities of up to 6°C ~2.0-1.6 Ma, a warmer interval from 1.6 Ma to ~0.85 Ma, again lower SST and higher seasonalities until 0.33 or 0.26 Ma, and a final warmer interval, lasting until at least 50 ka, possibly reflecting the attenuated dynamics of the Canary Current. Especially over the last 400 k.y., since Stage 11, glacial stages are hardly reflected by cold SST cycles, except for various abrupt and extremely short cooling events amounting to D6°C, which possibly result from North Atlantic Heinrich events. Similar, but not necessarily synchronous, events of short-term, extremely high values occur in the paleoproductivity and (d13Cbased) paleonutrient records, which indicate a generally low primary production averaging to 180 g C m**-2 yr**-1 at 50-330 ka and about 300 g C m**-2 yr**-1 back to the base of the Pleistocene. Near 1.2-1.6 Ma, the grain-size and magnetic susceptibility records document a significant increase in the discharge of south Saharan/Sahelian dust, possibly linked to increasing aridity.

Mg/Ca and d18O measurements of planktonic foraminifera from Sargasso Sea

Paired Mg/Ca and d18O measurements on planktonic foraminiferal species (G. ruber white, G. ruber pink, G. sacculifer, G. conglobatus, G. aequilateralis, O. universa, N. dutertrei, P. obliquiloculata, G. inflata, G. truncatulinoides, G. hirsuta, and G. crassaformis) from a 6-year sediment trap time series in the Sargasso Sea were used to define the sensitivity of foraminiferal Mg/Ca to calcification temperature. Habitat depths and calcification temperatures were estimated from comparison of d18O of foraminifera with equilibrium calcite, based on historical temperature and salinity data. When considered together, Mg/Ca (mmol/mol) of all species, except two, show a significant (r = 0.93) relationship with temperature (T °C) of the form Mg/Ca = 0.38 (±0.02) exp 0.090 (±0.003)T, equivalent to a 9.0 ± 0.3% change in Mg/Ca for a 1°C change in temperature. Small differences exist in calibrations between species and between different size fractions of the same species. O. universa and G. aequilateralis have higher Mg/Ca than other species, and in general, data can be best described with the same temperature sensitivity for all species and pre-exponential constants in the sequence O. universa > G. aequilateralis = G. bulloides > G. ruber = G. sacculifer = other species. This approach gives an accuracy of ±1.2°C in the estimation of calcification temperature. The 9% sensitivity to temperature is similar to published studies from culture and core top calibrations, but differences exist from some literature values of pre-exponential constants. Different cleaning methodologies and artefacts of core top dissolution are probably implicated, and perhaps environmental factors yet understood. Planktonic foraminiferal Mg/Ca temperature estimates can be used for reconstructing surface temperatures and mixed and thermocline temperatures (using G. ruber pink, G. ruber white, G. sacculifer, N. dutertrei, P. obliquiloculata, etc.). The existence of a single Mg thermometry equation is valuable for extinct species, although use of species-specific equations will, where statistically significant, provide more accurate evaluation of Mg/Ca paleotemperature.

Distribution of planktonic foraminifera during the Mid-Pleistocene of ODP Site 181-1123

Planktonic foraminiferal assemblages and artificial neural network estimates of sea-surface temperature (SST) at ODP Site 1123 (41°47.2'S, 171°29.9'W; 3290 m deep), east of New Zealand, reveal a high-resolution history of glacial-interglacial (G-I) variability at the Subtropical Front (STF) for the last 1.2 million years, including the Mid-Pleistocene climate transition (MPT). Most G-I cycles of ~100 kyr duration have short periods of cold glacial and warm deglacial climate centred on glacial terminations, followed by long temperate interglacial periods. During glacial-deglacial transitions, maximum abundances of subantarctic and subtropical taxa coincide with SST minima and maxima, and lead ice volume by up to 8 kyrs. Such relationships reflect the competing influence of subantarctic and subtropical surface inflows during glacial and deglacial periods, respectively, suggesting alternate polar and tropical forcing of southern mid-latitude ocean climate. The lead of SSTs and subtropical inflow over ice volume points to tropical forcing of southern mid-latitude ocean-climate during deglacial warming. This contrasts with the established hypothesis that southern hemisphere ocean climate is driven by the influence of continental glaciations. Based on wholesale changes in subantarctic and subtropical faunas, the last 1.2 million years are subdivided into 4-distinct periods of ocean climate. 1) The pre-MPT (1185-870 ka) has high amplitude 41-kyr fluctuations in SST, superimposed on a general cooling trend and heightened productivity, reflecting long-term strengthening of subantarctic inflow under an invigorated Antarctic Circumpolar Current. 2) The early MPT (870-620 ka) is marked by abrupt warming during MIS 21, followed by a period of unstable periodicities within the 40-100 kyr orbital bands, decreasing SST amplitudes, and long intervals of temperate interglacial climate punctuated by short glacial and deglacial phases, reflecting lower meridional temperature gradients. 3) The late MPT (620-435 ka) encompasses an abrupt decrease in the subantarctic inflow during MIS 15, followed by a period of warm equable climate. Poorly defined, low amplitude G-I variations in SSTs during this interval are consistent with a relatively stable STF and evenly balanced subantarctic and subtropical inflows, possibly in response to smaller, less dynamic polar icesheets. 4) The post-MPT (435-0 ka) is marked by a major climatic deterioration during MIS 12, and a return to higher amplitude 100 kyr-frequency SST variations, superimposed on a long term trend towards cooler SSTs and increased mixed-layer productivity as the subantarctic inflow strengthened and polar icesheets expanded.

B/Ca ratios in planktonic foraminifera

Boron isotope systematics indicate that boron incorporation into foraminiferal CaCO3 is determined by the partition coefficient, KD = [B/Ca](CaCO3)/[B(OH)4**-/HCO3**-](seawater), and [B(OH)4?/HCO3?](seawater), providing, in principle, a method to estimate seawater pH and PCO2. We have measured B/Ca ratios in Globigerina bulloides and Globorotaliainflata for a series of core tops from the North Atlantic and the Southern Ocean and in Globigerinoides ruber (white) from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) site 668B on the Sierra Leone Rise in the eastern equatorial Atlantic. B/Ca ratios in these species of planktonic foraminifera seem unaffected by dissolution on the seafloor. KD shows a strong species-specific dependence on calcification temperature, which can be corrected for using the Mg/Ca temperature proxy. A preliminary study of G. inflata from Southern Ocean sediment core CHAT 16K suggests that temperature-corrected B/Ca was ~30% higher during the last glacial. Correspondingly, pH was 0.15 units higher and aqueous PCO2 was 95 ?atm lower at this site at the Last Glacial Maximum. The covariation between reconstructed PCO2 and the atmospheric pCO2 from the Vostok ice core demonstrates the feasibility of using B/Ca in planktonic foraminifera for reconstructing past variations in pH and PCO2.