Pliocene-Pleistocene stack of globally distributed benthic stable oxygen isotope records

We present a 5.3-Myr stack (the ''LR04'' stack) of benthic d18O records from 57 globally distributed sites aligned by an automated graphic correlation algorithm. This is the first benthic delta18O stack composed of more than three records to extend beyond 850 ka, and we use its improved signal quality to identify 24 new marine isotope stages in the early Pliocene. We also present a new LR04 age model for the Pliocene-Pleistocene derived from tuning the delta18O stack to a simple ice model based on 21 June insolation at 65 N. Stacked sedimentation rates provide additional age model constraints to prevent overtuning. Despite a conservative tuning strategy, the LR04 benthic stack exhibits significant coherency with insolation in the obliquity band throughout the entire 5.3 Myr and in the precession band for more than half of the record. The LR04 stack contains significantly more variance in benthic delta18O than previously published stacks of the late Pleistocene as the result of higher resolution records, a better alignment technique, and a greater percentage of records from the Atlantic. Finally, the relative phases of the stack's 41- and 23-kyr components suggest that the precession component of delta18O from 2.7-1.6 Ma is primarily a deep-water temperature signal and that the phase of d18O precession response changed suddenly at 1.6 Ma.

Sedimentation rates calculated on surface sediment samples from different site of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (Table 1)

Radiocarbon ages on CaCO3 from deep-sea cores offer constraints on the nature of the CaCO3 dissolution process. The idea is that the toll taken by dissolution on grains within the core top bioturbation zone should be in proportion to their time of residence in this zone. If so, dissolution would shift the mass distribution in favor of younger grains, thereby reducing the mean radiocarbon age for the grain ensemble. We have searched in vain for evidence supporting the existence of such an age reduction. Instead, we find that for water depths of more than 4 km in the tropical Pacific the radiocarbon age increases with the extent of dissolution. We can find no satisfactory steady state explanation and are forced to conclude that this increase must be the result of chemical erosion. The idea is that during the Holocene the rate of dissolution of CaCO3 has exceeded the rain rate of CaCO3. In this circumstance, bioturbation exhumes CaCO3 from the underlying glacial sediment and mixes it with CaCO3 raining from the sea surface.

Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn deposits from various ship expeditions in the Atlantic Ocean from 1876 until 1911

The greater part of this Monograph is devoted to detailed descriptions of 1426 samples of deposits from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean stored in the Challenger Office, Edinburgh, which had been collected during thirty-five cruising expeditions between 1857 and 1911. The remaining part discusses the results of the work. The work of examining and describing in detail this abundant mass of material was in progress when the late Sir JOHN MURRAY met his death in March 1914. By that time about three-fourths of the descriptive work had been completed under his supervision. Sir John's trustees arranged for the completion of the descriptive work by Mr Chumley, and this was done in the Challenger Office during the two succeeding years. Later, after he had removed to Glasgow, Mr Chumley prepared the notes discussing the results. The trustees have pleasure in recording, on the suggestion of Mr Chumley, the courtesy of Dr G. W. Lee of the Geological Survey of Scotland, for help in determining many of the rarer mineral particles contained in the deposits.

Analysis of manganese nodules in lakes of Scotland

During the "Challenger" Deep-Sea Exploring Expedition a great many peculiar-looking manganese nodules or concretions were dredged from the floor of the ocean at great depths, chiefly in the Red Clay areas of the Pacific. In the present paper we propose to point out the distribution of the oxides of manganese in the geological series of rocks, in fresh and sea water, and in marine deposits, with special reference to our explorations in the lochs of the west of Scotland; to give an account of investigations undertaken to ascertain the source of the manganese present in marine deposits in the form of the higher oxides, and thereafter to discuss the various views that have been advanced to explain the formation and distribution of manganese concretions in marine deposits in general.

Calculated sea level records and deep ocean temperatures from DSDP and ODP sites

During the mid-Pleistocene transition the dominant 41 ka periodicity of glacial cycles transitioned to a quasi-100 ka periodicity for reasons not yet known. This study investigates the potential role of deep ocean hydrography by examining oxygen isotope ratios in benthic foraminifera. Oxygen isotope records from the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean basins are separated into their ice volume and local temperature/hydrography components using a piece-wise linear transfer function and a temperature calibration. Although our method has certain limitations, the deep ocean hydrography reconstructions show that glacial deep ocean temperatures approached freezing point as the mid-Pleistocene transition progressed. Further analysis suggests that water mass reorganisation could have been responsible for these temperature changes, leading to such stable conditions in the deep ocean that some obliquity cycles were skipped until precessional forcing triggered deglaciation, creating the apparent quasi-100 ka pattern. This study supports previous work that suggests multiples of obliquity cycles dominate the quasi-100 ka glacial cycles with precession components driving deglaciations.