Geochemistry and grain-size of sediment core PC29A, Quitralco Fjord, Chilean Patagonia

The climate of Chilean Patagonia is strongly influenced by the southern westerlies, which control the amount and latitudinal distribution of precipitation in the southern Andes. In austral summer, the Southern Westerly Wind Belt (SWWB) is restricted to the high latitudes. It expands northward in winter, which results in a strong precipitation seasonality between 35 and 45°S. Here, we present a new precipitation seasonality proxy record from Quitralco fjord (46°S), where relatively small latitudinal shifts in the SWWB result in large changes in precipitation seasonality. Our 1400 yr record is based on sedimentological and geochemical data obtained on a sediment core collected in front of a small river that drains the Patagonian Andes, which makes this site particularly sensitive to changes in river discharge. Our results show Fe/Al and Ti/Al values that are low between 600 and 1200 CE, increasing at 1200-1500 CE, and high between 1500 and 1950 CE. The increasing Fe/Al and Ti/Al values reflect a decrease in mean sediment grain-size from 30 to 20 µm, which is interpreted as a decrease in seasonal floods resulting from an equatorward shift of the SWWB. Our results suggest that, compared to present-day conditions, the SWWB was located in a more poleward position before 1200 CE. It gradually shifted towards the equator in 1200-1500 CE, where it remained in a sustained position until 1950 CE. The comparison of our record with published regional sea surface temperature (SST) reconstructions for the late Holocene shows that equatorward shifts in the SWWB are systematically coeval with decreasing SSTs and vice versa, which resembles fluctuations over glacial-interglacial timescales. We argue that the synchronicity between SST and SWWB changes during the last 1400 years represents the response of the SWWB to temperature changes in the Southern Hemisphere.

Sedimentology, organic geochemistry, and stable isotopes of core PS2138-1

We studied variations in terrigenous (TOM) and marine organic matter (MOM) input in a sediment core on the northern Barents Sea margin over the last 30 ka. Using a multiproxy approach, we reconstructed processes controlling organic carbon deposition and investigated their paleoceanographic significance in the North Atlantic-Arctic Gateways. Variations in paleo-surface-water productivity are not documented in amount and composition of organic carbon. The highest level of MOM was deposited during 25-23 ka as a result of scavenging on fine-grained, reworked, and TOM-rich material released by the retreating Svalbard/Barents Sea ice sheet during the late Weichselian. A second peak of MOM is preserved because of sorptive protection by detrital and terrigenous organic matter, higher surface-water productivity due to permanent intrusion of Atlantic water, and high suspension load release by melting sea ice during 15.9-11.2 ka.

Stable isotope record, Mg/Ca ratios and sea surface reconstruction for sediment core MD06-3067

We present sea surface, upper thermocline, and benthic d18O data, as well as temperature and paleoproductivity proxy data, from the International Marine Global Change Study Program (IMAGES) Core MD06-3067 (6°31'N, 126°30'E, 1575 m water depth), located in the western equatorial Pacific Ocean within the flow path of the Mindanao Current. Our records reveal considerable glacial-interglacial and suborbital variability in the Mindanao Dome upwelling over the last 160 kyr. Dome activity generally intensified during glacial intervals resulting in cooler thermocline waters, whereas it substantially declined during interglacials, in particular in the early Holocene and early marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 5e, when upwelling waters did not reach the thermocline. During MIS 3 and MIS 2, enhanced surface productivity together with remarkably low SST and low upper ocean thermal contrast provide evidence for episodic glacial upwelling to the surface, whereas transient surface warming marks periodic collapses of the Mindanao Dome upwelling during Heinrich events. We attribute the high variability during MIS 3 and MIS 2 to changes in the El Niño Southern Oscillation state that affected boreal winter monsoonal winds and upper ocean circulation. Glacial upwelling intensified when a strong cyclonic gyre became established, whereas El Niño-like conditions during Heinrich events tended to suppress the cyclonic circulation, reducing Ekman transport. Thus, our findings demonstrate that variations in the Mindanao Dome upwelling are closely linked to the position and intensity of the tropical convection and also reflect far-field influences from the high latitudes.