Sedimentology and geochemistry of ODP Site 184-1144

We analyzed sediment from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1144 in the northern South China Sea to examine the weathering response of SE Asia to the strengthening of the East Asian Monsoon (EAM) since 14 ka. Our high-resolution record highlights the decoupling between continental chemical weathering, physical erosion and summer monsoon intensity. Mass accumulation rates, Ti/Ca, K/Rb, hematite/goethite and 87Sr/86Sr show sharp excursions from 11 to 8 ka, peaking at 10 ka. Clay minerals show a shorter-lived response with a higher kaolinite/(illite + chlorite) ratio at 10.7-9.5 ka. However, not all proxies show a clear response to environmental changes. Magnetic susceptibility rises sharply between 12 and 11 ka. Grain-size becomes finer from 14 to 10 ka and then coarsens until ~7 ka, but is probably controlled by bottom current flow and sealevel. Sr and Nd isotopes show that material is dominantly eroded from Taiwan with a lesser flux from Luzon, while clay mineralogy suggests that the primary sources during the Early Holocene were reworked via the shelf in the Taiwan Strait, rather than directly from Taiwan. Erosion was enhanced during monsoon strengthening and caused reworking of chemically weathered Pleistocene sediment largely from the now flooded Taiwan Strait, which was transgressed by ~8 ka, cutting off supply to the deep-water slope. None of the proxies shows an erosional response lasting until ~6 ka, when speleothem oxygen isotope records indicate the start of monsoon weakening. Although more weathered sediments were deposited from 11 to 8 ka when the monsoon was strong these are reworked and represent more weathering during the last glacial maximum (LGM) when the summer monsoon was weaker but the shelves were exposed.

(Table 1) Age determination of sediment core A-7

Detailed deglacial and Holocene records of planktonic d18O and Mg/Ca-based sea surface temperature (SST) from the Okinawa Trough suggest that at ~18 to 17 thousand years before present (kyr B.P.), late spring/early summer SSTs were approximately 3°C cooler than today, while surface waters were up to 1 practical salinity unit saltier. These conditions are consistent with a weaker influence of the summer East Asian Monsoon (EAM) than today. The timing of suborbital SST oscillations suggests a close link with abrupt changes in the EAM and North Atlantic climate. A tropical influence, however, may have resulted in subtle decoupling between the North Atlantic and the Okinawa Trough/EAM during the deglaciation. Okinawa Trough surface water trends in the Holocene are consistent with model simulations of an inland shift of intense EAM precipitation during the middle Holocene. Millennial-scale alternations between relatively warm, salty conditions and relatively cold, fresh conditions suggest varying influence of the Kuroshio during the Holocene.

(Table 2) Age determination of sediment core NIOP-C2_929

In this study we present a sea surface temperature (SST) record from the western Arabian Sea for the last 20,000 years. We produced centennial-scale d18O and Mg/Ca SST time series of core NIOP929 with focus on the glacial-interglacial transition. The western Arabian Sea is influenced by the seasonal NE and SW monsoon wind systems. Lowest SSTs occur during the SW monsoon season because of upwelling of cold water, and highest SSTs can be found in the low-productivity intermonsoon season. The Mg/Ca-based temperature record reflects the integrated SST of the SW and NE monsoon seasons. The results show a glacial-interglacial SST difference of ~2°C, which is corroborated by findings from other Arabian Sea cores. At 19 ka B.P. a yet undescribed warm event of several hundred years duration is found, which is also reflected in the d18O record. A second centennial-scale high SST/low d18O event is observed at 17 ka B.P. This event forms the onset of the stepwise yet persistent trend toward Holocene temperatures. Highest Mg/Ca-derived SSTs in the NIOP929 record occurred between 13 and 10 ka B.P. Interglacial SST is ~24°C, indicating influence of upwelling. The onset of Arabian Sea warming occurs when the North Atlantic is experiencing minimum temperatures. The rapid temperature variations at 19, 17, and 13 ka B.P. are difficult to explain with monsoon changes alone and are most likely also linked to regional hydrographic changes, such as trade wind induced variations in warm water advection.

(Table T1) Long-chain alkenones, UK'37 and derived sea surface temperatures of ODP Sites 184-1147 and 184-1148

A reconnaissance study of alkenone stratigraphy for the past 35 m.y. in the northern South China Sea (SCS) using sediments from Sites 1147 and 1148 of Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 184 has been completed. Alkenones were not detected in sediment samples older than ~31 Ma. However, C37:2 appeared in the sedimentary record between ~8 and 31 Ma and both C37:2 and C37:3 were present between 0 and 8 Ma. These changes in alkenone occurrences may signal a response to global-scale Neogene cooling as well as to monsoon intensification and sea level changes over time as a result of Himalayan uplift and the opening of the SCS. Alternatively, they may be related to an evolutionary record of the development of temperature control on alkenone production in coccolithophores. The Uk'37 index for 0-8 Ma produces sea-surface temperatures (SST) of 19°-26°C, which are in the range of previously determined glacial-interglacial values for the northern SCS. Before the late Pleistocene (~1.2 Ma), the SST range is between 23° and 26°C with less variation. This change in variability may signify the early stage of intensified winter monsoons where cold wind and waters from the north may not yet have had a significant effect on SST or it may be the evolutionary link between the early development of unsaturated alkenones in coccolithophores and modern temperature control of alkenone production. We believe a long-term alkenone record is useful for further understanding of global-scale neogene cooling, the development of the East Asian monsoon system, and the evolutionary development of temperature control on alkenone unsaturation. Our data indicate that a high-resolution Uk'37 record for at least the last ~8 Ma is feasible for the northern SCS.

Age model of ODP Site 184-1146 (Table 1)

Clay mineral assemblages at ODP Site 1146 in the northern South China Sea are used to investigate sediment source and transport processes and to evaluate the evolution of the East Asian monsoon over the past 2 Myr. Clay minerals consist mainly of illite (22-43%) and smectite (12-48%), with associated chlorite (10-30%), kaolinite (2-18%), and random mixed-layer clays (5-22%). Hydrodynamic and mineralogical studies indicate that illite and chlorite sources include Taiwan and the Yangtze River, that smectite and mixed-layer clays originate predominantly from Luzon and Indonesia, and that kaolinite is primarily derived from the Pearl River. Mineral assemblages indicate strong glacial-interglacial cyclicity, with high illite, chlorite, and kaolinite content during glacials and high smectite and mixed-layer clay content during interglacials. During interglacials, summer enhanced monsoon (southwesterly) currents transport more smectite and mixed-layer clays to Site 1146 whereas during glacials, enhanced winter monsoon (northerly) currents transport more illite and chlorite from Taiwan and the Yangtze River. The ratio (smectite+mixed layers)/(illite+chlorite) was adopted as a proxy for East Asian monsoon variability. Higher ratios indicate strengthened summer-monsoon winds and weakened winter-monsoon winds during interglacials. In contrast, lower ratios indicate a strongly intensified winter monsoon and weakened summer monsoon during glacials. Spectral analysis indicates the mineral ratio was dominantly forced by monsoon variability prior to the development of large-scale glaciation at 1.2 Myr and by both monsoon variability and the effects of changing sea level in the interval 1.2 Myr to present.

(Table 2) Age model of ODP Site 184-1146

Orbital tuning of benthic d18O is a common approach for assigning ages to ocean sediment records. Similar environmental forcing of the northern South China Sea and the southeast Asian cave regions allows for transfer of the speleothem d18O radiometric chronology to the planktonic and benthic d18O records from Ocean Drilling Program Site 1146, yielding a new chronology with 41 radiometrically calibrated datums, spanning the past 350 kyr. This approach also provides for an independent assessment of the accuracy of the orbitally tuned benthic d18O chronology for the last 350 kyr. The largest differences relative to the latest chronology occur in marine isotope stages (MIS) 5.4, 5.5, 6, 7, and 9.3. Prominent suborbital-scale structure believed to be global in nature is identified within MIS 5.4 and MIS 7.2. On the basis of the radiometrically calibrated chronology, the time constant of the ice sheet is found to be 5.4 kyr at the precession band (light d18O lags precession minima by -55.4°) and 10.4 kyr at the obliquity band (light d18O lags obliquity maxima by 57.4°). These values are significantly shorter than the single 17 kyr time constant originally estimated by Imbrie et al. (1984), based primarily on the timing of terminations I and II and the 15 kyr time constant used by Lisiecki and Raymo (2005, doi:10.1029/2004PA001071).