A high-resolution Lateglacial and Holocene palaeoceanographic record from the Greenland Sea

We present an unprecedented multicentennial sediment record from the foot of Vesterisbanken Seamount, central Greenland Sea, covering the past 22.3 thousand years (ka). Based on planktic foraminiferal total abundances, species assemblages, and stable oxygen and carbon isotopes, the palaeoenvironments in this region of modern deepwater renewal were reconstructed. Results show that during the Last Glacial Maximum the area was affected by harsh polar conditions with only episodic improvements during warm summer seasons. Since 18?ka extreme freshwater discharges from nearby sources occurred, influencing the surface water environment. The last major freshwater event took place during the Younger Dryas. The onset of the Holocene was characterized by an improvement of environmental conditions suggesting warming and increasing ventilation of the upper water layers. The early Holocene saw a stronger Atlantic waters advection to the area, which began around 10.5 and ended quite rapidly at 5.5?ka, followed by the onset of Neoglacial cooling. Surface water ventilation reached a maximum in the middle Holocene. Around 3?ka the surface water stratification increased leading to subsequent amplification of the warming induced the North Atlantic Oscillation at 2?ka.

(Table 2) Radiocarbon contents of TOC and alkenone samples

Radiocarbon age relationships between co-occurring planktic foraminifera, alkenones, and total organic carbon in sediments from the continental margins of southern Chile, northwest Africa, and the South China Sea were compared with published results from the Namibian margin. Age relationships between the sediment components are site-specific and relatively constant over time. Similar to the Namibian slope, where alkenones have been reported to be 1000-4500 years older than co-occurring foraminifera, alkenones were significantly (~1000 years) older than co-occurring foraminifera in the Chilean margin sediments. In contrast, alkenones and foraminifera were of similar age (within 2 sigma error or better) in the NW African and South China Sea sediments. Total organic matter and alkenone ages were similar off Namibia (age difference TOC alkenones: 200-700 years), Chile (100-450 years), and NW Africa (360-770 years), suggesting minor contributions of preaged terrigenous material. In the South China Sea, total organic carbon is significantly (2000-3000 years) older owing to greater inputs of preaged terrigenous material. Age offsets between alkenones and planktic foraminifera are attributed to lateral advection of organic matter. Physical characteristics of the depositional setting, such as seafloor morphology, shelf width, and sediment composition, may control the age of co-occurring sediment components. In particular, offsets between alkenones and foraminifera appear to be greatest in deposition centers in morphologic depressions. Aging of organic matter is promoted by transport. Age offsets are correlated with organic richness, suggesting that formation of organic aggregates is a key process.

(Table 1) Radiocarbon ages of ODP Hole 146-893A

High-resolution planktonic foraminiferal census data from Santa Barbara Basin (Ocean Drilling Program hole 893A) demonstrate major assemblage switches between 25 and 60 ka that were associated with Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles. Stadials dominated by Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sinistral), and Globigerinoides glutinata suggest a strong subpolar California Current influence, while interstadials marked by abundant N. pachyderma (dextral) and G. bulloides indicate a relative increase in subtropical countercurrent influence. Modern analog technique and transfer function (F-20RSC) temperature reconstructions support d18O evidence of large rapid (70 years or less) sea surface temperature shifts (3° to 5°C) between stadials and interstadials. Changes in the vertical temperature gradient and water column structure (thermocline depth) are recorded by planktonic faunal oscillations suggest bimodal stability in the organization of North Pacific surface ocean circulation. Santa Barbara Basin surface water demonstrates the rapid response of the California Current System to reorganization of North Pacific atmospheric circulation during rapid climate change.

(Supporting Information) 14Cage plateau tuning of local Atlantic sediment cores

Modeling studies predict that changes in radiocarbon (14C) reservoir ages of surface waters during the last deglacial episode will reflect changes in both atmospheric 14C concentration and ocean circulation including the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Tests of these models require the availability of accurate 14C reservoir ages in well-dated late Quaternary time series. We here test two models using plateau-tuned 14C time series in multiple well-placed sediment core age-depth sequences throughout the lower latitudes of the Atlantic Ocean. 14C age plateau tuning in glacial and deglacial sequences provides accurate calendar year ages that differ by as much as 500-2500 years from those based on assumed global reservoir ages around 400 years. This study demonstrates increases in local Atlantic surface reservoir ages of up to 1000 years during the Last Glacial Maximum, ages that reflect stronger trades off Benguela and summer winds off southern Brazil. By contrast, surface water reservoir ages remained close to zero in the Cariaco Basin in the southern Caribbean due to lagoon-style isolation and persistently strong atmospheric CO2 exchange. Later, during the early deglacial (16 ka) reservoir ages decreased to a minimum of 170-420 14C years throughout the South Atlantic, likely in response to the rapid rise in atmospheric pCO2 and Antarctic temperatures occurring then. Changes in magnitude and geographic distribution of 14C reservoir ages of peak glacial and deglacial surface waters deviate from the results of Franke et al. (2008) but are generally consistent with those of the more advanced ocean circulation model of Butzin et al. (2012).

Geochemical data and radiocarbon ages of organic matter fractions and bacteriohopanepolyol data of sediment core GeoB6518-1 from the Congo River basin

The age of organic material discharged by rivers provides information about its sources and carbon cycling processes within watersheds. While elevated ages in fluvially-transported organic matter are usually explained by erosion of soils and sediments, it is commonly assumed that mainly young organic material is discharged from flat tropical watersheds due to their extensive plant cover and high carbon turnover. Here we present compound-specific radiocarbon data of terrigenous organic fractions from a sedimentary archive offshore the Congo River in conjunction with molecular markers for methane-producing land cover reflecting wetland extent in the watershed. We find that the Congo River has been discharging aged organic matter for several thousand years with increasing ages from the mid- to the Late Holocene. This suggests that aged organic matter in modern samples is concealed by radiocarbon from nuclear weapons testing. By comparison to indicators for past rainfall changes we detect a systematic control of organic matter sequestration and release by continental hydrology mediating temporary carbon storage in wetlands. As aridification also leads to exposure and rapid remineralization of large amounts of previously stored labile organic matter we infer that this process may cause a profound direct climate feedback currently underestimated in carbon cycle assessments.

(Table 2) Radiocarbon ages of selected southern Baja California sediment cores

Piston, gravity, and multicores as well as hydrographic data were collected along the Pacific margin of Baja California to reconstruct past variations in the intensity of the oxygen-minimum zone (OMZ). Gravity cores collected from within the OMZ north of 24°N did not contain laminated surface sediments even though bottom water oxygen (BWO) concentrations were close to 5 µmol/kg. However, many of the cores collected south of 24°N did contain millimeter- to centimeter-scale, brown to black laminations in Holocene and older sediments but not in sediments deposited during the Last Glacial Maximum. In addition to the dark laminations, Holocene sediments in Soledad Basin, silled at 290 m, also contain white coccolith laminae that probably represent individual blooms. Two open margin cores from 430 and 700 m depth that were selected for detailed radiocarbon dating show distinct transitions from bioturbated glacial sediment to laminated Holocene sediment occurring at 12.9 and 11.5 ka, respectively. The transition is delayed and more gradual (11.3-10.0 ka) in another dated core from Soledad Basin. The observations indicate that bottom-water oxygen concentrations dropped below a threshold for the preservation of laminations at different times or that a synchronous hydrographic change left an asynchronous sedimentary imprint due to local factors. With the caveat that laminated sections should therefore not be correlated without independent age control, the pattern of older sequences of laminations along the North American western margin reported by this and previous studies suggests that multiple patterns of regional productivity and ventilation prevailed over the past 60 kyr.